I would like to see who eats all of their calories back

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losinfat4good
losinfat4good Posts: 69
in Health and Weight Loss
Who eats their exercise calories back faithfully and actually loses weight? I have 2 hrms and both are pretty close to what I burn when exercising but I'm not losing anything by eating back my exercise cals. If I don't eat them I lose but I'm pretty doggone hungry and i don't wanna starve myself thin.. I'm too big for that.. I'm just very curious about this
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Replies

  • Tracey_Smith
    Tracey_Smith Posts: 199
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    Most of the time I do but if I've had a major ride, i can't eat an extra 3000 calories. Sometimes I just don't want to, I go by what my body tells me. I'm staedily losing weight so I'm ok with that.
  • myshell67
    myshell67 Posts: 64 Member
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    i'm interested in what others have to say on this subject also. i don't eat my exercise cals back, and have been losing pretty consistently. only about 1 # a week, but i'm satisfied with that for now.
  • ljd0693
    ljd0693 Posts: 289 Member
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    The calories you burn during exercise are just estimates so I always figure they are on the high side and I only eat back half the calories that I gain back from exercise.
  • JosephTucker
    JosephTucker Posts: 65
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    I have been on my lifestyle change for over a year now and I have never eaten my exercise calories. I ready don't see the point unless I am really close to my goal or need to maintain. I have lost 108 pounds now and still have about 70 mores pounds to loose. My wife has lost 188 pounds and she doesn't eat hers either. I know it works for me and it has been a slow and steady lost.
  • MommyofBoys
    MommyofBoys Posts: 75
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    I've tried to eat back most or all of my exercise calories and I ended up gaining 11 pounds, so I started to eat between 1300-1400 calories and not eat any workout calories but that doesn't seem to work either as I have not lost any weight in 3 months. So I'm kind of at a loss of what to do now.
  • JosephTucker
    JosephTucker Posts: 65
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    for the ones that have only 5 to 20 pounds to lose, it is a good thing to eat them back, but for people like me and my wife that have 40 to 100 pounds to lose
  • Tankplanker
    Tankplanker Posts: 365 Member
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    I eat all of mine back, have been doing so since Feb, and lose weight. I plateau now and again but an increase in exercise intensity seems to shift it.

    Way I look at it is that I've cut my base calorie intake for the day a lot already (down to about 1400 from about 2400) as I aim to lose 2lb a week, I don't want to go any lower than that so I eat the lot back.
  • shaunshaikh
    shaunshaikh Posts: 616 Member
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    Someone far away from their goal with a lot of fat to lose probably doesn't need to worry about it as much. For me, I'm down below 15% body fat and it's pretty critical for me. I eat my exercise calories and I steadily lose fat and I've done a good job of maintaining 100% of my muscle mass.
  • alexbowser
    alexbowser Posts: 322
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    I eat half to all my exercise calories back everyday. I lose 1-2 pounds a week. I generally eat as many of my exercise calories as it takes for me to feel full.

    Make sure you're eating your exercise calories back with good food. I haven't looked at your diary, but when I ate the calories back with junk food, I didn't lose weight.
  • kitchenfairy
    kitchenfairy Posts: 36
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    I don't exercise a whole lot (not yet anyway) but when I do, I only use the extra calories as a safety net. I try not to go over, but if I do then I know I'm ok. It's worked for 30 pounds so far. :)
  • Psyb3r
    Psyb3r Posts: 176 Member
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    I do eat some of mine back, but not all. Also if I'm not hungry, I don't eat them back. If you are hungry, you should eat them back, but probably not all of them. MFP tends to estimate on the high side of what you would actually burn, so eating all of them back probably isn't necessary.
  • butterfly1445
    butterfly1445 Posts: 81 Member
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    I do if I'm hungry. If I've worked out, drank water afterwards and already eaten my scheduled meals for the day and I"m still hungry I'll eat back most of my exercise calories, depending on how hungry I am. If I'm not hungry after all that I know I don't need to eat them back,. If I'm only mildly hungry and can ignore it, then I won't eat them back.

