Do you ever...or am I CRAZY

bermequeen

Do you ever brush you teeth just so you don't eat anything else for the night. I find myself doing that more often because I don't want to go over my calories for the day even though I have well over 1,000 left because of exercise. Am I the only crazy person that does that?

primalpam

I brush my teeth so I won't eat anymore.....but then eat anyway and get pissed that I have to brush again. :laugh:

jennagoogles13

Why the heck aren't you eating back your exercise calories?!

JHaakinson

No, but that is a great idea....I'm going to have to remember this one!

bermequeen

The whole eat back calories confuses me. Why burn them to eat them back? I try not to do that.

Francl27

The whole eat back calories confuses me. Why burn them to eat them back? I try not to do that.

There's a deficit built in MFP. So if you burn 2000 a day just existing and cooking and whatnot, your goal is 1500. But if you burn an extra 1000 on top of that with exercise, you'll burn a total of 3000... but only eat 1500 if you don't eat back your calories, leaving your body with no fuel. Sure, it will pick up some from your reserves, but not as much as it would otherwise, and eventually it will stop and your metabolism will slow down, and you'll be tired and have no energy to work out.

If your goal is 1500 and you burn 1000 calories and eat them back, you'll still eat 2500 calories out of 3000 burned, and will keep a reasonable deficit for a healthy weight loss. The point is you can't expect your body to get too much energy from your fat reserves, it needs some fuel too.

rainydays5

I agree! I keep reading the explanations but still have the mind set that if I eat them back after working so hard to burn them off then what is the point. I did try eating them back (or most of them) this past week and haven't lost anything! Pretty disappointed! However, I have more energy eating them back and do not get tired so early in the evening. I still think I am going back to what was working for me.

erickirb

The whole eat back calories confuses me. Why burn them to eat them back? I try not to do that.

Because MFP assumes you don't do any exercise when assigning you a caloric intake, so by default it is not enough to sustain your workouts:

As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.

TavistockToad

Why the heck aren't you eating back your exercise calories?!

this!

BaconMD

The whole eat back calories confuses me. Why burn them to eat them back? I try not to do that.

Worked for me... and tens/hundreds/thousands of others who are trying to lose weight forever, not for a while.

jlahorn

I lost about 1 lb/week for almost a year NOT eating back my exercise calories (or eating back half at most), then decided to try eating them back based on how hard people on MFP were pushing that strategy. I gave it 6 weeks and lost .5 lb in 6 weeks. No change in diet or exercise. That's terrible. This week, I went back to *not* eating back my exercise calories and lost 1 lb already.

This is where people start derisively calling me a "special snowflake" because what works for them did not work for me.

YMMV.

MissJacquelineN

I do the same thing. My inner laziness comes out and I refuse to brush my teeth again, so I just walk away from the food. I guess it works out in my favor, but it's kind of odd being annoyed at myself. lol.

clarkeje1

It works for me. Or gum.

WhiteGirlWasted13

::raises hand::

And sometimes, I'll take it a step further and just go to bed early.

cwolfman13

........I don't want to go over my calories for the day even though I have well over 1,000 left because of exercise................

That sentence makes no sense. You do realize that your NET calorie GOAL (look that word up...sounds like you do not understand the definition) is a deficit of calories from maintenance. It is NET of exercise...so you're supposed to eat back exercise calories and NET to your GOAL. Just be careful not to overestimate burn. What the frack are you doing that you think you burn 1,000 calories a day in exercise? That's athlete **** right there...if you really are burning that many, you might want to dial that back...or learn to eat.

Either way, learn how to use this tool. As with any tool, it works much better when used as designed.

kathyhull

Yep - all of the above - brush my teeth, chew gum, go to bed early - anything to get myself out of that "I've got to shove everything in the kitchen in my mouth right now" feeling! I guess the goal is learn better coping skills over time, but hey - ya gotta do what works for you!

cwolfman13

The whole eat back calories confuses me. Why burn them to eat them back? I try not to do that.

Deficit is built into your calorie GOAL...you do not need to create a deficit with exercise.

Diet for weight control; exercise for fitness.

eleqtriq

I workout a *lot*. Talking thousands of calories per day a few days a week, near 1000 a few others and a few days off.

I burned 12,465 calories via exercise from Thur July 4th till yesterday. Measured by a Garmin FRS70.

I do not eat back all my calories. I only eat back enough to feel good again the next day.

You only need to restore your glycogen and get enough protein. Since I don't stress about carbs like so many of you do, I find it easy to eat at a big deficit and still have fuel for big workouts. I bicycle, run, lift weights, and do boot camps. My weight has plummeted, my body fat percentage has plummeted and my strength has soared.

That's what's worked for me.

horndave

I agree! I keep reading the explanations but still have the mind set that if I eat them back after working so hard to burn them off then what is the point. I did try eating them back (or most of them) this past week and haven't lost anything! Pretty disappointed! However, I have more energy eating them back and do not get tired so early in the evening. I still think I am going back to what was working for me.

Wow a whole week of an effort. You did so good just going a whole week.

CallMeCupcakeDammit

You're the only crazy person who leaves 1,000 exercise calories on the table. Shoot, give 'em to me if you don't want them. Total waste.

bethmakesmusic

I like the idea of brushing my teeth so I don't eat any more at night. Good idea! And thanks for all the explanations about eating back your workout calories. That's good for me to know too!