Do you eat back your exercise calories?

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valerie_neuharth
valerie_neuharth Posts: 18 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I did a pretty good job losing my first 10lbs. Now I feel like I've hit a plateau. I am exercising more often and for longer periods of time. The increased time obviously gives me more calories to consume......but I am not losing the weight now.

So, how many of you eat back your exercise calories? Should I stop? Or would that hurt me? Advice?

Replies

  • usernameenvy
    usernameenvy Posts: 140 Member
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    I think you listen to your body, the less calories you eat and the more you burn = bigger weight loss, but you have to be careful because if you dont provide your body with enough calories to function then you will just put more weight on as ive learnt in the past... that said; every one is different and you just have to listen to your body, try not eating back your workouts and see how you feel, you may need to eat a little more to compensate for big workouts
  • usernameenvy
    usernameenvy Posts: 140 Member
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    Have you recalculated your calorie intake since losing that weight?
  • valerie_neuharth
    valerie_neuharth Posts: 18 Member
    edited April 2015
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    usernameenvy wrote: »
    Have you recalculated your calorie intake since losing that weight?

    Yep...still at 1200 calories...

  • krissyreminisce
    krissyreminisce Posts: 284 Member
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    I eat some of them back, but I've seen from most people on this site that you shouldn't eat them all. I'm a bit confused on this myself, since I go by what the treadmill tells me. But I'm never hungry enough during the week to eat it all back anyway.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    If you know for sure how many calories you are eating and how many you are burning, you can eat all of your exercise calories and lose weight. Most of us aren't sure of either number. There is some overlap between BMR and exercise, so you would want to subtract that anyway. Exercise machines are typically inaccurate, as are activity databases, and HRMs. So, to keep from eating too much, many people choose to only eat part of the calories they report as having burned.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Are you using a food scale? Yes, eat back a portion of them.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    On 1200 calories here for the last 5 months ( since 2 weeks at 1300 now) But i always ate 25% of my burned calories back

    I lost almost 80 pounds in 160 days. So np by eating back a portion of your burned calories. Only good to feed your body when it works harder, or you will burn out at one point.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    edited April 2015
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    The only exercise I do is walking. I've only been serious with this for the past week. I'm averaging between 10,000 and 15,000 steps everyday which gives me a few hundred calories more to eat.
    I'm using fitbit to count my steps, as yet i'm too scared to eat back my exercise calories as i'm still skeptical on how accurate these devices really are... Plus it irks me to put in so much effort (I've never walked this much in my entire life) only to essentially eat back all that work....

    ETA: when i first started tracking, my average steps per day were between 1,500 and 2,000. Embarrassingly low.
  • NewBeginningBren
    NewBeginningBren Posts: 36 Member
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    I listen to my body, and if I get the feeling it needs something a bit back, then I'll eat a few, and I do mean few back.
  • zc020587
    zc020587 Posts: 7
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    christinev297 wrote: »
    The only exercise I do is walking. I've only been serious with this for the past week. I'm averaging between 10,000 and 15,000 steps everyday which gives me a few hundred calories more to eat.
    I'm using fitbit to count my steps, as yet i'm too scared to eat back my exercise calories as i'm still skeptical on how accurate these devices really are... Plus it irks me to put in so much effort (I've never walked this much in my entire life) only to essentially eat back all that work....

    ETA: when i first started tracking, my average steps per day were between 1,500 and 2,000. Embarrassingly low.

    This is exactly how I feel... I don't wanna workout so hard then just eat it all back.
  • valerie_neuharth
    valerie_neuharth Posts: 18 Member
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    Yes, I use a food scale. I literally measure everything that I eat. I also have a fitbit that I use to track steps. Based on what you've all said, I should not eat everything back :) Thanks for the advice :)
  • valerie_neuharth
    valerie_neuharth Posts: 18 Member
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    christinev297 wrote: »
    The only exercise I do is walking. I've only been serious with this for the past week. I'm averaging between 10,000 and 15,000 steps everyday which gives me a few hundred calories more to eat.
    I'm using fitbit to count my steps, as yet i'm too scared to eat back my exercise calories as i'm still skeptical on how accurate these devices really are... Plus it irks me to put in so much effort (I've never walked this much in my entire life) only to essentially eat back all that work....

    ETA: when i first started tracking, my average steps per day were between 1,500 and 2,000. Embarrassingly low.


    Do you eat back calories you've earned from your steps?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    valerie_neuharth wrote: »
    christinev297 wrote: »
    The only exercise I do is walking. I've only been serious with this for the past week. I'm averaging between 10,000 and 15,000 steps everyday which gives me a few hundred calories more to eat.
    I'm using fitbit to count my steps, as yet i'm too scared to eat back my exercise calories as i'm still skeptical on how accurate these devices really are... Plus it irks me to put in so much effort (I've never walked this much in my entire life) only to essentially eat back all that work....

    ETA: when i first started tracking, my average steps per day were between 1,500 and 2,000. Embarrassingly low.


    Do you eat back calories you've earned from your steps?

    No i don't. I'm not saying i never will, they are handy as a buffer should go over my calories on any given day. But if i don't have to eat them back, as in i'm really hungry and i HAVE to have that bowl of ice cream, then i wont.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Are you using a food scale? Yes, eat back a portion of them.
    :|

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