    Listen to your body, as long as you drink plenty of water you'll know when you need more calories. Try just eating half of them back for a week and see how you feel. Everyone's body works differently.
  • Angie80281
    Angie80281 Posts: 444 Member
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    I almost always eat mine back and haven't had a problem losing weight. I recommend taking into account your BMR, which your HRM doesn't do. For example, I burn about 49 calories an hour by simply existing. For the sake of simplicity, I rounded that to a calorie a minute, which I subtract from the number of calories my HRM says I burned. It said 111 for 22 minutes of playing soccer with my kids yesterday, so I logged it as 89. That way, you can still enjoy some extra food without eating back more than you should.
  • Elzecat
    Elzecat Posts: 2,916 Member
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    I eat most of my exercise calories back and have lost 32 lbs in about 3 1/2 months, I'm closer to my goal and still losing steadily...you'll get a million different responses on this because everyone's bodies work differently...
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    Me! Even when I burned over 1000 calories on a 15K hike, I ate them that day and the next.

    I find MFP gives pretty good estimates, which I improve if I have gym equipment of CardioTrainer readings, though these are of course estimates too. I wouldn't have the energy to work out the next day if I didn't! I also sometimes work out a bit more to earn indulgences, like a nice glass of red. Mmmm! Amazing though it is, the weight steadily goes down.

    You do have to be honest with yourself about how hard you've worked or how fast you've run/walked though, and round up or down accordingly. Being slightly conservative will always err on the safe side.
  • pverbarg
    pverbarg Posts: 490 Member
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    It may depend on what you have set as your activty level too. I have mine set low and do eat back most of of my exercise calories and have been losing consistently. But patience is the big winner - there are weeks I don't see much movement then have a huge drop a week (or even 2 weeks) later.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
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    I'm "pro" eating back your exercise calories, but when you have a lot of weight to lose, you aren't going to go into starvation mode (because your body has enough saved energy (fat)) to pull from).

    I had been trying to do 1200 calories AND eating my exercise calories (it took close to 2 months to lose 8 lbs - healthy I guess, but I have 65 more to lose. It's not like I'm on my last 10 - it should be going at least twice that fast). Turns out I didn't have my calories set high enough (my body wanted more). I just posted a similar answer in another thread, so I hope this might help you too.

    ~ ~ ~

    "What are your settings? I'd [not been losing weight for frickin MONTHS!]. The other day, I found this:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

    Turns out, my settings were wrong. I had set myself at sedentary (because I sit at my desk all day... BUT, I also work out for 3-4 days per week at 1 hour each. As such, I SHOULD have been set to very active - I bumped it down to active, because sometimes it's only 3 times.)

    Now, add on top of that, I went out for a nice dinner on my anniversary . Ate WAY more than I should have. Within the next 2 days, I dropped 2 lbs. Since then, with higher calories (and nothing else changed) I've continued to drop. All I can figure is that I was eating too little at 1200 calories (even though I've ALWAYS eaten my exercise calories).

    I would advise you to read the article, adjust your settings and eat all of your exercise calories. Give it TWO WEEKS (not just 1 day).

    **Oh... and believe me, I was scared as heck when I saw how many calories it wanted me to consume. On days that I run (burning 600 calories each time), I'm eating 2000! BUT... that's where my body lets me lose weight. *totally weird, but I'll take it!*

    A lot of people want to question starvation mode, etc. - but from what I've seen (and witnessed), we need to take the advice of MFP and the EXPERIENCED losers (they've been through it). I realize it totally contradicts what we THINK we should be doing, but if it works, it works!
  • losinfat4good
    losinfat4good Posts: 69
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    Thanks to all of you! I am going to try eating half of them back and see if any changes happen. Right now eating all of them back I am not losing and I think i am beginning to gain. thanks again!
  • chrisuy
    chrisuy Posts: 39 Member
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    I don't eat all mine back. I think MFP does a pretty good job of tracking calories, but it seems a little on the high side for estimating calories burned, IMO. I try and stay at least 500 calories under what it says I can eat back (never going below 1200).

    Also, I think it's been shown in several places that most people drastically underestimate how much they're consuming. Make sure you do your best to accurately gauge your intake. You're only doing a disservice to yourself otherwise.
  • kate2004rock
    kate2004rock Posts: 223 Member
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    The calories you burn during exercise are just estimates so I always figure they are on the high side and I only eat back half the calories that I gain back from exercise.

    That's basically I do it. I don't have an HRM (too poor these days to spend the $$ on a decent one). I figure MFP definitley overestimates the calories I burn, so I definitely don't eat them ALL back. That being said, if one day I have a good workout, and go over 100 calores--I dont sweat it because it will even out for the week.

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