Still not sold on eating back my exercise calories...

Ruchell

I've read about a million posts on here about this and I understand the idea and the reasoning behind eating all of your exercise calories back but...I'm still not sure it's right for me. Are the majority of people on MFP doing this or not, and what have your experiences been like?

summerkissed

I do to a limit! If I ate back all my exercise calories I would be eating over 2500 cals a day! And quite frankly I cant eat that much!

luvnikkibabe

It doesn't make sense to me you need to burn those calories not just get them back.

Trishkit

I eat back some, but usually not all. I try to really listen to my body and pay attention to what it needs after a good, hard workout. I work out in the evening, so I find it hard to eat back 500-600 calories a couple of hours before I go to bed. But I usually manage to eat back a couple hundred calories.

CallMeMamaBoo

I started off avoiding eating back those calories and was at a point where the scale stopped moving for me but after reading about eating those calories back I thought I would give it a try for one week. I didn't eat them all back...only half of them and guess what? My scale moved almost 4 lbs in a week! I also made sure that I was having low cal days and high cal days. Everyone is different. You have to do what works for you. I would try not eating them back and if you lose weight, you lose weight...but if you ever see yourself stalling out, than I would definitely try eating some of those calories back. G'luck!

Mads1997

I lost the first 14 kg eating mine back.

McKayMachina

I do it. I net 1200 cals/day by eating 1700 and burning off 500 through exercise.

I've lost 25 lbs. since Jan. 1, 2011.

That's more than 2 lbs./week and I am still losing.

MFP builds the deficit in for you. Don't complicate it. I recommend trying it for 60 days and seeing how it goes. I bet you'll love it.

treena99

I feel the same way as you do. I do not eat all my calories back. At one time I tried, but it only left me still weighing the same. I started losing weight when I left a few remaining calories. Besides I workout late in the evening, so I also choose not to eat after 8pm.

life1979_24

Your net calories are set for your safe weight loss deficit . If you are hungry eat them if not don’t as long as you keep your net at 1200 or above starvation mode should not be a problem. It really depends on what you are eating and how you are exercising. As you log you will see your patterns. If you are workout everyday you defiantly need to eat at least some of the calories back to give your body fuel to keep going. (the more you move the more you eat) But you cant just add a six hundred calorie meal to make up for it spread the calories throughout the day. If you don’t eat them you will lose faster but it will not be sustainable (more risk of yo-yo)

kbloodworth

Better results if I eat them back than if I don't.

Losing2Live69

My personal experience: I was eating 1200 calories a day. I was exercising and burning about 400-500 a day. I was not eating my exercise calories. I was only netting 700-800 calories a day. I started off good. I lost 6 pounds right away. However, after a few weeks my weight loss came to a sudden halt. I also started feeling sick. I got dizzy every time I stood up, my heart kept beating really fast, I was weak all over, and my muscles were cramping. I thought maybe I was getting the flu. I went to see my doctor and I brought her a copy of my food/ exercise diary for the previous 7 days. She took a look at it and the first thing she told me is, "you are starving yourself". They did some blood work. My sodium and potassium were dangerously low from exercising and not eating enough to compensate for it. I wasn't dehydrated, I was starving myself. I almost ended up in the hospital. She told me to up my intake to 1400 calories a day. I didn't want to because I was scared I would gain my weight back. However, I took her advice and I started eating more, making sure I netted no less than 1200 calories a day. I ended up losing 7 pounds in about 10 days once I increased my calorie intake. Some people are totally against eating your exercise calories. However, what I experienced made me a firm believer in making sure I eat enough.

Spitfirex007

Honestly I stopped tracking food and paying attention to all that stuff about a month ago. And I dropped 20-25 lbs since late Jan.

I think it's dumb to eat them. So I never did when I actually paid attention.

Aylilth

I listen to my body, with what I burn when I hit the gym I sit about 700 cals burned. I eat what I eat healthy. And If I'm hungry I'll eat something simple as that.

menchi

I eat mine back. I read a good post for this some time ago but I don't remember where it is anymore so I'll try to paraphrase. It's not as straightforward as "do you eat the exercise calories?" because it depends on how your intake and burn is calculated. Some personal trainers/nutritionists will say yes or no to that question depending on whether or not they already take the exercise calories into account in the way they calculate their plans. That said, most of them would agree that when all is said and done, you should have a specific calorie deficit at the end of the day. For a typical person, if you are short 500 Cal a day, then you'd be losing about 1 lb per week. At MFP, they already take that deficit into account when they set your daily goals. You can check this under the "MY HOME" tab and click on "Goals"-- your deficit is in red on the right. As you log your exercise, you will see that your goal changes but the NET goal remains the same so that your DEFICIT stays the same.

The reason exercise helps isn't to increase the deficit (which would be the same as starving yourself), but to boost your metabolism by burning fat and building muscle since muscle uses more calories than fat (which means your body goes through calories faster and results in weight loss and muscle tone). The reason you lose weight is because you have that deficit which motivates your body to use the fat already stored in your body.

Realistically, if your exercise burn is small (less than 150 or so) then it's not a huge deal if you don't eat them back. Also if your exercise burn is huge (500+), you may have a hard time eating all the extra (I use those for the good fats like olive oil in my salad or almond butter with toast or a handful of nuts). So my best answer is try to eat them back, but definitely listen to your body.

Elzecat

I've been reading alot about this whole balance of calories in-calories out and how to make it work for good steady weight loss...Today's the first day I did not even come close to "eating back" the exercise calories...I had 600 extra today, on top of my normal 1500 calorie plan, from a really good workout, felt like I ate enough all day and and still have 400 "left over" right now...even though my "net" today is lower than the recommended 1200, I am gonna leave it alone for today. I had gained a couple pounds back from the 4 I lost this month (not watching food intake at all until about a week ago) and was really discouraged, so I am not even going to get the scale out for a few more weeks...I got my body fat percentage measured at the gym last night and it is down about 7% from where it was a few months ago, so I am gaining muscle if nothing else...and I look better...we'll see how this goes...

suzycreamcheese

i eat some back but not all.
One of the joys of exercising is it gives you more leeway to eat better/more, but ill probably only start eating them back properly when i want to maintain rather than lose

MrsCupCakeBoyle

If im hungry ill use some.

happybunnysbabe57

i dont eat mine back unless i am still hungry then i only eat a little bit back.

zoink66

Sometimes I eat them; sometimes I don't. About a 50/50 split. Mostly depends on how hungry I am that day.