Eating back "NET" calories

GelinaKnows
GelinaKnows Posts: 46
in Food and Nutrition
I started on MFP in May of this year. I know that's not very long, I had already lost a few pounds before I started, and I am a little under half way to my goal. I am not nor have I ever been obese, I was simply overweight. I started on here at 150, & my goal is a very reasonable 120 pounds for my 5 foot 4 inch frame. I am very interested in everyone's opinion on eating back the net calories. I personally have never heard of this before I came across this website, and it seems a little bit silly to me. It just seems to me that after I busted my butt to burn say, 500 calories, it would be a complete waste of said exercise if I ate 500 more calories. I know that I'm only a little bit overweight, I also know that my starting weight is a few peoples goal weight, but my entire life I have never really eaten very many calories throughout the day, just UNHEALTHY ones. For that reason, along with a few others, it just seems redundant to eat back all of my hard work and exercise. Especially since I usually try to burn about 1000 calories a day, I don't think there's any way I could eat 1000 MORE calories & have them all actually be healthy...I was burning just fine, until this past week I ate a LOT of calories more than normal, plus had my 'time of the month' which for me, is actually a time of the year because I have an IUD and only have a period about once every year or so. I am getting back on track starting this weekend, and want to do it the correct way so I'm looking for everyone's opinion on the subject....

TO NET....OR NOT TO NET....THAT IS THE QUESTION....

Replies

  • PaigeJMP
    PaigeJMP Posts: 25 Member
    Cardio with resistance training will create a calorie burn that goes on for up to 24 hours after working out. So, you workout, burn the calories, but the calorie burn continues. That is what I was told by a trainer and bootcamp instructor.
    That being said, I think if you don't eat back the net calories, you will just reach your goal faster. But, in real life, if you are hungry and you haven't reached your daily calorie goal, why wouldn't you eat something? Just make sure its healthy and won't undo all the effort from your workout
  • moe0303
    moe0303 Posts: 934 Member
    It's only a waste of time if you haven't already budgeted for a deficit. If you are already budgeting for a 500 calorie deficit, then you will still lose the .5 pounds a week that you budgeted. You could not exercise and eat less or exercise and eat more.

    Here's a question: What's easier, burning 600 calories or not eating a 600 calorie milkshake? If your normal diet contains a 600 calorie milkshake, then in theory, you should be able to gain similar weight loss by either cutting out the milkshake or burning off its equivalent in exercise.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    I started on MFP in May of this year. I know that's not very long, I had already lost a few pounds before I started, and I am a little under half way to my goal. I am not nor have I ever been obese, I was simply overweight. I started on here at 150, & my goal is a very reasonable 120 pounds for my 5 foot 4 inch frame. I am very interested in everyone's opinion on eating back the net calories. I personally have never heard of this before I came across this website, and it seems a little bit silly to me. It just seems to me that after I busted my butt to burn say, 500 calories, it would be a complete waste of said exercise if I ate 500 more calories. I know that I'm only a little bit overweight, I also know that my starting weight is a few peoples goal weight, but my entire life I have never really eaten very many calories throughout the day, just UNHEALTHY ones. For that reason, along with a few others, it just seems redundant to eat back all of my hard work and exercise. Especially since I usually try to burn about 1000 calories a day, I don't think there's any way I could eat 1000 MORE calories & have them all actually be healthy...I was burning just fine, until this past week I ate a LOT of calories more than normal, plus had my 'time of the month' which for me, is actually a time of the year because I have an IUD and only have a period about once every year or so. I am getting back on track starting this weekend, and want to do it the correct way so I'm looking for everyone's opinion on the subject....

    TO NET....OR NOT TO NET....THAT IS THE QUESTION....

    The difference is MFP doesn not use exercise when setting your calories, other sites do.

    When you set your goals on MFP, lets assume you set a loss goal of 1lb, so MFP set you a calories goal with a 500 deficit to lose 1lb a week, without exercise.

    If you exercise and burn 500 calories, your defict is now 1000, so MFP assumes that when you said 1lb a week, you meant 1lb a week so it tells you to eat back those 500 calories to get back to the 500 defict.

    If you have exercised and burned 1000 calories, you have now created a 1500 defict,

    the healthy recommended defict is between 500-1000.

    Have a look at the stickied threads on the top of the General forum, they will explain how MFP works.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    Good Luck.
  • GelinaKnows
    GelinaKnows Posts: 46
    Well that's what I'm saying, if I was hungry I would eat but I'm usually not, all the water and a workout usually leave me satisfied I will have a protein shake after a good workout but I'm usually not hungry...ESPECIALLY not hungry enough to eat back all of those calories I just burned!!!!
  • Robin_Bin
    Robin_Bin Posts: 1,046 Member
    The concern is that if you consistently eat way under the recommended deficit that you convince your body that there's a famine, and your metabolism will slow down as much as it possibly can. Your body may also start "feeding" off healthy muscle. Then when you start eating "normally" again, your body at the lower metabolic rate will gain weight at the amount of calories you used to eat just to maintain. This leads to yo-yo weight and other unhealthy things. Please read those "sticky" threads which explain it better than I can.

    edited to fix formatting typos

    P.S. You don't need to eat the calories back right before or after exercise. Those probably aren't good times to eat. But it will give you some more flexibility it what you eat the rest of the day. (It might not make a difference if you ate them the day before or after, but it would be harder to track.)
  • ShelfRelianceMom
    ShelfRelianceMom Posts: 83
    I couldn't have said it better myself. She is right. If you only want to lose weight at the pace you entered into MFP, eat the work out calories back. If you're okay with losing weight more rapidly, don't eat those calories. Do make sure that you are at least eating 1200 calories per day as body goes into starvation mode otherwise. Also, if you are having intense workouts and your weight loss stops, this could be a sign that your body is going into starvation mode so you may need to eat more since you likely have little fat to loose. I love MFP!
  • w8sarge
    w8sarge Posts: 4,118 Member
    I would recommend eating back your calories. I get that you want to lose weight faster, but will you maintain that diet/ exercise regimen when you have reached your weight goal? If you suddenly stop exercising because you're at goal, then eventually you'll start the whole weight gain process again.

    Don't diet drastically. MFP works when you use its tools correctly (the built in calorie deficit) and make habits that you can sustain for the long run.

    Good luck!
  • dajero1
    dajero1 Posts: 75 Member
    bump
  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 8,571 Member
    I know that it seems counterintuitive,:noway: but trust the MFP system. It works!!! :bigsmile: Since you don't have a lot to lose, you probably want to get more fit and tone up -- which mean preserving the muscle you have and building more. You won't be able to do that consuming a net of 300 calories (or whatever it is). We are talking fitness not prison camp.

    MFP doesn't require you to exercise to meet your goals, and that is good because if you blow off a workout, you just eat less, like the slim, fit people who never need to watch their weight do (like my husband, curse him).

    Good luck. :flowerforyou:
  • mcmaverick
    mcmaverick Posts: 8
    Personally I prefer to use LFP just to log my foods track calories, and macronutrient information. I do not use it to record my excercise.
  • rosawash
    rosawash Posts: 26 Member
    It makes since to eat back the net calories if you're only eating the exact calories you need to lose weight otherwise you're basically starving yourself. Let's say your goal is to eat 1200 calories a day and you burn off 1000 that means you've only ate 200 calories for the entire day which will most likely decrease your metabolism. I know everybody's body is different so I'm only speaking from experience. I find when I cut my calories too low my weightloss stall.

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