More Exercise = More Food = Weight Gain! =(

Ludd1te

Practice Hara Hachi Bu: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hara_hachi_bu So before you have that extra helping of dinner wait 20 minutes to see if you are still hungry. It takes that long for your stomach to signal your brain that you are full.

RedArizona5

sijomial wrote: »

If you want it badly enough you commit to your calorie goal.
Do that often enough and it becomes a habit.
Once it becomes a habit you become successful.

It starts between your ears!
My big motivator is goals, long and short term. Yours may be different.

I get hungry when i work at times and at times i don't. I do eat more on those day and i lose weight. idk what the issue is. Are you eating within the 30 minute window? Consistency/PERsistency is KING.

mzbek24

I'm having a similar issue with Marathon training, I have increased my calories and decided to take the pressure off myself to also lose weight, or much weight, at this point in time. I don't think there's much need to hurry, I planned on being here a long time yet anyways, to learn to maintain and everything, so now my deficit is smaller. You just need to commit to having to write in every thing you eat, even binges. Make sure others can see it, it's a good deterrent.
Fuel is obviously important, for a large amount of exercise, but I think also that it's a mental thing, we see we have made a huge burn, and often feel like we need to just eat and eat and eat. For a while, it feels like you can get away with it, because you're burning so much, then bam! overcompensation occurs.
My suggestion would be to try and log your workouts (if you log them) as 1 calorie, so you can't secretly go over but still see you're in the green. Plan out your meals and snacks, pre-log, regularly weigh in one day a week at the same time, and make sure that you have enough calories left at the end of the day, if that is particularly when you'll go reaching for things, and don't buy large quantities of any high calorie foods, not enough there on hand to binge on, but still get it in small packages etc if you enjoy it.

snowflakesav

Stress causes us to crave sugar and carbs and halts weight loss. Try some anti stress tools..laughter, yoga, self care, a relaxing shower, aroma therapy.

hearthwood

It's very easy to overeat your workouts. Electronic devices, including MFP have a history of over estimating calories burned, plus you automatically feel justified in consuming more calories when you're working out. The result is always getting bigger and gaining weight.

Because of this over estimation of calories burned, its never a good idea to eat back more than 1/2 of calories burned.

mzbek24

Pu_239 wrote: »

You use the website how it's supposed to be used. Exercise/eat and don't go over often.

Yeah, I assume the person was trying to do so lol...not so easy to do when you're actually burning more calories than some people here even eat in a day.

sijomial

hearthwood wrote: »

It's very easy to overeat your workouts. Electronic devices, including MFP have a history of over estimating calories burned, plus you automatically feel justified in consuming more calories when you're working out. The result is always getting bigger and gaining weight.

Because of this over estimation of calories burned, its never a good idea to eat back more than 1/2 of calories burned.

Re. the bolded comments- no and no!
I've always eaten back my exercise calories when losing and maintaining successfully. Blanket advice really isn't a great idea.

Estimating calorie burns for some activities is perfectly simple and plenty accurate enough for success. If people use a little common sense and adjust their calorie balance based on their actual results the MFP method (and TDEE method) works well.

Remember this is a fitness site as well as a calorie counting site and some of us have big exercise burns. Telling everyone to halve their estimates would lead to some seriously missing their goals.

scrittrice

ncfitbit wrote: »

This was totally me. Before doing MFP consistently I always thought I'd burned way more calories than I actually did and felt like that meant I could eat whatever I wanted. Well, no, just no.

Me too. I've always been active, but I felt entitled to eat whatever I wanted because of it--that's how I ended up here in the first place. I try and really think about how I feel. If I'm ravenous, like I feel like gnawing on my own arm, I eat a small snack--edamame, a few almonds, a couple of dried apricot halves, a couple of crackers with hummus, a hard-boiled egg. I often make myself a cup of herbal tea. If I'm within an hour of eating a meal, I try to hold off (or, since I work at home and make my own lunchtime, I sometimes eat my lunch ridiculously early). Often I look at my diary and reread what I've eaten that day. For some reason, seeing it written down makes me feel full. And sometimes I go over, and that's okay, too. On days that I lift, especially, I give myself 100 calories in leeway (and sometimes I go over by more than that). I've been in maintenance for six months and my weight has stayed steady in any case.

If I'm going on a bike ride or to lift weights, I plan a snack to eat afterwards and have it waiting for me. Failing to do this--even if I'm not the least bit hungry as I leave the house--is a recipe for me rooting through the cupboards and the refrigerator and just throwing random things into my mouth. It's not pretty!

Also, keep in mind that protein bars are just one option, and maybe not the best one. There are plenty of protein-rich low-calorie snacks you can keep around (I do find that protein quells my hunger very effectively). I listed some above, and there's a longer list floating around somewhere on the boards.

I have eaten back every calorie burned (I wear a FitBit) and then some and still lost weight. MFP underestimates for me, but you need to figure out your own burns. It can take a little while, but it's a very useful thing to know. The goal isn't to eat as little as possible. The goal is to fuel yourself well.

cosmichvoyager

maybe speak to a dietician about this, one who is supportive and body positive. If you're working out a lot you're going to get hungry and you shouldn't have to be hungry all the time! A dietician who is good will be able to help you figure out what cravings are about, what your actual nutritional needs for your age, activity level and goals should be. They might also point out something you weren't noticing or acknowledging about your food choices or needs. Sometimes we go overboard on diet stuff/too extreme or are just missing some random food or nutrient etc.

amandakiska

I eat the occasional treat a couple of times a week. I believe the healthiest diet includes all foods, in moderation. I always log my indulgences and usually have them on very high activity days.