Psychology of "eating back calories"

chasecohen

I love food, so you're damn skippy I'm eating those exercise calories back!

AbnormalYak

Do you feel like a rodent in an exercise wheel trying to earn food ?

Do you punish yourself for overeating by racking up some exercise calories to neutralise it ?

Do you resent having your exercise efforts wiped out by "eating back" ?

Are you driven to regular exercise to accommodate your overeating ?

If you answer "yes" to these questions, you may have an eating disorder or exercise compulsion. These are not normal or healthy ways of thinking about food and exercise and your body.

55in13

If I eat back my exercise calories, I don't lose weight; which doesn't make sense, because if I am still under the calorie goal, then I should be in deficit by the end of the week.

When mistakes are made, the most common ones are getting consumption too low and exercise too high, so they compound when you "eat back". Studies show a lot more of us make those mistakes than you would expect. Its not always our fault; products are often labeled in misleading or just plain wrong ways.

CkepiJinx

I honestly don't obsess over the whole exercise calorie thing.

I exercise because it makes me feel good and it is good for my heart, lungs, bones, and muscles.

I eat because it fuels my body and I like food :laugh:

If I am hungry I eat them back if I am not I don't . I do try to make sure I don't net too low too many days in a row. Other than that I dont think about it.

Val_from_OH

I used to set my base calories at a 500 calorie deficit, and then eat back my exercise calories. This was not working for me for a couple of reasons: 1 - I was not losing weight. I have no idea why - I checked my portions, logged every bite, there is no simple explanation for this. 2 - I was VERY HUNGRY on rest days (3/week). 1300 calories is not a lot of food for a 200 lb person :-(

I just started eating at a 300 calorie daily deficit, and not eating back exercise calories. Since I burn about 1500 calories working out during the week, I am hoping that this will balance out and get me headed back on the weight loss track. I do find that having a more consistent calorie intake is more satisfying for me, and I am able to stay under my calorie goal on both workout and rest days. Except last week... cuz I was on vacation... I logged it, and it was not pretty.

andreabrabham

I absolutely love being able to eat back my calories. I dont feel so deprived. I feel like I have some sort of freedom. It really works for me. I dont eat everything that I burn but I know that I can if I want. I usually burn at least 1000 calories a day and it is just easier to know how many calories that I need to eat back for energy. It's simple and it just works for me. When I exercise my motivation is how much I can eat! I dont think so much on weight loss, I love to eat what I want. I dont want to have to eat clean all of the time. i deserve to eat what I want. Life is way too short!

marciebrian

Well to me that is a very different way to view it but to each there own. I exercise because 4 years ago I couldn't, 4 years ago I was a prisoner trap in my own home at 560 lbs. I couldn't stand for 30 seconds at a stretch let alone walk from room to room.... Exercise has less to do about over eating as you say it and more to do about allotting me the freedoms I once took for granted. I changed my relationship with food to allow me to lose the weight and I exercise for the sheer joy of being able too.... The relationship between the food and exercise is strictly a mutual one, I eat my exercise calories to fuel my body for the physical demands I am asking of it to do..... Crazy concept but this is my approach.......... Best of Luck..........

Just WOW! Hands clapping as loudly as they can. Down over 300 lbs? Congratulations and you are my new inspiration. I don't have much to lose but always a bit of a struggle. I can't congratulate you enough and whatever you're doing, its sure working for you!:flowerforyou:

likitisplit

I see calories as providing the energy to do fun things. So, if I'm going to do cool stuff, I need to fuel my body to be able to do that. Seeing my exercise calories lets me do that without going to far in the wrong direction.

NaomiJFoster

On days when I don't exercise, I feel like I have to work quite hard to keep myself at my calorie goal. When I exercise, I can eat as I like to without very much effort and no feeling of deprivation. I don't think of it as 'eating back calories'. I think of it as giving myself space to eat happily. Exercise makes room for more calories. That's all it is.

chooriyah

I earn them in advance if I know that I want a G&T later or to go out to eat - it's the only way to fit either of those things into my calorie limit.

