Who still loses weight by eating back the calories they burned off from exercise?
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I do.
When I first started on MFP, it was the only way I could feel like I wasn't starving. I eat a ton...
MFP had put me at something like 1400 or 1500 calories...and that wasn't going to cut it. I worked out in order to get an extra 200-300 calories a day.
I lost like 25 lbs in 6 months.
I also even upped my calories from what MFP recommended and put it at 1600 or 1700. Some days I even ate all the exercise calories from that as well.
That being said, I also changed the food I ate, going primarily plant based, whole grain, and lean meats. So, there may be a correlation there as well, but I'm not going to debate anyone about it. :P0 -
I eat 50-75% of them back yes, goal weight nearly reached and lost 25-30 kg (never weighted in at the start)0
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Most days I eat every single delicious calorie my Garmin gives me an adjustment for, still losing my 1lb per week as intended and haven't thought about quitting once in 7 months.3
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I don't use the MFP calorie goal as it's WAY too low for me. It says I should be on 1200 calories to lose less than half a pound a week. In reality I lose that much eating about 1500 calories a day.
I suppose that if I stuck to MFP's calorie goal and then ate ALL of my exercise calories back I'd lose about the same, but I don't do the same amount of exercise every day. So some days I'd be eating 3,000 or more and other days, 1200.
I've put some weight on over the last year, taking my total loss to about 38kg. But I lost a total of 45kg (about 100 pounds) by eating back half of whatever apps told my I burned through extra exercise. And it was easy and pleasant and there was lots of beer and cake and ice cream and pizza and McDonald's and sweets. And I still lost 3kg a month.
When I eat too few calories I don't really lose weight faster, AND the weight I lose comes back much more quickly. I was amazed how long it took to gain back 10kg actually.
I'm training for a half marathon now and will be taking high calorie energy gels on my long runs. Why? Because like any machine, your body performs better when it's properly fueled.
So why make yourself miserable by denying yourself lovely food that your body needs? Eat some of your exercise calories. And enjoy them!2 -
victorias36 wrote: »I have actually gained weight eating back my exercise calories. I tried it for a week just to see and I gained weight. I have learned to eat back only a small portion of them because exercise calories are not always accurate. Even my Fitbit gives me too many calories so I just modify. Everyone is different. I wish I was one of those that could eat back all of their calories, that would be awesome!!
Are you sure it was actual weight gain? I can gain or lose 4 pounds overnight.
I can be absolutely perfect in my diet and exercise for a week and gain. I can eat like a pig and move too little and lose. It evens out after about three weeks usually. So I think it would take more than a week to see the effect that any change had on weight. Could that higher number on the scale have been a blip?
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One further thought: You say "I want to start eating back the calories i burn off, but i feel like then my workout goes to waste". Workouts never go to waste. They make you more fit. They improve your mood. They can help other aspects of your health, such as blood pressure or blood sugar. Even some cardio can help with preserving existing muscle as you lose fat, even if it's not quite as good for that as weight training is. They help build the habit of being active, which will help you keep weight off more easily once you reach goal weight.
Amen to that! And as someone who didn't take care of herself for a year after losing 100 pounds and only put a fraction of it back on I can attest to that. I didn't exercise as regularly as I should because of injuries, but exercise had become a habit and I was still much more active than I had ever been when I was obese. I didn't like not exercising. AND I'm pretty sure that having not ruined my metabolism by eating far too little, I was able to limit the weight gain in that year off.
I never regret a workout. I often regret not working out. It makes me happier and healthier (can't believe I'm typing this stuff) and it makes room for beer and ice cream. A workout is never, ever wasted!
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So, so, so often this.Could that higher number on the scale have been a blip?
[/b]
Your actual weight level cannot always be seen when you weight yourself at a single point of time.
To truly see what your weight level is doing you have to look at how it changes over a period of 4-6 weeks.
Which is why I keep suggesting that people should use a trending weight app, or web site to better evaluate their weight level changes (or their own spreadsheets, of course)
libra -> android
happy scale ->iphone
www.weightgrapher.com -> web (set yourself "to maintain")
www.trendweight.com -> web (my favourite. requires freely available without a device fitbit.com account, OR directly supported equipment)
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@WendyLeigh1119 I don't think a blanket recommendation to set oneself to sedentary can possibly be described as safe!
I agree it would make losing weight a certainty, but I don't want to just "lose weight", I want to improve my health, and achieve my fitness goals, too.
