DO NOT EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES!!!!!

digby765

Well hello all, as some of you know i've been recently diagnosed as 'pre diabetic' , you may be interested to know the opinion of my dietician with regards to eating back exercise calories. As the title here suggests, she told me not too!!! In simple terms while trying to reduce weight i need 1400 cals per day not 1200 as recommended here, otherwise my body will think i'm starving it and hold onto the fat and slow down my metabolism, however if i ensure i eat regular meals, and 1400 cals daily i will lose weight. She was very specific that I must eat every 3 hours approx, and most deffinately not go longer than 5 hours, so breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, dinner and a light supper at least an hour or two before bed. The old 'grazing' idea seems to come to the fore yet again...

So yes you guessed it, today is 'day one' where i feel armed with useful helpful information. Did i get the answer to the number of grammes of sugar allowed per day, not a clear answer, just be carefull and try not to have more than 5 grammes per meal if poss to give my body chance to process it..., so you could say maybe upto 30 grammes per day, but spread out.

Blimey hope i haven't bored you all to tears with this post, but it has got it clear in my head now lol :laugh:

beccyleigh

glad she helped make things clear for you but your title is misleading. what works or you decide to do for you, doesn't work for me or others. I am diabetic & my dietitian & primary care doctor have all stated I need to eat more on exercise days otherwise I run the risk of low blood sugar & suffering a hypo. not a pleasant experience & incredibly dangerous.

chillijam1

i agree , i always eat at regular intervals and have found it works ,plus whats the point of losing the weight with exercising if your going to eat them back , i tried this for one week and found i put weight on ,but as regards to min calories has we lose weight we reduce the intake we eat it is logic really but i never drop below 1200 cals a day your body needs the fuel to help burn the fat off .i before joining on here now realise that i was eating way below what i should have thinking it would help me lose weight but it never did it did the opposite it put weight on but since joining on here its the only thing that has worked for me

talysshade

I also eat 1400 calories a day or try to.. but i always eat my exercise calories back otherwise i'm hungry all the time, and i've still lost 10 pounds so far, out of the 20 that i want to lose, so i feel i'm doing good. Apart from the past holiday week maybe.. hm..

But either way, i'm glad that you're feeling good about this and got yourself a good plan! Keep it up and you'll feel even better in no time!

mmiiaa

whats the point of losing the weight with exercising if your going to eat them back

That's how I always feel!! I try not to eat too many of them back, or none at all if I can help it. I like my calories to be around 1400 a day.

hollwoods

I used to have the same ideas in my head. I would go biking for long stretches, burning well over a 1000 calories, and made it ok to go and treat myself to a burger or Quizno's. Now when I work that hard to get rid of those calories, they're staying off

SarahLovesCheesecake

I do all of this any way, my daily is 1550...

xSophia19

I dont bother to eat back calories, to me this seems like a waste of time working out loosing calories if im just eating them back. Anyone understand me?

If i am hungry after a workout at the gym, or workout dvd etc. I will raid the fruit bowl, only because its all healthy and i wont be eating all my calories like..

KanCrav

good job going to a dietician.. I think everyone should talk to a professional, at least their doctor about a good place to start in reference to their daily caloric intake, everyone is different and everyones body works differently. This website is great but obvioulsy it cant be perfectly specific to everyone, its all up to the individual to get as specific as they want to.

Good Luck using your new information in your life, I am sure it will make the guessing game disapeare.. you should see results in NO TIME!

ramseyrose

But if you don't eat them back and your net is below 1400 you are eating too few calories.

Don't know what country you're in but the diabetic UK website is a wealth of info.

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/

I eat most of mine back and have lost 12lb; slowly so hopefully it will stay off

Justkeepswimmin

glad she helped make things clear for you but your title is misleading. what works or you decide to do for you, doesn't work for me or others. I am diabetic & my dietitian & primary care doctor have all stated I need to eat more on exercise days otherwise I run the risk of low blood sugar & suffering a hypo. not a pleasant experience & incredibly dangerous.

This is VERY accurate. My husband is a type 1 diabetic with extremely fragile blood sugars (easy up easy LOW as in 30's and sometimes 20's and sometimes the meter doesn't read that low...LOW) If he's really working out and he stuck to his 1800 a day..he would just die .... (even if he didn't take his short term insulin shots that day). That is because he'd be burning more than his body could possibly get ahold of and makes a whole lot of sense even with regards to Bank's post about this

He has to take his long term insulin shot in the morning no matter what...he can try to take fewer units but that usually just means his body can't metablolize any energy into his body at all...since he has 0 natural insulin production....

