Eating more experiment.

HelenTheKitchen

So, I've noticed there is a lot of debate on here as to whether or not you should eat back some/all of your exercise calories. I'm not here to argue one way or the other, I'm very happy for you to do what works for you as long as you're not making yourself sick. However, I have completely plateaued this last month (the scale hasn't moved an ounce in almost 4 weeks) and after a year of losing weight it's so frustrating that I have found myself in the corner of my bathroom clutching my scale rocking it back and forth as if it's a dying pet. Ok, not really, but it's pretty frustrating.

So, I've decided to try this whole eating back some of my exercise calories thing for two weeks (unless it works, in which case I will be doing it for a lot longer) and I'm blogging about it as I go. If you're not interested no worries, I'm not trying to shove my sad attempt at blogging down anyone's throat. I just thought that it might help answer a few questions for anyone who has been stuck in the middle of this debate and not knowing which end makes a better argument like I have.

My theory is, I'll only figure it out if I try it.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/HelenTheKitchen

cfmusgrove

I was just wondering the same thing. It seems like some people swear by eating your exercise calories and other say it makes them plateau.... it is very confusing!

82song

sounds good. I never got that eating back your exercise calories thing as people have said your calorie expenditure should exceed your calorie intake. However recently I have started to eat more regularly, and it seems to have helped. You have lost an incredible amount though, well done!!! don't forget to congratulate yourself on that!!

DaniiDean

I was just wondering the same thing. It seems like some people swear by eating your exercise calories and other say it makes them plateau.... it is very confusing!

confused too!?!? surely if you exercised you shouldn't eat the calories back otherwise it's like you haven't exercised and there was no point exercising if you are eating the calories back... is this right?

crystal10584

MFP auto calculates a base deficit. You can also try setting it to a higher or lower lbs/wk

taiyola

They say to eat back your exercise cals as MFP already creates a calorific defecit. If I didn't eat mine back, I'd starve/binge!

taiyola

And maybe now because you've only got 20lb to go, it's slowing down.

Higher weight people on here seem to lose SO much, yet people who have smaller amounts to lose have to work ten times harder to see ten times less of a result!

funkyspunky871

Thank you! Went through a little plateau of my own this past month and got through it by calorie shifting. I do believe I'm stuck again now... Though that's completely my fault seeing as I haven't exercised in days and I keep binge eating for no reason. I thought maybe I'd try eating my exercise calories back, and that would motivate me to actually exercise. (There's no way I can survive at 1200 calories a day; I feel like I'm starving all the time!) I need to get back on track!! So, thank you for the blog! I'll read it everyday. If everything works out for you, I'll give it a go too. Now, just need to work my butt off these next two weeks and exercise even if I don't get extra calories.

bmontgomery87

Good luck with your experiment.

When I'm cutting my cals down, i still eat back what I burn off in the gym.

srp2011

On the topic of eating back exercise calories, I just saw the most brilliant post by a personal trainer. To paraphrase: Some people should, some people shouldn't - it all depends on the overall deficit.

In other words, if MFP has already built a 1000 calorie per day deficit into your goal, then you definitely need to eat those calories, because to go below that deficit would be unhealthy. On the other hand, if you are short like me, and MFP in it's infinite wisdom sets a 1200 cal/day goal, which is only like a 150 cal deficit, I can't eat back my exercise calories if I want to lose anything within the next decade (assuming I burn in the range of 200-400 calories - obviously if I go on an all day hike I would need to eat more).

It's certainly worth trying if you've hit a plateau and you haven't been doing it. At the very least, it will shake things up, which may actually do the trick. Good luck.

tabi26

I recently hit a plateau, so I decided to do the same thing. I don't eat them all back since i'm pretty close to my goal weight so my MFP built in deficit won't be 500 cal. Anyway, I just started eating alot of them back on Sunday and I've lost about 2 lbs already since then! Good luck!

82song

I know this is probably a bit of dumb question- I have no idea what to eat my calories back in! by the end of the day although I am under my calorie limit, under my carbs limit I always seem to reach my limit for protein/ sugar somehow (i eat fruit and fibre for breakfast or a cereal bar like alpen light or special k) so then I get stuck on what to eat once ive exercised and have even more calories to eat.....................

Kat120285

Definitely something to check out. When I started I only had 5-10 pounds to lose. I was set at 1200, I moved it to 1250 and my weight stalled. I was eating all exercise calories back.

With his much I work out, I changed my activity level to very active. My base is now 1660 and goes up to around 2400 after working out. I have it set for half a pound a week so I have about 250 Cal's to play with depending on if I want a 250 deficit for the day or a 500. I weighed in at the beginning of the week at 114.4. Seems to work for me. I always sort of knew I needed my base to be more with doing P90X and adding extra cardio.

Good luck on your experiment!