Confused about changing my eating when exercising

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lauren3101
lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've never been much of an exerciser but over the last few weeks I've been making a real effort to add this in - and am actually really enjoying it!

However I'm a bit confused about what this means for my eating habits.

For example, last night I did a 30 minute walk then went for a long swim and according to MFP burnt 694 calories.

I came home and ate my dinner as usual, but with the exercise, I was apparently 656 calories under my goal for the day. Thing is, after my dinner I was perfectly satisfied and I don't think I could have eaten another 656 calories more, however, I don't want to starve my body.

I've asked a few people that I know are fitness junkies and the opinions are very different. One said I should just eat a banana, one said she lost 4 stone and went to McDonalds after every gym session, one said it doesn't matter as long as I burn more than I eat, one basically said great job, now just don't eat!

What do you all think? Should I make myself eat more to make up the calories I burn or should I listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry?

Replies

  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    If you want to follow Myfitnesspal the way it was designed to work, then you should eat those extra calories. MFP calculates a healthy calorie deficit for you based on the information you provide it, and based on the assumption that when you do additional exercise, you eat back those calories. Otherwise, the deficit may be to big to be sustainable and you might not be giving your body enough energy. The chances are, the people outside this website that you are asking for advice don't understand how MFP is set up, as it is a bit different from other ways of doing it.

    Having said that, you'll find that a lot of people on MFP don't eat their exercise calories back, either because they misunderstand how MFP works, or because they choose to maintain a larger calorie deficit. It's obviously up to you. The MFP database for exercise can be inaccurate so if that's how you're calculating your calorie burn, you might want to eat back only say half, or 2/3 of the amount of exercise calories, to allow for error.

    And, in my humble opinion, whether your're hungry or not isn't really that relevant. I find that when I undereat, my appetite diminishes. The more I eat, the hungrier I get, so personally, I can't really trust "listening to my body". Undereating from time to time is not going to be a problem, but if you are always feeling like you're not that hungry and need to force yourself to eat, it may be because your metabolism has adjusted downwards to the lower intake.
  • denisebme
    denisebme Posts: 103 Member
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    This is how I handle it. If I work out during the day, I normally don't have a big issue eating back most of my calories, I just plan for it. When I work out at night, particularly nights when I burn 500-600 calories, I simply listen to my body. Most times if I'm a little hungry I'll eat a protein bar (180 calories), or a peanut butter sandwich within half an hour of the workout, and I've noticed it not only takes care of any hunger, but the addition of protein after a workout helps to insure I'm not sore, or worn out the next day.

    We're not cookie cutter people, so cookie cutter programs often need a little tweaking to find what works best for us as individuals. I had some trouble at first (I wasn't eating enough), but now, 5 weeks in, I feel better than I have in years. You just need to find what works for you and stick with it!

    Best of luck!
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
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    In addition to what's already said, you'll notice, when you update your food & exercise diary, your 'daily goal' for calories, fats, proteins, carbs etc. changes. Try and get as close to this as possible if you're not sure where to start.

    Do you plan out your meals in advance? your diary is already filled for today.
  • aussiesarah
    aussiesarah Posts: 68 Member
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    I agree. MFP does over-estimate the calories burned for some exercises, so if you're not able to measure them accurately with a heart rate monitor (which I'd really recommend) then I'd suggest that you eat back about 2/3 of the additional calories that MFP says you have burned off.

    I try to look at the extra calories as a reward for the hard work. That way going to the gym becomes all about the delicious dinner or the extra treat I am going to be able to have afterwards!

    As the last poster said, MFP sets your recommended calories for the day at a defecit at which you will lose weight. So if you burn off a load more calories through exercise and then don't eat them back you are increasing the size of your deficit and instead of say a deficit of 500 calories for the day you will have a deficit of 500 calories plus your 650 exercise calories ie. 1150 calories under what your body wants you to eat for maintenance that day.

    This might be ok occasionally, however if you're doing this on a regular basis you are bound to encourage your body to work out a coping strategy for the fact it is being shortchanged by 1000 calories and the most obvious thing for it to do is to try to slow down your metabolism which is going to make your long term weight loss much harder.

    So I say eat back the exercise calories and enjoy them!!
  • Lesley2901
    Lesley2901 Posts: 372 Member
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    I agree with Jester. I don't always eat all of my exercise calories back especially if I have exercised in the evening but I do find that if I have eaten short of my MFP calorie goal for a day or two I get really hungry and then end up going over my calorie allowance. As long as my calories balance out on a weekly basis it's not been a problem.
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    Thanks for all the replies everyone, it is starting to make more sense to me now!

