What do you do with your earned calories from exercise when maintaining?

whohasmynameuk

Morning all

I have always been a fat kid/teenager/adult so I started my healthier life style back in September were I weighed 340Ibs and I'm just coming up to my initial 100Ib lost target.

When setting up MFP I chose to lose 2Ib a week which gave me 2140 calories a day to play with, at the same time I brought a Fitbit one to track my steps using the suggested 10,000 steps as my daily target. This would usually give me 800-1000 extra calories but I never really used them unless I was having a rare treat night for myself.

Because I'm a little bit lighter I recently upped my targets in Fitbit from 10,000 to 12,000 steps and because the nice weather has started up I’m also walking 3 miles at least twice a week. This is now giving me anything from 1000-2500 calories gained by exercise which again I don't really use unless I am treating myself.

So on Friday I decided that I would like to maintain my weight for a period of time as I have never done this before. Out of curiosity I changed MFP from losing 2Ib to maintain to see what my new calorie intake would be and it jumped from 2140 to 2910 which seemed like a huge jump. I slept on that figure and it really did worry my so I decided that I would change MFP from 2Ib a week lose to 1Ib a week (2140 cals to 2410) for a couple of weeks to see what happens which eased my worry.

What should I do with my calories I earn from my exercise? Do you eat 50%, 75%, 100% of them?

I have never maintained a healthy weight before and the last 48hr has genuinely stressed me out a little.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations and advice.

yesimpson

When you hit maintenance I think you have to play around with the numbers and see what works for you. These are only estimates, so they may be too low/high/just right for you, you will have to try it out for a couple of weeks to see how it impacts your weight.
I find for me that I can eat 100% of my gym/run calories as long as I don't eat my walking calories (I try and walk around 2 hours a week).

sugaraddict4321

yesimpson wrote: »

When you hit maintenance I think you have to play around with the numbers and see what works for you.

^This. Don't be afraid to play with it a bit, maybe just slowing your loss a little at a time until you hit maintenance. You said you switched from 2 lb to 1 lb per week and I think that's a good way to taper down. Going straight from 2 lb to maintenance could be quite a shocker for your body. Weight fluctuates a lot every day anyway, so don't stress out if the numbers move around a bit. Oh, and I only log half of what Fitbit gives me, because I have a tendency to eat back my exercise calories.

sijomial

What should I do with my calories I earn from my exercise? Do you eat 50%, 75%, 100% of them?

The simple answer is I eat them all back and you should too as that's how it's designed to work. I probably put more effort into ensuring my estimates are reasonably accurate than most people though. A little bit or research and a bit of common sense goes a long way.

You will have to take exercise into account when you are maintaining so why not now?

The more complete answer is you need to find your calorie balance to get the right results. Which means setting an appropriate rate of weight loss and then adjusting based on actual results not just estimates. Whether that is custom setting your calorie goal or changing proportion of exercise calories doesn't really matter. Works just the same at maintenance.

Getting used to playing with your calorie goal is quite a good way to alleviate your "stress" and "worry". It shows it's really just a numbers game and you control the outcome. The idea of a diet break is also a very good idea, from both physical and emotional standpoints.

belimawr

Be careful with eating them all back as some suggest. The thing to recognize, as just as MFPs calorie goals are an estimate, so are the exercise calories. You'll need to play around with it, start slow, and figure it out for yourself. I eat most, but not all of mine back.

I've been trying to maintain the past two or three months, using MFPs maintenance numbers, but I also toss in some calories for error measuring (100 cal), etc. I still fall short of my goals most days between 50-200 calories, so my actual goal number may actually be 100-300 less than what MFP suggests. Over time that could make a big difference.

I'd say start off with a smaller deficit than you would have during weight loss, and creep your way toward that maintenance number: watching if you continue to gain, lose, whatever.

RosieRose7673

I calculated my TDEE. It takes exercise into account already so I don't have to worry about finding out exactly how many calories I've burned every day and eat that.

TDEE only really works if you are consistent with the amount of exercise you do. It gives you a set amount to eat everyday. I like it much better than fiddling with exercise calculations each day. Of course... It's only an estimate and needs tweaking!

FitPhillygirl

RosieRose7673 wrote: »

I calculated my TDEE. It takes exercise into account already so I don't have to worry about finding out exactly how many calories I've burned every day and eat that.

