eating back calories!?

wfcdd23jordan

Hi! So I have been involved with weight loss since February and i never really had a problem but i was wondering would i stop losing weight if i don't eat back my exercise calories? I just started working out again today and im gonna stay on it but I'm scared if i don't eat back my calories i won't loose weight. Also I'm 5'7 327 pounds and i eat 1250 a day.

I haven't worked out threw this whole weight loss but i still loose weight i just wanna move it faster with working out ) thanks ahead of time! How to hear from you

1princesswarrior

Weight loss is around 80-90% diet and the rest exercise. I don't understand why your goal is only 1250 though. According to your ticker you have a lot of weight to lose. As you get smaller your body needs less calories. At 1250 you really have nowhere to go. Are you weighing all your solid food and measuring your liquids? And counting every calorie (coffee creamer, those little tastes while cooking, certain flavorings)?

You're probably wondering what this has to do with your question. Well when you add exercise, preferably some resistance training along with cardio, you need to fuel your body so you don't lose lean body mass (muscle). If you don't eat back at least part of those calories then over time you might develop issues like hair loss, no energy, etc.

To know how many calories to eat back you need to know exactly what you're eating and what you're burning. MFP over estimates your calories burned for exercise as do most gym machines. Eventually you will want to invest in a heart rate monitor.

You want to avoid eating more than you think and not burning as much as you think.

SLLRunner

Weight loss is around 80-90% diet and the rest exercise

No, weight loss is 100% eating at a calorie deficit. Exercise is not required.

OP, yes, if you exercise, it's important to eat your exercise calories back.

At 300 some pounds, I'm curious as to why you are eating so little?

ab_1203

I agree with people saying youre eating too little. Aim for 2000 calories at least, youll still lose a good amount per month, maybe 6-7 pounds at least.

wfcdd23jordan

I'm eating 1250 because I'm comfortable with that and i loose around 10 pounds per month and im fine with that. I can't eat alot of food and 2000 is so much. But I'm just going to eat half of my exercise calories back!:happy:

TavistockToad

At 300 some pounds, I'm curious as to why you are eating so little?

this, you can easily lose 2lb per week eating more than 1250 cals!

TavistockToad

I can't eat alot of food and 2000 is so much.

you didnt get over 300lbs by not being able to eat 2000 cals!

chatty826

You are eating way too little calories and thats bad news for your body. Seriously starving your body (even if you don't feel hungry) is just setting yourself into another disordered eating pattern like the one that got you to 300lbs.

Add healthy calories ideally from good fats or veggies or healthy carbs. Suggestions add an avocado to your salad or eggs, back a yam or make sweet potato fries, add in some good wild caught seafood so your are getting in healthy nutrients your joints need.

I am 235lbs and my daily calorie goal is 1635 before workouts and thats to loose weight.

sijomial

I'm eating 1250 because I'm comfortable with that and i loose around 10 pounds per month and im fine with that. I can't eat alot of food and 2000 is so much. But I'm just going to eat half of my exercise calories back!:happy:

You're losing 10lbs a month eating a tiny amount of food and now you want to increase that rate of weight loss by adding in more exercise without fuelling that exercise?

Sorry but that sounds like a silly plan to me!

You have come a long way already - have patience.

LeanneGoingThin

You need to eat back calories because otherwise your deficit will become too big and you might lose more lean body mass. You want to lose fat, not muscle. Make sure you eat enough protein as well. I recommend eating back 80% of your exercise calories, because I find they're usually overestimated. Unless you have a heart monitor.

focuseddiva

I'm fairly new here and have seen varying opinions about this. I find MFP's method is kind of bad for me personally. If I see that I have 400 calories that I *could* eat back. then it becomes this game of rationalization in my head. Like, "You have 400 calories you could play with. That's a Kit Kat bar. Or two." Then I decided I'd just eat back half of my exercise calories. After two weeks, I only lost one pound. A bit slow for me. So now I am adjusting. If I am really hungry. I'll eat some of my exercise calories back. But if I am not, I don't.

chatty826

I'm fairly new here and have seen varying opinions about this. I find MFP's method is kind of bad for me personally. If I see that I have 400 calories that I *could* eat back. then it becomes this game of rationalization in my head. Like, "You have 400 calories you could play with. That's a Kit Kat bar. Or two." Then I decided I'd just eat back half of my exercise calories. After two weeks, I only lost one pound. A bit slow for me. So now I am adjusting. If I am really hungry. I'll eat some of my exercise calories back. But if I am not, I don't.