    I will buy a heat-rate monitor as I definitely get the impression that MFP over-calculates the amount of calories eaten.

    I'm going to try and eat more according to what the heart rate monitor says.

    In answer to a question yes I do plan my meals in advance, it works for me to put it all on here so I know how I stand for the day. :)
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    Heart rate monitors are also not 100% accurate, it's still just an estimation, but it's a better estimation. I love mine! I eat all my calories back that my HRM calculates, and I'm losing at the rate that I would expect.
  • queenie09
    queenie09 Posts: 25
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    Hi, if your not hungry after your dinner and you are someone who wants to eat back exercise, then you can save them for tomorrow. Eat a couple of hundred more tomorrow. Personally I wouldn't eat them all back as the calorie estimates for exercise on MFP are just estimates. It is impossible for.them to be accurate for everyone. We are all different, depending on your weight, metabolism etc as to how many calories you burn during exercises.
    Having a HRM is great.

    I don't eat back calories because I reprogrammed my profile on MFP to my TDEE (amount of calories my body needs including exercise per day). I minus 20% from TDEE. I eat the amount I'm suppose too and don't worry about what nett calories say... I have only started doing this a little over a week ago. I'll see how it goes in a month or so... We have to figure out what our.body needs with trial and error. :)

    It's great you started exercising, the more you do it the.more you like it.. well I did anyway.

    Cheers.
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
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    In answer to a question yes I do plan my meals in advance, it works for me to put it all on here so I know how I stand for the day. :)

    In that case, with the over/underestimation MFP tends to calculate for both or either food/exercise, and your planned meals for the day I'd suggest some vegetables with the hotpot (2 servings usually does it) and some form of protein with the bubble & squeak. Or otherwise add in another 200ish calorie meal sometime during the day.

    You can usually get away with a 200-100 calorie difference, give or take, but I believe that anything over 300 either way is pushing it. As it stands, you would be an additional 500+ calories below your recommended deficit and, as mentioned, this could/would have an adverse effect on your goals.
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    In answer to a question yes I do plan my meals in advance, it works for me to put it all on here so I know how I stand for the day. :)

    In that case, with the over/underestimation MFP tends to calculate for both or either food/exercise, and your planned meals for the day I'd suggest some vegetables with the hotpot (2 servings usually does it) and some form of protein with the bubble & squeak. Or otherwise add in another 200ish calorie meal sometime during the day.

    You can usually get away with a 200-100 calorie difference, give or take, but I believe that anything over 300 either way is pushing it. As it stands, you would be an additional 500+ calories below your recommended deficit and, as mentioned, this could/would have an adverse effect on your goals.

    The hotpot is my lunch at work that has a limited kitchen, so to prepare veggies would be hard, but I can see what I can find. :)

    The dinner isn't completely finished yet, I am debating on either a steak (fat removed of course) or low-fat sausages. I wouldn't just have bubble and squeak for dinner, I'd be famished. ;-)

    500+ calories did seem like a lot...

    Can anyone recommend a decent heart rate monitor? Don't really want to spend more than £35. Must be waterproof!
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
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    The hotpot is my lunch at work that has a limited kitchen, so to prepare veggies would be hard, but I can see what I can find. :)

    The dinner isn't completely finished yet, I am debating on either a steak (fat removed of course) or low-fat sausages. I wouldn't just have bubble and squeak for dinner, I'd be famished. ;-)

    500+ calories did seem like a lot...

    Can anyone recommend a decent heart rate monitor? Don't really want to spend more than £35. Must be waterproof!

    I find an airtight box with some veggies works. I don't mind them cold (or raw, even, depending on what I'm eating) but I presume you have a microwave at work to heat up the hotpot. Just dump a tablespoon or so of water in there, put the lid on so there's a gap for steam to escape and let them steam themselves in the microwave for a minute or two. Works just the same for both fresh & frozen.

    Haha! I thought a bit of bubble & squeak seemed like a very light dinner :P
  • HappyStack
    HappyStack Posts: 802 Member
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    Oh, I also have a Beurer PM 25, which is about £35, I think. But it's waterproof, is very accurate (it should be, it has a chest strap), and when in training mode will beep at you if you're working too hard or too little.

    I've had it for a year now, and it's still going strong, even though I use it every day.
  • janemem
    janemem Posts: 575 Member
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    Bump to follow later.

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