Now I know his is a unique case, but I would guess something in his pitri dish of a situation would reign true for all of us.

I've had so many dr's and dieticians give me conflicting information on so many things, they are human too...and I think the motto of this game is...if it isn't working, try something else...however the logic of eating ones exercize calories makes a lot of sense to me IF ad I mean IF you're already starting at a DEFICIT.

d_llopez

I hardly ever eat them back. I do keep my calories at 1200 because it works for me right now. When i plateau if i do i will have to change it again. I was at 1300 but had to drop down and now the pounds falling off.

iwillsoonbeslim

Good luck doing what works for you.
Either follow your dietician's advice, or MFP's diet plan - but they are two totally different approaches to reach the same ends.

ziggy67

I was borderline diabetic and I eat most of my exercise calories back because I feel ill if I don't. I have managed to lose three stone in 2 years and my glucose levels are now within normal range.

Ladywindchaser

Proud of you for going to a Professional and asking for correct information based upon YOUR body.

Not every Diabetic is the same either. I am also a full blown Diabetic and have been for most of my adult life. My Internal Med. Dr., my Cardo Dr., my Endo Dr. and my Registered Dietitian ALL gave me the same advice. Eat 5 meals per day, 1,200 cals per day, 30 carbs per meal. And NO you can not eat 20 carbs per meal and 40 at the next. The point is to maintain your blood sugar throughout the day. Since I starting eating every couple of hours I also found that my blood sugars do not drop to the dangerous levels it did before.

When I asked them ALL about eating back my exercise caloiries they ALL said NO and a couple even laughed about it.

Please keep in mind that your Health Care Professional is basing their opinions upon your own body type and blood work. It is just plain stuipd of people to generalize statements that make it sound what works for one works all. Not true at all.

Ezwoldo

Not a diabetic but I was starting to wonder the same as, I have been on here for a while and the weight has been slow in coming off, I have followed the eating your workouts back but , I do struggle to eat them back and fall in to the each crap to fill the calories as I need to. So I have decided that I need to just eat a little of them back and if i can manage all of them without the crap then it's a bonus, I have never been totally convinced you need to eat them back anyway.

Atlantique

Well hello all, as some of you know i've been recently diagnosed as 'pre diabetic' , you may be interested to know the opinion of my dietician with regards to eating back exercise calories. As the title here suggests, she told me not too!!! In simple terms while trying to reduce weight i need 1400 cals per day not 1200 as recommended here, otherwise my body will think i'm starving it and hold onto the fat and slow down my metabolism, however if i ensure i eat regular meals, and 1400 cals daily i will lose weight. She was very specific that I must eat every 3 hours approx, and most deffinately not go longer than 5 hours, so breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, dinner and a light supper at least an hour or two before bed. The old 'grazing' idea seems to come to the fore yet again...

So yes you guessed it, today is 'day one' where i feel armed with useful helpful information. Did i get the answer to the number of grammes of sugar allowed per day, not a clear answer, just be carefull and try not to have more than 5 grammes per meal if poss to give my body chance to process it..., so you could say maybe upto 30 grammes per day, but spread out.

Blimey hope i haven't bored you all to tears with this post, but it has got it clear in my head now lol :laugh:

Keep in mind that your dietician is advising someone who has 90 pounds to lose, so a BMI in the 'obese' range. Folks within the 'healthy' BMI range tend to have better and more sustainable weight loss eating at least some of their exercise calories back because they have fewer fat stores and can't deal as easily with very large calorie deficits.

12by311

Well hello all, as some of you know i've been recently diagnosed as 'pre diabetic' , you may be interested to know the opinion of my dietician with regards to eating back exercise calories. As the title here suggests, she told me not too!!! In simple terms while trying to reduce weight i need 1400 cals per day not 1200 as recommended here, otherwise my body will think i'm starving it and hold onto the fat and slow down my metabolism, however if i ensure i eat regular meals, and 1400 cals daily i will lose weight. She was very specific that I must eat every 3 hours approx, and most deffinately not go longer than 5 hours, so breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, dinner and a light supper at least an hour or two before bed. The old 'grazing' idea seems to come to the fore yet again...

So yes you guessed it, today is 'day one' where i feel armed with useful helpful information. Did i get the answer to the number of grammes of sugar allowed per day, not a clear answer, just be carefull and try not to have more than 5 grammes per meal if poss to give my body chance to process it..., so you could say maybe upto 30 grammes per day, but spread out.

