Is it counter productive to eat back your exercise calories?

gomissfitnes

I am 5'1, 126lbs, 47 years old and looking to lose about 10 pounds. I have changed my macros to 40 carbs 30 protein 30 fat. I do about 40 minutes exercise most days. ( 25min. plyometric type, and targeted muscle work) I have seen a change over the last month and although the scale hasn't shown it, I know it will work. Hopefully. But I have noticed that eating 1200 calories leaves me hungry. I know the difference between cravings and hunger. I am afraid to eat and halt my progress but I am worried that there is something I am not understanding about weight loss? Is it okay to go over by 100-200 calories and still lose weight?

janejellyroll

Assuming you are accurately estimating what is a deficit for you, your calories consumed, and your calories burned, no.

Eating back exercise calories isn't going "over." It's simply bringing you back to your original deficit.

lynn_glenmont

But if I understand your post, you're not losing weight now ("the scale hasn't shown it"), which means you're eating at maintenance. Adding calories above maintenance leads to weight gain.

gomissfitnes

That's what I don't understand because my clothes fit better, but the scale only shows a two to three pound loss.

Sunna_W

Are you comfortable with fiddling with your macros?

If you are, try 45% protein / 40% fat / 15% sugar & carbs.

The lower sugar / carbs should assist with addressing hunger issues, IMO. Also, add 2 TBSP peanut butter between lunch and dinner. That seems to help me a lot.

cwolfman13

gomissfitnes wrote: »

That's what I don't understand because my clothes fit better, but the scale only shows a two to three pound loss.

Three pounds in a month is pretty good when you only have 10 Lbs to lose...it's not much to lose...you're not 300 Lbs, so the weight isn't just going to fly off like it would if you were...you don't have the fat stores to mobilize for fast weight loss.

No, it is not counterproductive to eat your exercise calories...as @janejellyroll said, so long as you're actually accurate with calories in and calories out. It is the way this tool is designed as exercise activity isn't included in your activity level and is thus unaccounted for activity...suffice it to say that unaccounted activity should be accounted for somewhere.

The issue many people have is that basically, they're not really very good at this and aren't accurate...they take database entries at face value rather than validating them by other means...they eye ball portions and log whatever it is they think they're eating...on the surface, it appears they're doing everything right...as in, "yes, I'm logging everything"...sure, you're logging everything, but how accurate is it? Dietitians and whatnot have difficulties too...there are inherent inaccuracies when doing this.

I'm incredibly anal about details, etc...I had no problem losing weight at my desired rate of loss while eating back most of the calories that my HRM told me...I only adjusted that burn for the calories I would have otherwise burned just sitting around.

Rufftimes

The problem I have with MFP is the overestimating of calories burned during exercise. I haven't paid enough attention to it because I don't eat back calories, but I see it all the time on here. "So and so burned 675 calories doing 35 minutes of treadmill" No, you didn't. And then you figure you can eat those back, and wonder why you're not losing.

Luna3386

gomissfitnes wrote: »

That's what I don't understand because my clothes fit better, but the scale only shows a two to three pound loss.

So the scale is showing it. With 10 pounds to lose you should aim for .5 pounds lost per week, and you are actually more than that.

Use a food scale for accuracy.

Eat at least some of your exercise calories, if not all.

DebLaBounty

I eat back about half of my exercise calories and have continued to see progress losing weight.

ActionAnnieJXN

I look at my exercise calories like I do my "buffer money" in my checking account - it's a safety net in case I want a little extra and go over the official amount that I have to spend, but I try not to use it too often and I never use the whole amount.

JeromeBarry1

Rufftimes wrote: »

The problem I have with MFP is the overestimating of calories burned during exercise. I haven't paid enough attention to it because I don't eat back calories, but I see it all the time on here. "So and so burned 675 calories doing 35 minutes of treadmill" No, you didn't. And then you figure you can eat those back, and wonder why you're not losing.

The solution to this problem is for one to review their logs and weight change progress of the past 4 weeks and calculate the amount of weight change they should have had, and compare that to the amount of weight change they did have.

gomissfitnes

This was all very helpful. I think I will under estimate my exercise so I don't have a false sense of how many calories I burned and then if I go over by a few calories if I'm too hungry, I won't flip out. Thanks for all the advice!

lynn_glenmont

2 -3 lbs lost in a month suggests at most a 375 average daily deficit. Unless you're adding more exercise than you've been doing in the past month, eating back exercise calories will slow your rate of loss even more, or even put you in a surplus. Maybe you need to experiment with the kinds of foods you eat, to find foods you find more satiating for fewer calories.

FreyasRebirth

sometimes when you are smaller, a few pounds can really show. You may not need to lose all 10, just convert some to muscle.