Add in Exercise calories or not???

Misiaxcore

Thanks for the replies - they help. Yes, I was thinking that weight loss might come easier if I didn't eat my exercise calories. So I think I will stop adding them.

See you in a few months when you post your plateau or binge thread :indifferent:

^this

Misiaxcore

I plateaued for 3 weeks, half of which I tried not eating my exercise calories back. I was not losing. I was actually gaining a bit. Then I uped my calories for 3 days and immediately saw a drop in the scale. Then I dropped my calories back down to try and zigzag somewhat, and that didn't work all that well either. So now I've uped them again by setting myself to lose 1lb a week. Already seeing a drop.

Your calorie deficit can't be too big, or else your body starts holding on to everything.

KelieHerrera

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

/in before the misinformation

Yes, but...playing Devil's Advocate here...one of the problems is that people may not be inputting their exercising calories properly, so they end up overeating. MFP overestimates calories burned by quite a lot from what I can tell, so if you are relying on that, and then eating the calories back, you may be going over. Right?

taso42_DELETED

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

/in before the misinformation

Yes, but...playing Devil's Advocate here...one of the problems is that people may not be inputting their exercising calories properly, so they end up overeating. MFP overestimates calories burned by quite a lot from what I can tell, so if you are relying on that, and then eating the calories back, you may be going over. Right?

Quite right.

But I think that just clouds the whole debate. I think as a first step, each person needs to understand the basic notion of calories in vs calories out. Once they have that in their pocket (and frankly it's not rocket science here), they can compensate for bad calorie estimates by only counting half the exercise calories, or using an HRM or BodyMedia device, or tweaking their daily calorie allotment manually.

So yes, people's estimate might be off, but that's no reason to dismiss the whole concept.

It's like, I can't do long division in my head. That doesn't mean long division is invalid.

jamiealdridge02

I have been thinking about not adding my exercise calories because I think I then tend to splurge on food calories. Does that make sense?? Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts/ideas about that.

It does make sense. If I eat back all of my calories I don't lose. If I am really hungry, I eat some of them back, but never all of them. I've heard some people say to eat them all back, but like you, I tend to splurge on my exercise calories so it works best for me to not eat them. I also figure this gives me a cushion in case I underestimate calories in a meal out or something.

KelieHerrera

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

/in before the misinformation

Yes, but...playing Devil's Advocate here...one of the problems is that people may not be inputting their exercising calories properly, so they end up overeating. MFP overestimates calories burned by quite a lot from what I can tell, so if you are relying on that, and then eating the calories back, you may be going over. Right?

Quite right.

But I think that just clouds the whole debate. I think as a first step, each person needs to understand the basic notion of calories in vs calories out. Once they have that in their pocket (and frankly it's not rocket science here), they can compensate for bad calorie estimates by only counting half the exercise calories, or using an HRM or BodyMedia device, or tweaking their daily calorie allotment manually.

So yes, people's estimate might be off, but that's no reason to dismiss the whole concept.

It's like, I can't do long division in my head. That doesn't mean long division is invalid.

I definitely didn't mean not to do it at all, I just worry about eating all of them back because of faulty estimation, etc. I'm new at this and trying to find my weight loss groove. I've started weighing my food lately even to try to be as accurate as possible.

Any suggestions on HRMs? I mostly use my elliptical machine at home which shows much lower calories burned than MFP does, but when I go hiking, for instance, there is no good way for me to gauge how many calories I burned accurately.