I don't resent it. I do hate gymn exercise though, and 'earning the calories' is often the only motivation I can use to get myself into my work out clothes. Once I'm working out I sometimes enjoy it, but it's the getting going (as supposed to watching TV) that's the hardest part.

nee90

I wouldn't say it motivates me, but it helps me keep track of my exercise and eating, which helps me feel more like I have control. Having more control is motivating, for me.

I agree! I don't control how much I eat by how much I exersice... I just keep track...
So if I overeated today ... I know l should be more carefull and eat less tomorrow...
If I didn't workout enough today ... I''ll try to workout more tomorrow..

neandermagnon

when cutting, I do TDEE - 10% (was TDEE - higher percentages when I went from obese to a healthy body fat percentage) because then I just have one number to work with and don't have to worry about calculating exercise calories. I can adjust the TDEE - 10% number up or down based on results, hunger levels etc, if necessary. I'm currently eating at a slight surplus to gain strength so right now it's a different matter.

As for my outlook regarding exercise and eating, I eat to fuel my body. I view post-workout nutrition from an evolutionary point of view, i.e. exercise = hunting (i.e. if you don't exercise you don't eat - those were the conditions we evolved under) therefore exercising then not eating = failing at hunting = increased food seeking behaviour later on, in modern terms increased food seeking behaviour means more hunger and more trips to the fridge (or similar) and more likelihood that you'll undo what progress you think you're making by not eating exercise calories. And even if you have a strong enough will to not do that, why fight against your body when there's an easier way, i.e. fuelling your workouts properly including eating a decent post-workout meal. I'd rather give my body the message "this exercise I'm doing is essential for getting the food that comes after it, so you'd better direct that protein and those calories into strengthening the muscles that I used to get it" - i.e. how it worked for our evolutionary ancestors.

SnicciFit

Well to me that is a very different way to view it but to each there own. I exercise because 4 years ago I couldn't, 4 years ago I was a prisoner trap in my own home at 560 lbs. I couldn't stand for 30 seconds at a stretch let alone walk from room to room.... Exercise has less to do about over eating as you say it and more to do about allotting me the freedoms I once took for granted. I changed my relationship with food to allow me to lose the weight and I exercise for the sheer joy of being able too.... The relationship between the food and exercise is strictly a mutual one, I eat my exercise calories to fuel my body for the physical demands I am asking of it to do..... Crazy concept but this is my approach.......... Best of Luck..........

NOT a crazy concept. That's how it SHOULD be. If you eat to fuel your physical activity, you'll be able to DO more and the fat loss will come as a result of that. Congrats on changing your relationship with food. That's huge. Not everyone who loses weight does that (which is why they can't keep it off).

EDollah

"You MUST eat back your exercise calories" is the biggest "not a truth" I see propagated on this site.

Not a truth: "You MUST eat back your exercise calories or your metabolism will slow down, or go into starvation mode!!!111!!"
Truth: I've been monitoring my metabolism via measuring expected weight loss versus actual weight loss. If metabolism slowed down I wouldn't be hitting the numbers, not by a long shot. Further I've recently had it measured via Bod Pod out of a concern, in no small part caused by reading these forums, that metabolism had slowed down. It did not.

Not a truth: "You MUST eat back your exercise calories or your body will consume muscle mass"
Truth: I've been monitoring my body fat percent, and therefore lean body mass, for two months now. Amount of lean body mass lost in that time? 0 pounds. Maybe 1 over a period of time where I lost 26 pounds.

Not a truth: "You MUST eat back your exercise calories or you will die!" (Seriously, a militant eat-it-backer told me this in response to my diet/exercise strategy)
Truth: This is not my zombiefied corpse typing this.