Blimey hope i haven't bored you all to tears with this post, but it has got it clear in my head now lol :laugh:

Keep in mind that your dietician is advising someone who has 90 pounds to lose, so a BMI in the 'obese' range. Folks within the 'healthy' BMI range tend to have better and more sustainable weight loss eating at least some of their exercise calories back because they have fewer fat stores and can't deal as easily with very large calorie deficits.

This.

I think of how everyone says, "Oh think about the Biggest Loser contestants...they are working out all day. There's no way they are eating back all those calories." No they aren't. They are obese. They can afford to have a greater deficit.

I am not obese. I can't run 5 miles and lift and not fuel my body. I was be starving and my body would start to eat away at my muscle mass (no thanks! I heart muscles).

If you stop looking at calories like they are a BAD thing and start looking at them like the fuel that they are, you will have a different outlook once you are within normal weight range. Any professional athlete eats way more than me and his/her body is in much better shape. Why? He/She trains like crazy. Therefore that person has to fuel his/her body.

graysmom2005

Just to clarify for everyone saying what's the point of exercising if you're going to eat them back.....MFP has ALREADY figured in your 500 calorie deficit. It's already there. The weight loss is already there...so if you exercise on top of that you are creating a huge deficit potentially if you work out a lot. If you burn a lot, and then have the MFP deficit already built in, you can end up not eating enough if you don't eat some back. This is fine when you have a lot of lose, but when you start getting to a healthy weight you need to decrease the deficit or muscle will be on your body's menu. :-)

Articeluvsmemphis

The only time I don't eat back my exercise calories is if I need to go straight to sleep, otherwise I'll be starving. Eating back calories is important I'd think for anyone whether or not they are pre-diabetic. My mom is diabetic so it would seem that if you exercise, and you put back some calories with healthy food to fuel your body and make sure that you can continue to build muscle and have good endurance in future workouts. My calories aren't set in stone, I eat however my body feels. I just make better choices {sometimes, not always} about what I eat when I'm hungry.

TrainingWithTonya

I just want to explain a couple of things about training for doctors, dietitians, and the basis for standard recommendations. Typically speaking, doctors do not have any education on exercise and nutrition. At most they may have taken a single basic nutrition class. Dietitians coursework focuses on the average person (IE: sedentary) with various metabolic diseases. They are not typically given education in exercise or how to fuel for it. The average client that either doctors or dietitians work with are sick, sedentary people who need to lose weight. For this type of patient, there is a standard recommendation so that it is easier on doctors and dietitians to work with large numbers of people. Doctors are usually the ones who stick to the 1200 or 1500 calorie recommendations because they haven't been taught how to calculate individual calorie needs. Dietitians have those formulas and can determine individual calorie needs which is why the OP's dietitian said 1400 instead of a standard 1200 calories. Unfortunately, the formula they are taught doesn't usually take into consideration any form of exercise because their standard client is sedentary or in some cases completely bed ridden. They don't need to know how exercise effects calories because they don't usually work with people who exercise. There are specialty courses that can be taken to expand on the knowledge of dietitians into more of a sports nutrition scope of practice so that they can handle the needs of exercising clients or athletes. Unless your doctor or dietitian has taken coursework in sports nutrition, they will say not to eat exercise calories because they are sticking to the recommendations and formulas they know, not realizing the effects of exercise on calorie needs. Sports nutritionists are taught that the 500, 1000, etc. calorie deficits aren't correct for most people who exercise because of having to fuel the activity. We're taught to eat a minimum of 80% of the energy expended, including exercise, so that the body will want to maintain it's muscle mass and release fat stores.

So, while I applaud you for getting advise from a professional, I'd recommend asking the professional you choose about their nutrition and exercise education. If they haven't taken some course work in exercise physiology or sports nutrition, they need to step back and work with the clients they are trained to work with and leave the exercisers to those of us who specialize in their specific needs. Each individual should base their choice of professional on their individual needs. If you aren't going to exercise, then by all means a standard dietitian is the way to go. But if you are going to focus on diet AND exercise, please find a professional in your area that can meet your needs.

hroush

Your nutritionist said that you must eat more than 1200 calories or your body will think it's starving, but at the same time says to not eat back exercise calories, this doesn't make sense to me. If you burn 500 calories extra, you NET 900 calories if you consume 1400, which is far below even the 1200 she warned you against. I would definitely make sure this person is suited for dealing with people that are or can be active and know how to operate the equations accordingly.

edinat

The eating back calories made no sense to me before, but after studying it a little more , it actually made very clear sense once i put it on paper.

if you eat 1400 calories and u exercise lets say 400 which is easy to burn, this is how it looks.