TDEE only really works if you are consistent with the amount of exercise you do. It gives you a set amount to eat everyday. I like it much better than fiddling with exercise calculations each day. Of course... It's only an estimate and needs tweaking!

I also set my goal to TDEE and just mark any exercise that I do as 1 calorie burned. I found that this is a much easier way to maintain.

RosieRose7673

I don't even log my exercise here. I have a total of 3 friends (holy cow! I'm popular!) on MFP. So I'm sure they think I'm a sloth. Lol

I know some people use it just to track what they've done but I just try to remember it all for the most part!

BigGuy47

The initial step into maintenance is mentally taxing for most people. After months or years spent on hitting a specific calorie target it can be difficult to get out of that mode. New maintainers need to tap into their hard earned skills; trust and patience.

Trust. To "trust the process", means that you have figured out what it takes to lose the weight. There's also a process to maintaining weight. It's more calories, it's a new thing - in time you learn to trust the maintenance process. It can be intimidating at first. Don't sweat it, you'll learn how to maintain.

Patience. It can take some time to determine in your maintenance calories. I spent several weeks of trial and error to find my TDEE. It's easier to calculate your calorie requirements if your activity level is consistent. Be patient and don't panic if you add a couple pounds. Give it time to work. All the calculations (MFP, TDEE calc, etc.) are simply estimates. You fine tune the number through experimentation.

There's no need to stress yourself out. Having too few calories or too many calories on a single day is nothing to lose sleep over.

cwolfman13

You eat them back just like you do when your goal is to lose..that's simply how you account for that activity with MFP as it is not accounted for in your activity level (if you're truly following the MFP method)

47Jacqueline

I eat them back. That's what your supposed to do. That's vigorous workouts though, not a leisurely walk. If you're tracking steps you'll notice that your tracker subtracts them when you add a real workout until you get to a significant number.

Also, anyone who's counting a 2mph walk as a workout is kidding themselves.

scb515

I eat my calories back. I don't run because I enjoy running, I run because I enjoy eating!

PAV8888

MFP is supposed to work with you eating back your true net exercise calories.

However Fitbit calories are not quite "exercise" calories.

Your Fitbit is giving its own estimate of your daily activities (TDEE) to MFP, and if greater than MFP's estimate you get a positive Fitbit adjustment.

In general most people have found their Fitbits fairly accurate in their estimations. Of course you should trust but verify based on real results.

When I say fairly accurate, I mean 90%+. Note that how "accurate" a lot of things prove to be depends on the accuracy of both sides of your ledger. You have to count your inputs correctly too.

Christine_72

It's not even 3pm here yet. I've still got a lot of steps left to go. Here is a screenshot of my diary thus far. Do I eat these calories back or not? Accurate or no?

dopeysmelly

When maintaining, I eat back all the exercise calories. I usually try and add them in as extra calories for my regular meals/snacks rather than resorting to 3 giant cocktails and a trough of peanuts (as wonderful as that would be, it's not the healthiest way for me to eat emotionally).

If you find yourself at the upper end of your desired weight range, those exercise calories are pretty handy to give you some room to maneuver. In those situations, I don't eat them all back for a while.

flippy1234

I try not to eat my calories back. Maybe if I am really hungry I will eat some of them back but heck, the less calories, the more weight I will lose. In my opinion one of the reasons you exercise is to help lose weight faster.

Francl27

flippy1234 wrote: »

I try not to eat my calories back. Maybe if I am really hungry I will eat some of them back but heck, the less calories, the more weight I will lose. In my opinion one of the reasons you exercise is to help lose weight faster.

This is the *maintenance* forum.