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Yes, most days I have been eating back all of my exercise calories and I've dropped 7 kg in the first 3 weeks.0
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I can eat back about 20% of this apps estimation and still lose 2 lb a week.0
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I eat them all as I'm in maintenance. When I was losing I ate 50-75% of them.0
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WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »A person who is nervous or worrying about eating back calories can be assured that if they're anything above "sedentary, but have it set on "sedentary"....they can safely eat back whatever extra calories they've earned from exercise and still lose weight. Some people diet, but don't exercise and their non-exercise level (such as their jobs or chores or whatever) vary greatly day to day. People who have exactly the same activity level at work, school, and home everyday wouldn't be confused about how many calories to eat back anyway.
And I'm well aware of Fitbit's negative calorie adjustments. Those are frequently wrong, too. I can't wear my fitbit when I swim laps or even during heavy punching/kicking sessions. Fitbit often cannot properly log certain workouts or need manual entry (which is all guessing). Even Fitbit lists the many sport's and activities that aren't accurate. Heart rate isn't very accurate and that's all they use to calculate. It doesn't know your workload vs muscle mass to figure out how hard you're working.
Even worse....people who have naturally very low or very high heartrates get bizarre resting readings and changing the Exercise Zones only helps during "moderate to heavy" access. My fitbit tells me that on days I don't exercise, I can only eat a total of 650 calories daily. So no. Trusting the negative adjustments is much more complicated than what I initially suggested.
Which is what virtually every website and forum suggest people do, btw. Set both fitbit and mfp to "sedentary" AND allow negative adjustments and then you're sure you're always safe to eat back 100% of calories and still lose your set lbs goal.
I average 15,000 steps/day and setting myself as Sedentary would not be an accurate representation of my activity, even though I have a desk job. If I chose that incorrect setting, MFP would underestimate my calorie needs and the adjustments I see from FitBit would be enormous.
People who get more than 7,000 steps/day are not Sedentary.
People who suggest that FitBit gives them too many calories usually don't understand how the system works and/or they have underestimated their baseline calories to begin with and/or they are striving for a goal rate of loss that is too aggressive for the amount they have to lose.
If a person doesn't exercise and they don't have an active job or lifestyle they should be set at Sedentary. That doesn't mean that everyone should. As @AnnPT77 pointed out, selecting an appropriate activity level combined with enabling negative calorie adjustments should provide reliable numbers that can be trusted when deciding how many calories to eat back.
To the OP: when I started MFP I didn't have a FitBit. I entered my exercise (walking) and ate back the calories. I lost weight doing so. About 6 months in, I got a FitBit and realized I was more active than I thought. I got good advice on here to up my activity level to represent the day to day movement I had, resulting in a higher baseline of cals but smaller exercise adjustments. I ate those back and continued to lose at an appropriate rate for how much I had to lose. I'm now 3 years into maintenance, I still eat back the calories, and I've been maintaining quite easily doing so. And I'm a 5'2 female over forty with a TDEE of 2200 cals. So that's a lot to trust.5 -
Yes, I usually eat 50% on the day and bank 50% for my weekends
Basically I eat the lot. 
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I do. The only way I'd be able to get through a workout is if I ate those calories.1
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I lose while eating most of mine back.
Regardless, you need to eat after working out. Food is fuel. Being a diabetic I can use my glucose meter to see exactly what happens to my body when I work out - I use all my fuel! If you're healthy and not on meds, your body will correct low blood sugar in a little bit, but it doesn't make you feel great.
If you eat a protein based snack with some carbs immediately after working out, you will be more likely to hold onto muscle mass and lose fat, and you will top off your blood sugar and replenish your glycogen stores. One study found a glass of milk worked well. Doesn't have to be much - a piece of fruit and some Greek yogurt is my usual fix.2 -
There's some really reassuring stuff in this conversation. I'm always scared to eat back my exercise calories, but I might start doing that a bit at a time. Thanks everyone! :-)3
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rheddmobile wrote: »I lose while eating most of mine back.
Regardless, you need to eat after working out. Food is fuel. Being a diabetic I can use my glucose meter to see exactly what happens to my body when I work out - I use all my fuel! If you're healthy and not on meds, your body will correct low blood sugar in a little bit, but it doesn't make you feel great.
If you eat a protein based snack with some carbs immediately after working out, you will be more likely to hold onto muscle mass and lose fat, and you will top off your blood sugar and replenish your glycogen stores. One study found a glass of milk worked well. Doesn't have to be much - a piece of fruit and some Greek yogurt is my usual fix.
