To eat back or not...

Slimithy

Just want thoughts on the idea of eating back exercise calories or not and or how far under the daily goal is still okay. My current weight is 317lbs and MFP gives me a goal of 2060 calories a day. Now that I record my food I find myself eating less and generally am a few hundred under my limit each day. I'd say I consume about 1750 calories on an average day. The problem is I've also become addicted to working out. I'm jogging/cardio twice a week and strengh training at least twice a week. Then on the weekends there is some chore around the house I record (it says I burn like 1000 calories mowing the yard) and my wife and I talk 2 mile walks on the weekends as well in additon to my weekday workout schedule.

Because of how much I workout MFP keeps telling me I can eat gobs more calories everyday. And it's not like I'm starving myself, today for example I'm 500 calories under my goal and I ate 2200 calories. a few days ago MFP had me at a 3600 calorie allotment because of a lot of yardwork I had done (hours raking twigs and cutting grass). I couldn't get even close to 3600 calories and still eat healthy. I managed to eat 2600 calories that day with a big reason being I splurged and had a real peanut butter and jelly sandwhich.

I just want to make sure I'm doing this right. If I have calories left at the end of the day and I'm hungry I tend to eat something, but I'm finding I'm not really that hungry (I'm learning to seperate hunger and boredom...) What are y'alls thoughts, those who have been successfully doing this for a while. I am losing weight by the way, although I'm still at the point of having a lot of weight to lose.

DKBelle

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Check the site that I linked you. It helped me! You have to eat back the calories you burn after each workout!

bfnp

If you don't feel like you need them, don't eat them. Don't let yourself get to the point where you feel weak or anything, but there's no reason to take in extra calories you don't need when trying to lose weight unless you want to. If you feel good at 1500 but mfp says take 2000, stick with 1500.

mishelnkiki

eat. eat. eat. eat. eat. did i mention, eat?? as close to 0 net as possible.

mathjulz

I think it's okay if you're under your goal by a couple hundred calories. The risk is that if you drop too low, your body can go into "starvation mode," massively decreasing your metabolism. That threshold varies for each person, but if you have more than 500 calories left, you may want to add something else in.

Make sure you're getting enough dairy and whole grains. Calcium and fiber are so important for a healthy body and those seems to suffer when we restrict our calories. That's usually what I look at first if I'm under calories. (I'm currently preggers and trying to gain a healthy amount of weight, so being too far under is a big no-no for me!)

Keep up the good work! Exercise is so important for a healthy body, and not just because it lets you eat more. So keep it up!

mishelnkiki

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com heres a link. do as it says!

kappyblu

If you keep going like this (not eating your net goal), eventually your body will plateau and you will come on the message boards and ask "why am I not losing weight?" This happens all the time. MFP already builds that deficit in for you, so anything you burn from exercise, you should eat back all or most of. Exercise, mind you. Not daily activity which is what MFP takes into account for.

When you don't eat back your exercise calories and are way under your net goal of calories, yes, you will lose weight steadily, for a while. Then you will plateau and wonder why you are not losing. People that have done this have found if they just eat their goal or increase their calories for a while--then like magic, they start to drop weight again. Our bodies are engines. We need fuel to burn. The train isn't going anywhere without some coal for the fire. So, trust MFP and eat those calories, make them as healthy as you can, and keep up the exercise. However, be sure to take a couple of days off a week from exercise, and allow yourself an indulgence sometimes. Good luck!!!

Losingitin2011

I think a HUGE part of it is personal preference. I personally try to eat mine back because I honestly get hungry after a workout. If you are still netting over 1200, and aren't hungry, then I wouldn't worry about it. I have already eaten dinner, and was planning to go to the gym, and I *still* have over 400 calories remaining. It's going to jump a bunch after I get home from the gym, but I'm just not really hungry.

jkestens63

I think it's okay if you're under your goal by a couple hundred calories. The risk is that if you drop too low, your body can go into "starvation mode," massively decreasing your metabolism. That threshold varies for each person, but if you have more than 500 calories left, you may want to add something else in.

Make sure you're getting enough dairy and whole grains. Calcium and fiber are so important for a healthy body and those seems to suffer when we restrict our calories. That's usually what I look at first if I'm under calories. (I'm currently preggers and trying to gain a healthy amount of weight, so being too far under is a big no-no for me!)

Keep up the good work! Exercise is so important for a healthy body, and not just because it lets you eat more. So keep it up!

Well stated. I exercise hard and I usually eat between 2000 & 2400 cals each day. Today I will have eaten about 2600. I lose consistently. Also, I find if I leave more than a 200 cal deficit on a regular basis, after 3 or 4 days I'll end up binging. Back off a bit on the exercise and stay close to your net corie goal. Good luck!