1400-400=1000 calories

so your body is working on 1000 calories!!!!! That means ur starving ur body, on days that i am not exercising i worry about keeping it around 1400..plus MFP includes the deficit already in the calculations. I personally like to have all my numbers green so i always leave a few calories left over, but i have quite a few pounds to loose as well.

edinat

The eating back calories made no sense to me before, but after studying it a little more , it actually made very clear sense once i put it on paper.

if you eat 1400 calories and u exercise lets say 400 which is easy to burn, this is how it looks.

1400-400=1000 calories

so your body is working on 1000 calories!!!!! That means ur starving ur body, on days that i am not exercising i worry about keeping it around 1400..plus MFP includes the deficit already in the calculations. I personally like to have all my numbers green so i always leave a few calories left over, but i have quite a few pounds to loose as well.

JennsLosing

good job going to a dietician.. I think everyone should talk to a professional, at least their doctor about a good place to start in reference to their daily caloric intake, everyone is different and everyones body works differently. This website is great but obvioulsy it cant be perfectly specific to everyone, its all up to the individual to get as specific as they want to.

Good Luck using your new information in your life, I am sure it will make the guessing game disapeare.. you should see results in NO TIME!

i had a dr tell me that calories dont matter, as long as i eat almost no carbs. i like my carbs sorry. im not going to cut them out all together. id rather work my *kitten* off at the gym and watch my calories than cut out all my carbs.

Marinita1967

I agree with becclj; I'm hypo-glycemic as well and (under the advice of my Dr) I dofind I ahve to eat back some of the calories I've burned. I can usually tell by how I feel. I suspect there's a trend and relationship to those days and what what I've eaten prior to exercising. When I get it charted I'll let you all know. Good Luck to everyone!

Sherrellynn

somedays I do and some days It all depends on what I eat during the day. I exercise different lengths of time each day so I have more calories some days then others. My dietician put me on 1400 a day but I am using the 1200 on here. only two weeks in lost 3 pounds so we will see what happens. I am thinking right now that my exercise allows me a glass of red wine in the evening

veggiepug

Oops, I meant to quote this poster

"This.

I think of how everyone says, "Oh think about the Biggest Loser contestants...they are working out all day. There's no way they are eating back all those calories." No they aren't. They are obese. They can afford to have a greater deficit.

I am not obese. I can't run 5 miles and lift and not fuel my body. I was be starving and my body would start to eat away at my muscle mass (no thanks! I heart muscles).

If you stop looking at calories like they are a BAD thing and start looking at them like the fuel that they are, you will have a different outlook once you are within normal weight range. Any professional athlete eats way more than me and his/her body is in much better shape. Why? He/She trains like crazy. Therefore that person has to fuel his/her body."

This poster is absolutely right.

Of course eating back your exercise calories in Big Macs and french fries isn't going to work. The exercise calories are there so we can refuel with balanced and nutritious food. Like this poster said, those with more to lose can afford to have a bigger deficit, but the more lean muscle your body has, and the less fat, the more your body will need some of those extra calories.

jjhanlon

Just to clarify for everyone saying what's the point of exercising if you're going to eat them back.....MFP has ALREADY figured in your 500 calorie deficit. It's already there. The weight loss is already there...so if you exercise on top of that you are creating a huge deficit potentially if you work out a lot. If you burn a lot, and then have the MFP deficit already built in, you can end up not eating enough if you don't eat some back. This is fine when you have a lot of lose, but when you start getting to a healthy weight you need to decrease the deficit or muscle will be on your body's menu. :-)

I agree...

Pebble321

Posting a blanket statement like this (in CAPS, because presumably shouting at us is good) is really not helpful.
In my opinion MFP gives a safe plan that doesn't encourage people to drop to ridiculously low calorie levels - which is the way it should be unless you are under direct instructions and supervision from a professional who knows your particular situation.

It's really not rocket science- to lose weight you need a calorie deficit. You can create that deficit by exercising more or eating less or a combination of both. MFP does it by building your calorie deficit into your daily calorie allowance. Other plans do it differently.
Feel free to do what works for you, but don't shout at the rest of us about it. Please!

LorinaLynn

I'm not sure why the OP is yelling at us.

If you aim for 1200 calories a day, do a half hour of moderate cardio exercise, burn 200 calories, and eat them back, that's THE SAME as eating 1400 calories and not eating calories back.

It's the same math. It all depends on when you add the deficit and when you add the activity level. The dietitian is taking into consideration what you'll burn through exercise before you do it. MFP just waits until you have done it.

The only difference is that if you hit snooze one too many times, or get home from work too late, and don't do any exercise, you'll still lose at the same rate following MFP's calculations.