Asked my Trainer re eating back calories

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Replies

  • Posts: 180 Member
    bookmarking this awesome post.... thank you
  • Posts: 49 Member
    Great post. :)
  • Posts: 205 Member
    Not sure why everyone is so impressed with the trainer's reply, especially since the trainer believes in "starvation mode" which simply DOES NOT exist. Let me say it again - it does not exist - unless you are at a Nazi Concentration Camp and have been ritually denied basic sustenance for months and months on end. Even Weight Watchers acknowledges it doesn't exist.

    That being said, "eating back" you calories does not have to be an all or nothing proposition. I work out 7 days a week and 5 of those days I work out twice. What I know is that I - along with 95% of other people - grossly underestimate their calorie intake and grossly overestimate their exercise calories. Which means that MOST people will gain if they try to exactly eat back their calories. For example, does everyone wear a heart rate monitor? I do, and when I ran 5 miles Thursday MFP told me I burned 592 calories. My HRM told me I burned 375 - quite a difference. If I was eating back what MFP told me, I would be consuming at least 200 more calories that day.

    There is a simple middle ground. MFP wants me to eat 1200 per day, even with "active lifestyle" checked. I changed it to 1400, and I am to eat 1400-1600 per day, every day, no matter what exercise I do. This is what works for me. You may have to experiment with what works for you. 199 pounds gone forever for me so far.

    P.S. Google "starvation mode myth" and "muscle burns more per day then fat myth" and you will find hundreds of pages - with dozens of studies showing why this is not true.
  • Posts: 165 Member
    Thanks for the post.
  • Posts: 980
    Thank you for the post. I wish I had known about this before I gained some weight back.
    I stilll dont know if I believe in starvation mode, but I do know that while I did lose lots of weight eating only 1200 calories a day and exercising for hours a day, once I tried to maintain that weight, it didnt work. Worse I now have unhealthy food habits that I never had before. So now I am back on track trying to eat back my calories.
  • Posts: 350 Member
    Love it!!! This is why stalled my metabo and it's taking me forever to get back to losing mode. Having to refeed my body so it knows we're not in danger of starving, lol.

    So glad to hear a trainer backing up both MFP and my nutritionist.

    Eat those calories!!!
  • Posts: 312 Member
    Thanks for the information. We really helped explain things.
  • Posts: 324 Member
    Thank you! makes me feel better about eating back my calories! i use it as a way to eat food i enjoy and not feel guilty!
  • Posts: 2,309 Member
    AWESOME! Thanks!!!
  • Posts: 8,980 Member
    [deleted my reply. i misunderstood your post initially]
  • Great post!:flowerforyou:
  • Posts: 205 Member
    great post
  • Posts: 553 Member
    Thanks for sharing!
  • BUMP!!
  • Posts: 342 Member
    I think that this is something that we all are curious about. This is very informative! Thanks so much for sharing! I for one, really appreciate it! I want to be sure that I do this the right way and can make this a lifestyle change for life! :smile:
  • Posts: 271 Member
    Thank you! And thank you to your trainer for breaking this down Big Bird!!:flowerforyou:
  • bump
  • Posts: 442 Member
    Thank you for the information very helpful
  • Posts: 416 Member
    This help me a lot!! I burn 500-800 calories a session. I try to not got over my 1200 even if I worked out! I am tired and I had no idea what net calories meant. Thanks :)

    How do you have over 900 posts on here and not know what net calories mean? I'm really not trying to be an *kitten*, but I can hardly look at this forum or anything on this website without seeing the term several times.
  • Posts: 212 Member
    thank you so much for sharing!
  • Posts: 108 Member
    perfect, thx for sharing :))) ur trainer sounds awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Posts: 188 Member
    thank you so much for that. A really good post, simply put but not going all techincal and calulations etc. I had prob not been eating excercise cals back but am now excercising a lot more and have noticed getting a bit tired and very hungry , HRM on the way and will aim to eat more back.
  • Posts: 73 Member
    Glad to know I was correct to listen to that advice a while ago!
  • Posts: 132 Member
    THANKS SO MUCH!!! Not only have I NOT been eating my exercise cals back, I have been eating WAY below my target goal, by about 800-1000 cals per day. I will try to up things and see if that helps! Thanks again!!
  • Posts: 2,447 Member
    So YES, eat them back.
    MFP was right all along......fancy that....
  • Posts: 54 Member
    Thanks for the info!
  • Posts: 562 Member
    So well written, please pass along thanks to your trainer.
  • bump
  • Posts: 2,447 Member

    Hello-

    I also asked my certified trainer who also her degree in nutrition. And she told me that eating back your exercise calories defeats a major part of exercising for weight loss. If I am exercising for strength and mental well being, then that's one thing.

    The 1200 calorie goal (from clean foods--not junk) is intended to provide your body with the nutrients, vitamins and minerals to function while creating a caloric deficit. Your body IS getting the nutrients it needs and exercising does not take away these nutrients your body has taken in. It's already been ingested.

    These "opinions" by trainers and critics and anyone who calls themselves experts will ALWAYS differ. Knowing that, I asked my trusted physician (M.D.) and he agrees that I do not have to eat back my exercise calories. That if I am feeding my body good clean food, and NOT starving myself (by not eating), my body will NOT go into starvation mode.
    No, just follow the MFP recommendations, and if your trainer is ignorant of how deficits are factored, please don't take bad advice.

    MFP calculates our total daily calorie intake WITHOUT exercise to lose 1 pound or so per week.
    And after we log exercises, our daily calorie limit increases.
    Why?
    Because MFP telling us to eat our exercise calories.
    Large deficits are unhealthy, because while you will lose weight, what's the quality of the weight loss?
    In many cases you'll lose lean body mass - MUSCLE - which LOWERS your metabolic rate, making weight loss harder.
    These crash diets work well for a season -- and sure enough, the pounds melt away. But when you eat so
    few calories, you train your metabolism to slow down. Once the diet is over, you have a body that burns calories more slowly -- and you gain weight.
    Be smart.
    Exercise well both cardio and resistance, and eat back the calories.
    The exercise will RAISE your metabolism and burn more fat at rest.
  • Good info MaximaLife.
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