Gotta Lose 70 pounds been here for a week (Exercise Calories

rparisean

I have lost 3 pounds this week. I use to use spark people, but it only last me a couple of weeks and bam bad habits come back. Love this site I really love the app calories at my finger tips wow no more guessing. Right now Its really hard to stay at 1200 cal. I really don't understand the exercise calories. I have been reading the blogs on it and some people say eat them while some say don't eat them some say use them as needed. What is your experience with it? What is your weight loss with eating them and not eating them.

chefswife67

Welcome to MFP
You can add me if you like ..

barbiecat

:bigsmile: at first I thought that I could do fine on 1200 nutrition dense calories and then one day I came home from a two hour walk feeling lightheaded and almost faint and realized that if I was going to burn a lot of calories I would need to give my body more fuel:bigsmile: that's when I started eating my exercise calories. I need more fuel to work harder.

:bigsmile: but it doesn't make sense to eat "junk" just because you've earned extra calories. Make healthy eating your major focus.

dericcarson

Tons of topics on should I eat my exercise calories??.....just go to search and look it up (: Good luck!!

vanillasugar

I've lost 80 lbs, and i almost always eat my exercise calories, at least half of them. I started out on 1600 calories, now at 1400

LivLovLrn

I think it will depend on you! How do YOU feel if you eat them all, or don't eat them all. I often can't eat enough calories back without going way over on my fats, which I think is counter productive, so I eat if I am hungry, and don't eat if I am not. Also if you find you are eating well, exercising regularly and not losing weight, it would be something to look at.

mzjandiace

Eat most of mine back and still losing weight! I'm a zig zagger 1200 to 1400 calories....I like to think I'm tricking my body, it seems to be working...LOL

JulyHummingbird

Hi and welcome to MFP. I've lost over 70 lbs since November. I almost never eat my exercise calories, but I have a really slow metabolism. Stick with it, make some friends, use your diary and 'own what you eat'. You'll get there!

claw12345

It is pretty easy. 1200 calories is the minimum you can eat. If you don't exercise, and stick to the 1200 cal intake, you will lose approx 1lb per week. If you exercise, you can choose: (i) eat those calories and continue losing at 1lb per week, or (ii) don't eat them and lose more weight, possibly 2lb per week.

My suggestion is that if you find it hard to stick to the 1200 cal (especially in the beginning), eat some of the exercise calories, but leave some for faster weight loss. For instance, when I do zumba workout for an hour, I burn approx 450 calories - I usually try not to eat more that 200 of my exercise calories, so on that day, i would eat 1400 cal. The reality is that now I am getting used to eating 1200 even on the zumba days. I'd say - listen to your body, and give yourself time to adjust

Kelly_Wilson1990

I think you really have to see how your body works then eat according. Some people eat them all back, some eat a portion and some none and all are losing weight. Personally, I do not eat mine because after all the debate on here about eating your exercise calories, I asked both my doctor and nutritionist and both told me I did not need to.

jenalderman

Slow and steady wins the race. I've lost 71 lbs. in 7 months. I also started at 1600 calories and then dropped periodically as I lost. I kept my weight per week at 1lb even though I often (esp in the beginning) lost 2 or 3. I have not always needed to eat back my exercise calories because I was already eating at a highter calorie level. Jumping right down to 1200 will probably be different. Listen to your body. If you are staying hungry and don't give your body what it needs to be active, it could backfire on your weight loss. Welcome to MFP. This is the easiest that I have ever been able to lose. Good luck with your journey.