Should I not eat back my exercise calories?

ladyinredflush

Hi everybody. I am trying to shed about 15 pounds that crept up on me in my sedentary lifestyle during graduate school. I try to jog for about 45 minutes every other day, and usually eat about 1200 calories per day. At night I get a little hungry though so I eat a small snack, sometimes I go over 1200 because of a faster metabolism possibly?

I usually ate back my calories but I did not really see much of a change. I am thinking of not eating any of my exercise calories back, but I am not sure if this is a good idea if I still get hungry at night. I do not want to lose muscle during my weight loss journey.

What do you think I should do?

veganbaum

For how long have you been trying to lose?

You're not logging consistently or accurately. That would be the place to start. With 15 lbs to lose, your goal should be no more than .5 lb/wk. And your logging will need to be very accurate. Or, you could try setting it for 1 lb/wk and be a little sloppier with logging, but if that doesn't work you'll need to work on your logging.

Also, you should be eating at least some of your exercise calories back to fuel your body, especially if you're only eating 1200 calories.

All that to say - start with your logging.

And read the links here:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help-must-reads#latest

BelleCakes2018

I never used to eat back my calories... so on the occasions I DID go overboard.. I never needed to worry about it.
The only time I would eat more cals is if I was losing too much weight... but I never "felt" any losses were too much!

trjjoy

I eat back 50% of my activity calories.