Let me try to make it abundantly clear that I'm not saying it's a not good technique for some people. Maybe it is for a lot of people. Maybe most people. But not for me, not right now. If I had been "eating it back" the ticker below would have a number like 22, not 39, for pounds lost.

stephenidea

I used to obsess massively about meals after a workout. I would feel massively conflicted, as on the one hand I had finished an hour weights session and ended with some fat burning cardio so of course I deserved a meal as a reward right... It took a while but I soon realised that using food as a reward mechanism could only end one way... Badly. What happens if you don't get to work out that day, because of what ever reason, do you punish yourself, beat yourself up about it, deprive yourself a meal...

I did all of these things and for every meal I missed I ended up eating three times as much on a reward day. Psychologically it is really difficult to get the balance right, now I plan out my meals, I can eat whatever I want as long as it falls into my current macro nutrient numbers for the day, this is based around my current weight, height and my fitness and body image goals. I don't reward myself a meal after a good workout but instead eat a balanced daily diet based around my macro numbers and I eat everyday no matter if I've been to the gym or not. Loving my results and the new found control over me I have gained through being able to monitor my caloric intake with this app as well as the motivation I see all around me from everyone else on here!!!!

toutmonpossible

I've never understood this concept. I set a calorie goal that I work around most of the week, I get in what exercise i can, I weigh myself a couple of times a week and make adjustments. Usually, I'm not surprised by the scale.

The fact that people are giving themselves permission to eat more based on their exercise is troubling to me in view of the often incredible calorie burn estimates they post. Then there are the people who will strain to construe ordinary activity as exercise ("Standing", really?), when the activity levels of "Sedentary," "Lightly Active," etc., are supposed to factor that in. Further take the fact that many people are not well-informed about the calorie content of food and are not tracking accurately and you have a formula for disaster.

Many years ago I had the fantasy that i would kill myself at the gym in order to eat whatever I wanted. Then I realized that I'd have to live at the gym and even then, working out just to eat was a stupid strategy.

bajoyba

Do you feel like a rodent in an exercise wheel trying to earn food ?

Do you punish yourself for overeating by racking up some exercise calories to neutralise it ?

Do you resent having your exercise efforts wiped out by "eating back" ?

Are you driven to regular exercise to accommodate your overeating ?

If you answer "yes" to these questions, you may have an eating disorder or exercise compulsion. These are not normal or healthy ways of thinking about food and exercise and your body.

Agreed! I think these questions are really asking if we have an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise.

*Do you feel like a rodent in an exercise wheel trying to earn food ?
-No, because I don't exercise to earn food. I could just as easily choose to stick to my calorie goal and not exercise, but exercise is good for me. I do it to get a healthier, stronger body, and I like the way I feel after a good workout.

*Do you punish yourself for overeating by racking up some exercise calories to neutralise it ?
-I generally don't overeat. I do my best to make sure my food fits into my calories for the day. If I know in advance that I'm going to be eating a lot later in the day (or eating calorie-dense foods), I will probably try to exercise to make a little extra room in my deficit. But every once in a while, I do go over my calories, because I'm hanging out with friends or decided to have a couple beers. Do I beat myself up about it? No. I recognize that even if I go over my calorie goal for the day, I'm still in a deficit for the week and am not causing any sort of damage to my progress. Also, I don't view food as an enemy or something to be punished for. Food is fuel.

*Do you resent having your exercise efforts wiped out by "eating back" ?
-I don't view eating back my exercise calories as wiping out all of my efforts. I understand how MFP works and have no interest in creating a larger deficit than I need to. Eating my exercise calories back doesn't destroy my progress, it FUELS my progress.

*Are you driven to regular exercise to accommodate your overeating ?
-I'm driven to regular exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. I exercise because I like being able to run and do pushups. I like that things aren't physically as difficult for me as they were before I started. I didn't gain weight from chronic overeating, I gained weight from simply not paying any attention to calorie dense foods. My relationship with food prior to joining MFP wasn't something that needed to be fixed, it was simply something I needed to become aware of.

Calliope610

Do you feel like a rodent in an exercise wheel trying to earn food ?

Do you punish yourself for overeating by racking up some exercise calories to neutralise it ?