Thank you for this. I'm non- diabetic hypoglycemic and this is the advice I was given. I usually have a cheese stick and fruit or PB on crackers.1 -
WinoGelato wrote: »WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »A person who is nervous or worrying about eating back calories can be assured that if they're anything above "sedentary, but have it set on "sedentary"....they can safely eat back whatever extra calories they've earned from exercise and still lose weight. Some people diet, but don't exercise and their non-exercise level (such as their jobs or chores or whatever) vary greatly day to day. People who have exactly the same activity level at work, school, and home everyday wouldn't be confused about how many calories to eat back anyway.
And I'm well aware of Fitbit's negative calorie adjustments. Those are frequently wrong, too. I can't wear my fitbit when I swim laps or even during heavy punching/kicking sessions. Fitbit often cannot properly log certain workouts or need manual entry (which is all guessing). Even Fitbit lists the many sport's and activities that aren't accurate. Heart rate isn't very accurate and that's all they use to calculate. It doesn't know your workload vs muscle mass to figure out how hard you're working.
Even worse....people who have naturally very low or very high heartrates get bizarre resting readings and changing the Exercise Zones only helps during "moderate to heavy" access. My fitbit tells me that on days I don't exercise, I can only eat a total of 650 calories daily. So no. Trusting the negative adjustments is much more complicated than what I initially suggested.
Which is what virtually every website and forum suggest people do, btw. Set both fitbit and mfp to "sedentary" AND allow negative adjustments and then you're sure you're always safe to eat back 100% of calories and still lose your set lbs goal.
I average 15,000 steps/day and setting myself as Sedentary would not be an accurate representation of my activity, even though I have a desk job. If I chose that incorrect setting, MFP would underestimate my calorie needs and the adjustments I see from FitBit would be enormous.
People who get more than 7,000 steps/day are not Sedentary.
People who suggest that FitBit gives them too many calories usually don't understand how the system works and/or they have underestimated their baseline calories to begin with and/or they are striving for a goal rate of loss that is too aggressive for the amount they have to lose.
If a person doesn't exercise and they don't have an active job or lifestyle they should be set at Sedentary. That doesn't mean that everyone should. As @AnnPT77 pointed out, selecting an appropriate activity level combined with enabling negative calorie adjustments should provide reliable numbers that can be trusted when deciding how many calories to eat back.
To the OP: when I started MFP I didn't have a FitBit. I entered my exercise (walking) and ate back the calories. I lost weight doing so. About 6 months in, I got a FitBit and realized I was more active than I thought. I got good advice on here to up my activity level to represent the day to day movement I had, resulting in a higher baseline of cals but smaller exercise adjustments. I ate those back and continued to lose at an appropriate rate for how much I had to lose. I'm now 3 years into maintenance, I still eat back the calories, and I've been maintaining quite easily doing so. And I'm a 5'2 female over forty with a TDEE of 2200 cals. So that's a lot to trust.
Minor point, but credit where due: I believe it was @SusanMFindlay who said those very sensible things about activity level and Fitbit settings.
(I pretty much just opined that people should base decisions on their actual weight loss rate, rather than fussing about the definitions of activity settings and accuracy of exercise estimates. Too many people are worrying about estimates when they could be using actual personal data.)3 -
WinoGelato wrote: »WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »A person who is nervous or worrying about eating back calories can be assured that if they're anything above "sedentary, but have it set on "sedentary"....they can safely eat back whatever extra calories they've earned from exercise and still lose weight. Some people diet, but don't exercise and their non-exercise level (such as their jobs or chores or whatever) vary greatly day to day. People who have exactly the same activity level at work, school, and home everyday wouldn't be confused about how many calories to eat back anyway.
And I'm well aware of Fitbit's negative calorie adjustments. Those are frequently wrong, too. I can't wear my fitbit when I swim laps or even during heavy punching/kicking sessions. Fitbit often cannot properly log certain workouts or need manual entry (which is all guessing). Even Fitbit lists the many sport's and activities that aren't accurate. Heart rate isn't very accurate and that's all they use to calculate. It doesn't know your workload vs muscle mass to figure out how hard you're working.
Even worse....people who have naturally very low or very high heartrates get bizarre resting readings and changing the Exercise Zones only helps during "moderate to heavy" access. My fitbit tells me that on days I don't exercise, I can only eat a total of 650 calories daily. So no. Trusting the negative adjustments is much more complicated than what I initially suggested.
Which is what virtually every website and forum suggest people do, btw. Set both fitbit and mfp to "sedentary" AND allow negative adjustments and then you're sure you're always safe to eat back 100% of calories and still lose your set lbs goal.