As long as you are still consuming a good amount for your body weight thats okay but 1200 calories for a 300lb person is too little. Also one pound in two weeks is not slow its normal. Don't rush your weight loss.

bajoyba

I'm eating 1250 because I'm comfortable with that and i loose around 10 pounds per month and im fine with that. I can't eat alot of food and 2000 is so much. But I'm just going to eat half of my exercise calories back!:happy:

You're losing 10lbs a month eating a tiny amount of food and now you want to increase that rate of weight loss by adding in more exercise without fuelling that exercise?

Sorry but that sounds like a silly plan to me!

You have come a long way already - have patience.

I agree. We all want to get to goal, but part of ensuring long-term success is creating healthy habits that will last a lifetime. As someone else already mentioned, at 1250 calories, you really have nowhere to go but up. Figure out your body's actual caloric and nutritional needs and fuel your body appropriately. It will make maintenance that much easier.

wfcdd23jordan

I'm poor. I don't have much food options to eat. I'm the only one in my house trying to loose weight and i have very little foods that are clean to select from daily so i can maybe up my calories to 1500? Would that be better? Because I'm confused

No_Finish_Line

if you don't eat back your exercise calories, you are likely to loose weight faster. However, the likely hood that you are losing lean body mass increases quite a bit the larger your calorie defecit.

to make a long story short, the lean body mass will make you look better, help you lose weight and help you through your workouts, so your not really doing yourself a favor by rocking a huge defecit (or not eating back exercise cals).

exercise is probably better looked at as a means of shaping your body and being healthly, less so as a short cut to burning fat.

No_Finish_Line

i think 1500 would be better, and i don't want to make to many suggestions because it seems like things are working for you.

but my life got easier when i started believing more in the calories in and out model then 'ice cream and potato chips make you fat' mentality.

You really can eat want you want and as long as you hit your calories goals, still lose weight.

I always felt that eating a 'junk food' snack here and there would make me binge. when i finally embraced it, cravings for food went down dramatically, and i didn't feel so much like a socal pyria and office parties and family parties.

It touched me that you said you didn't have much money and had to limit your food choices amoungst what is available. i just don't want to you sit there starving (don't know thats the case) if you really didn't have to. otherwise i would have kept my mouth shut.

my plan is basically just get the protein i need ( a huge debate but i shoot for a gram per lbs body weight) and i don't so much care where the rest of the calories come from as long as i'm at or under my goal

wfcdd23jordan

Yeah I've been loosing weight with the calories i eat, just about a month ago i changed my calories from 1400 to 1250 because i wasn't hungry at all. But I'm gonna adjust my calories a bit because really i am big but i rarely ever am hungry it's weird. But i think I'm just going to talk to my doctor about this and see what's going on. Because doesn't it say as long as we eat the min of 1200 we aren't starving ourselvs and we're fine??

wfcdd23jordan

Also i don't starve I'm so full at the end of the day. But yesterday i worked out and i was so hungry!!!!!!

wfcdd23jordan

Btw also i eat lots of proteins tuna, chicken, egg whites everything i eat is pretty much clean (low fat, greek yogurt etc)-

Sashoi

I agree with everyone you're eating way to little. I eat at least 1650 a day n have lost pretty much 10lbs a month.

MaryJane_8810002

You should ALWAYS have a net calorie intake of at least 1200 calories. From personal experience if I net less than 1200 calories for a certain period of time (at least 1-2 weeks straight) I end up going on a 5000+ calorie binge for a few days because my body is trying to replenish itself from the calories that I have been denying it.

In other words stop starving yourself.

tmauck4472

I hardly ever eat my exercise calories back NO matter how many calories I was eating in a day, and I've been damn successful at it. But if your still hungry then by all means eat. My weight loss never slowed down for about a year and half and I was losing 10 to 15 lbs a month.

Everyone is different. I was over 400 lbs and so I ate at a huge deficit, and under what everyone here would consider safe. You have to have a strong will to eat the way I did and I don't recommend it, but I also did not suffer from it, not even now. I've increased my calories since I'm closer to my goal I needed to increase so I don't have to eat so low for the rest of my life. We all do what we have to do for us. Do what works for you.