Do you resent having your exercise efforts wiped out by "eating back" ?

Are you driven to regular exercise to accommodate your overeating ?

If you answer "yes" to these questions, you may have an eating disorder or exercise compulsion. These are not normal or healthy ways of thinking about food and exercise and your body.

Agreed! I think these questions are really asking if we have an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise.

*Do you feel like a rodent in an exercise wheel trying to earn food ?
-No, because I don't exercise to earn food. I could just as easily choose to stick to my calorie goal and not exercise, but exercise is good for me. I do it to get a healthier, stronger body, and I like the way I feel after a good workout.

*Do you punish yourself for overeating by racking up some exercise calories to neutralise it ?
-I generally don't overeat. I do my best to make sure my food fits into my calories for the day. If I know in advance that I'm going to be eating a lot later in the day (or eating calorie-dense foods), I will probably try to exercise to make a little extra room in my deficit. But every once in a while, I do go over my calories, because I'm hanging out with friends or decided to have a couple beers. Do I beat myself up about it? No. I recognize that even if I go over my calorie goal for the day, I'm still in a deficit for the week and am not causing any sort of damage to my progress. Also, I don't view food as an enemy or something to be punished for. Food is fuel.

*Do you resent having your exercise efforts wiped out by "eating back" ?
-I don't view eating back my exercise calories as wiping out all of my efforts. I understand how MFP works and have no interest in creating a larger deficit than I need to. Eating my exercise calories back doesn't destroy my progress, it FUELS my progress.

*Are you driven to regular exercise to accommodate your overeating ?
-I'm driven to regular exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. I exercise because I like being able to run and do pushups. I like that things aren't physically as difficult for me as they were before I started. I didn't gain weight from chronic overeating, I gained weight from simply not paying any attention to calorie dense foods. My relationship with food prior to joining MFP wasn't something that needed to be fixed, it was simply something I needed to become aware of.

BRILLIANT!

DebbieLyn63

I had never heard of the concept of 'eating back' your exercise cals before I joined MFP, and have always thought it was a flawed and even potentially dangerous concept. More often than not, I see people who get frustrated because they are 'eating back' their cals and not losing weight. For many people, the exercise database gives then way too many calories, and wipes out their deficit.

For me, at 49 yo, 5'6" and starting weight of 230, and extremely sedentary due to physical disabilities, my TDEE was not very high at all. I couldn't create a decent deficit without adding in some exercise to supplement it. Exercise was very hard for me at that time, so the thought of wiping out my hard work by eating back the calories, took away my motivation to exercise.

For me, diet and exercise have different purposes. Diet creates a calorie deficit, gets in my macros, eliminates foods that my body doesn't like, and allows me to lose weight at a reasonable rate.

Exercise makes my body stronger and healthier. Weight-bearing exercises strengthen my muscles and bones, cardio strengthens my heart and lungs, endorphins help my moods and sleep.

For me, exercise is sporadic, and not on a regular schedule. I get it in when time schedule and my body allows. If I have managed extra exercise in one week, it may result in a better loss for that week, and I am happy. THAT helps motivate me to exercise more sometimes when I don't really feel like it.

That said, if I happen to go over my goal a bit on a day that I have exercised some, then I don't feel bad, and it is nice to not see the red numbers.

But if I were to 'eat back' all the exercise cals I am given, I would definitely NOT lose weight.

For those of you who exercise regularly and strenuously, then of course you will need to eat more to stay in a reasonable calorie deficit.

We all have to figure out a system that works for us, and can't really compare ourselves to what works for someone else.

BTW, my weight came from becoming disabled 12 yrs ago, thereby eliminating exercise and most activity from my life, but not dropping my calories enough to compensate for it. I have made tremendous progress in my physical abilities in the past couple of years, but I know that at any time I could be back in a wheelchair again, so if I got used to eating more because of exercise cals earned, then it would be hard to cut my cals back again if I needed to and I would probably gain my weight back again. I will NOT allow that to happen!