I average 15,000 steps/day and setting myself as Sedentary would not be an accurate representation of my activity, even though I have a desk job. If I chose that incorrect setting, MFP would underestimate my calorie needs and the adjustments I see from FitBit would be enormous.
People who get more than 7,000 steps/day are not Sedentary.
People who suggest that FitBit gives them too many calories usually don't understand how the system works and/or they have underestimated their baseline calories to begin with and/or they are striving for a goal rate of loss that is too aggressive for the amount they have to lose.
If a person doesn't exercise and they don't have an active job or lifestyle they should be set at Sedentary. That doesn't mean that everyone should. As @AnnPT77 pointed out, selecting an appropriate activity level combined with enabling negative calorie adjustments should provide reliable numbers that can be trusted when deciding how many calories to eat back.
To the OP: when I started MFP I didn't have a FitBit. I entered my exercise (walking) and ate back the calories. I lost weight doing so. About 6 months in, I got a FitBit and realized I was more active than I thought. I got good advice on here to up my activity level to represent the day to day movement I had, resulting in a higher baseline of cals but smaller exercise adjustments. I ate those back and continued to lose at an appropriate rate for how much I had to lose. I'm now 3 years into maintenance, I still eat back the calories, and I've been maintaining quite easily doing so. And I'm a 5'2 female over forty with a TDEE of 2200 cals. So that's a lot to trust.
Minor point, but credit where due: I believe it was @SusanMFindlay who said those very sensible things about activity level and Fitbit settings.
(I pretty much just opined that people should base decisions on their actual weight loss rate, rather than fussing about the definitions of activity settings and accuracy of exercise estimates. Too many people are worrying about estimates when they could be using actual personal data.)
Ahh very true - sorry @SusanMFindlay! That's what I get for not double checking all the great posts above mine!2 -
WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »And I added a shortcut to my phone to this chart that has literally every possible activity and calories burned based on weight and intensity. I use it to compare to MFP, Fitbit, and Samsung Health awarded calories to help adjust the averages. It's really comprehensive as a quick reference guide.
http://www.statisticbrain.com/calories-burned-during-exercise/
Wow, that's, um, generous. At least for cross country skiing and for cycling, those are just nonsense high.0 -
NorthCascades wrote: »WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »And I added a shortcut to my phone to this chart that has literally every possible activity and calories burned based on weight and intensity. I use it to compare to MFP, Fitbit, and Samsung Health awarded calories to help adjust the averages. It's really comprehensive as a quick reference guide.
http://www.statisticbrain.com/calories-burned-during-exercise/
Wow, that's, um, generous. At least for cross country skiing and for cycling, those are just nonsense high.
That's why you average it. S Health gives me really high burns and mfp goes either way. I think it's a good list because it has pretty much every activity possible (especially specific chores and such) with weight ranges (which is useful). Now I know that maybe instead of going back to machining, I should chop wood to get buff fast.0 -
I've always eaten almost all of my exercise calories. Works for me!1
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I almost never eat mine back, but that's because I'm still gathering data. I need more time to examine my weightloss trend and see what rate I'm losing at. Then I'll take a look at my info and dial it in. May was just way too weird to base any decisions off of. I'm going to look at May along with June and then maybe July and THEN see what I can be eating back. I have a lot to lose so I figure I can just take a deep breath and take the time to try to get it right for long term success.1
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MsHarryWinston wrote: »I almost never eat mine back, but that's because I'm still gathering data. I need more time to examine my weightloss trend and see what rate I'm losing at. Then I'll take a look at my info and dial it in. May was just way too weird to base any decisions off of. I'm going to look at May along with June and then maybe July and THEN see what I can be eating back. I have a lot to lose so I figure I can just take a deep breath and take the time to try to get it right for long term success.
Your error may vary over time.
Here is an interesting tidbit. When counting my "calories in" using the MFP total "calories in" number, my Fitbit TDEE error these past 2 years ranged from 3.5% to ~5.75%. When I calculated my *calories in" by multiplying out the actual macros the error reduced to between 1.85% and 3.95% at various points of time.
That would be (based on trending weight and 1lb = 3500 Cal) between 58 and 121 Cal of innacuracy. Over 2 years... while eating between 2847Cal and 2942 Cal... and either actually losing at -233 Cal a day for the one year, or "gaining" at +1 Cal a day for the next year (11months).
Just saying that assuming a maximum ~10% error off the batt seems more prudent than assuming a 100% one...2
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