Eating back my calories

ashowers36

So I just realized last week that I was supposed to be eating back my calories that I exercise off. So I started doing just that and now I feel like it has undone all of the progress I've made. My pants feel tighter again and I just fell "bigger". Don't know if I should keep eating them back like I'm supposed to or go back t the old way of eating my daily calories and then leaving anything I burn off uneaten.

FP4HSharon

You don't say what your weight did during that time, did you actually gain, or just felt like you did. Speaking from experience, it can *feel* like you're gaining when you're not. Eating back calories has some strong opinions on both sides. My personal exerience was that I lose the most each week if I only eat back my cardio calories. If I don't eat back any, then I don't lose as much, & if I eat all exercise cals back then I hardly lose any.

Oh2BeMaintaining

I don't eat back my exercise calories, I find my weight loss is greater if I don't although some people do and lose just fine. Through trial and error you will find what works best for you.

AmyRhubarb

Could be that your body is adjusting to the new intake since you started eating them back. Stick with it for a few weeks and see how it goes.

MFP is designed that exercise cals should be eaten back - your daily calorie goal already has a deficit built in, meaning eat to goal every day and do zero exercise, and you'll lose weight. Not eating back exercise cals creates a much larger deficit, which in the long run can hinder rather than help your progress, as well as cause issues with metabolism, hormones, etc due to under eating.

deksgrl

It could be a number of things going on. Some things you eat could cause water retention, or could be natural "that time of the month" coming on. It could be that your exercise calorie estimate was too high. It could be your profile is not set to lose the appropriate amount of weight per week.

DebbieLyn63

It really depends on how big your deficit is before exercise. If you only have a 300 cal deficit to begin with, then you eat back your calories, especially if you go by the MFP database, you can overestimate your cal burn and end up negating your deficit.
If you have a 1000 cal deficit, then spend 2 hours in the gym and burn an additional 600 or more cals, then your body will not be very happy with you if you do not eat more calories.

How big of a deficit you can handle depends on how much extra weight you have to lose as well. If you have an extra 50 pounds or more to lose, you can handle a larger deficit and it isn't as important to eat back your calories. If you are already at a healthy weight and are just trying for those last 5-10 pounds, and are very active, then you need to be more careful and do it more slowly.

Figure out how many calories you maintain your weight on- TDEE, and either take a set amount off of that number, or a percentage from it, and see how you do. Adjust that number up or down depending on your results.

ETA Many of the exercise entries on the MFP database over estimate your actual calorie burn. Especially cycling and elliptical machines. For a moderate workout, I wouldn't count more than 300-400 cals per hour max. MFP seems to be much more accurate for men than for women. For this reason, many people only eat back half of their exercise calories.

tmauck4472

I don't eat mine back at all unless I'm hungry and then I eat whether I have exercised or not. I'd stick with what was working and quit listening to what others say to do.

ARoe9410

I haven't been doing this long enough to have any evidence in numbers on the scale, but I found that I *feel* best when I eat back only part of my exercise calories... that way I don't feel like I'm starving, but don't feel overly full either. I agree with some of the others who said it's kind of a trial and error thing - find what works best for you. Good luck!

eileen0515

I have found if I eat all my exercise calories, I maintain my weight. I base whether I eat any or not, on if I feel hungry. I've been at this awhile and have lost 55 pounds. I know my body pretty well, I can tell the difference between being underfed, and just want to eat for other reasons. So I guess my answer is. "It just depends"

DeeBrownBaker

if you're hungry... eat some back... I don't usually eat them all back...

If not... don't sweat it!

gabrielleroberts3

You can't always go on how your clothes feel on you either. It could be water weight, or other mitigating factors that make your clothes feel tighter. I don't always eat back my calories either. Just make sure you eat enough to not go into starvation mode. I usually go for at least 80% of my calorie goal everyday.

cwolfman13

It could be a number of things going on. Some things you eat could cause water retention, or could be natural "that time of the month" coming on. It could be that your exercise calorie estimate was too high. It could be your profile is not set to lose the appropriate amount of weight per week.

^^^This^^^

Also, one of the issues with using a NEAT method calculator like MFP is that, while you're supposed to eat back exercise calories, it is easy to both underestimate consumption and overestimate burn. Most people who claim that it doesn't work for them are doing one or both of those things. You really have to be on it in both RE to be as accurate as possible...measuring and weighing portions, not eating out much (lots of error in calorie estimates for restaurants) and even reducing your consumption of pre-packaged foor (as much as 20% error is allowed for nutritional information) and even if you're using a HRM to estimate burn, you should probably be knocking off about 30% to account for BMR calories burned during that time and estimation error. Also, if you think your "burn" looks too high...it probably is. If you're running or walking you can estimate roughly 100 calories per mile give or take...other exercises become more complicated but another decent way to estimate is 7-10 calories per minute of moderate exercise where you struggle to hold any kind of conversation...if you can read or watch tv or whatever you're probably on the lower end...if you pretty much have to focus in on the task at hand you're probably in the higher end.

When I did the MFP method, I pretty much stuck to logging and eating back aerobic calories as anaerobic exercise is very difficult to determine the estimated burn and HRMs are very inaccurate for anaerobic exercise or even interval type of stuff.

cebreisch

Unless you're training for a marathon, doing P90X or Insanity or something and REALLY burning some SERIOUS calories, I'm not a big fan of "eating back the calories" you exercise off.

I've had a physiologist, behavioral coach and nutritionist all tell me that so many people think they can go work off food they've eaten. Really, depending on what it was, it usually ends up that there's not enough time left in the day to do enough working out to really work it off.

That's the reason I didn't get my gym membership at this one gym here in Indy - because of it's proximity (about 50 yards) to the Dairy Queen. I KNEW the second I'd get done with whatever I was doing at the gym, I'd go through the drive through and get something that would totally counter all the work I just did....and that's IF I finished the workout and didn't find some excuse to get out of there early.