OP, you're supposed to eat them back, or you're still eating at a deficit. I'd say, don't eat them if you don't want to, but if you keep losing, you're going to have to figure out how much of them you have to eat back.

ahoy_m8

Congrats on achieving an AWESOME goal! Since you said you stressed about it, I'll second the TDEE method. TDEE is total expenditure including all exercise/movement. Once you figure out your TDEE, you don't count exercise calories. It greatly simplifies maintenance tracking **IF** your exercise/movement is super consistent over a period of a week or so. Doesn't have to be identical every day, but does have to be a pattern that repeats consistently. Given what you accomplished, you have what it takes to maintain successfully. Cheers!

cbills65

First of all, WELL DONE! You've done something amazing by changing your lifestyle and succeeding with your weight loss. Moreover, you are healthier and that's so important. I also was a fat kid and teenager. I lost weight when I was 17 but had done a lot of damage to my body by being obese in my formative years. For years as an adult yo-yo'd anywhere between 10 and 60 lbs at various times. Breaking that cycle is no easy task but it can be done. You are doing it the right way. As far as eating the calories back for maintenance, great advice on here so far. My goals are a bit different so I generally only eat back 50-75% of my calories earned IF I eat them at all. Best of luck to you! And again, congrats!

PAV8888

whohasmynameuk wrote: »

Morning all
I have always been a fat kid/teenager/adult so I started my healthier life style back in September were I weighed 340Ibs and I'm just coming up to my initial 100Ib lost target.
...
So on Friday I decided that I would like to maintain my weight for a period of time as I have never done this before. Out of curiosity I changed MFP from losing 2Ib to maintain to see what my new calorie intake would be and it jumped from 2140 to 2910 which seemed like a huge jump. I slept on that figure and it really did worry my so I decided that I would change MFP from 2Ib a week lose to 1Ib a week (2140 cals to 2410) for a couple of weeks to see what happens which eased my worry.
....
What should I do with my calories I earn from my exercise? Do you eat 50%, 75%, 100% of them?
...
I have never maintained a healthy weight before and the last 48hr has genuinely stressed me out a little.

Congratulations of reaching an AWESOME goal! I look forward to the day a few months from now that I might be able to get there too

There are no absolute rules because at the end of the day all we have is a data set full of measurements errors and estimations through which we wade in an attempt to find the solutions and numbers that will work out for us as individuals.

Every suggestion, or change, can only be evaluated against what happens with your body, and has to be adjusted based on that feedback. And don't forget to factor in am adjustment delay or you will forever chasing the ball!

I do not know if I would suggest to you to go to maintenance at this time, especially if you are not unhappy with continuing you weight loss. You could always just eat some more calories, still at a deficit, and slow down the rate of your weight loss for a bit, as opposed to halting it.

For various reasons I would suggest "reverse dieting" out of weight loss and into maintenance as opposed to heading straight to maintenance.

I have no way of knowing if this is really necessary, or whether it will work or not; but, I definitely plan to reverse diet out of my weight loss, if and when I get to goal.

And yes, I would expect to overshoot goal a little bit during the process, which is fine by me as I do believe that some weight gain is inevitable after a prolonged period of caloric deficit. All I am hoping for is to turn that weight gain process into a controller period of minimal weight gains, while perhaps using it to make some muscle gains during that time.

Back to you!

Instead of going to maintenance, I would suggest that you may be happier to "switch" things around a bit and stop setting yourself up as sedentary in MFP.
If you consistently walk 10-12,000 steps a day you are more likely spending calories at, or above, the ACTIVE setting in MFP.

Setting yourself to eating at ACTIVE calories for whatever goal you may have (1.5 or 1 or 0.5 or 0lbs a week loss) will allow you to better plan your day in terms of your eating. And this may make you a much happier camper!

In review I have three concerns with your stated course of action:

1. Increasing calories in a big wad to eat at maintenance is in my opinion a bad idea and likely to trigger both a water weight gain and an underlying gain in fat. Increasing calories during a reverse diet is more likely to control that to the degree that it can be controlled. Since you are planning to continue your weight loss, I am also not sure if there would be a benefit to totally stopping your weight loss at this time.

2. You may just be getting tired of the size of your deficit and your deficit continues to be fairly (too) aggressive. You do NOT currently have a 1000 Cal, 2lbs a week, deficit. You actually have a more than 2000CAL a day (i.e. more than 4lbs a week) NET deficit after exercise.

Whether you are actually losing at that rate or not, I do not know. But you are approaching a total weight at 240lbs, and a deficit suitable for a loss of no more than 1% per week of your body weight may be more appropriate. This would have you eating a heck of a lot more calories--at a more sustainable deficit.

3. Big adjustments at the end of the day make it hard for you to plan your day. If on 90% of your days you are active, set yourself up as active and mentally make sure to eat less on the days you are not as active!

nxd10

I eat them when I'm hungry.