Which is more effective? (Sort of like a poll)

Suzay

Comment on this saying if whether or not you do eat back your exercise calories and how effective you've lost weight (2lb, 1lb weight loss/weekly etc)

Maybe some people who are curious about if whether or not to will make a decision based on experiences and which is most likely to work?

xraychick77

i didnt eat back..i dont even count my exercise calories.

and i didnt really keep track of my weight loss by week..i know i lost like 15 lbs in a few months.

CARNAT22

I eat my calories back - always have done.

My weightloss has stalled since May (I stopped smoking in early May) but by then I was very close goal weight anyway!

I lost pretty much consistently between Feb - May whilst eating back my exercise cals.

MoonShadow_1au

Done both.

If I do not eat my calories back I get bad cravings over the next few days, I end up eating and that adds weight.

If I eat back calories and stay "close" to my net daily calories weight has come off (assuming you are on a weight loss setting).

Even at half a pound a week the weight loss has you at a deficit of 300 Calories. Click the "Goals" link next to Home (under "My Home") to see what your maintenance calories are and how many you can go over before adding weight.

If however you have a BIG day and are 800 calories under at bed time just don't do it. Have a snack sure, but not a huge intake of calories.

What I am doing now is having 6 meals a day, smaller and within my net calories, I find it hard to actually eat all my calories most days unless I eat something bad !!

Keefypoos

if you are looking for some kind of answer here then you will find a mix of those who do and those who don't :-)

what I have worked out so far is

those who are grossly overweight IE BMI greater than 30 lose weight with out eating back
but as the weight comes off they need to start eating back some or all of their exercise calories

I have a BMI of 32 and at present do not eat back

meerkat70

On weightwatchers, I hit a major plateau, which I think was a consequence of doing pretty hefty amounts of exercise, burning lots of calories, and not eating any back. I panicked when I hit the plateau, started cutting back heavier on calories, and just got worse and worse.

I find I lose best if I eat my daily calories and some of my exercise calories (usually 1/3 to 1/2).

meerkat70

ps - I also think it makes a major difference how much you have to lose. The above happened to me when I'd lost over 100 pounds.

CARNAT22

if you are looking for some kind of answer here then you will find a mix of those who do and those who don't :-)

what I have worked out so far is

those who are grossly overweight IE BMI greater than 30 lose weight with out eating back
but as the weight comes off they need to start eating back some or all of their exercise calories

I have a BMI of 32 and at present do not eat back

Agreed - I have been on 1200 cals since I signed up (I wanted to lose 17-22lbs) and without eating back my exercise calories I would have been eating too little!

Because I didn't have a vast amount of weight to lose, I was on 1200 regardless of whether my settings were to lose 0.5, 1 or 2lbs per week!

jfinnivan

I always ate half my exercise calories.

Givemewings

I have lost 24lbs over 9 weeks which averages out to between 2 and 3 lbs a week loss. I usually eat back at least half of my exercise calories, sometimes all, and it seems to work for me. And I feel great!

scarletfever2005

So far every time I have stalled IE not lost any weight for a week or so, I have increased my calorie intake. I started at 1500 cals and am now at 1940. Each time I increased my cals, I started losing weight again. I eat back my exercise cals. I try to eat them back in protein exclusively though. I firmly believe that it's just as important to achieve your macro nutrient levels as it is to eat your calories. That being said I also eat a fairly low carb diet with less than 130g of carbs each day and as absolutely little sugar as possible.

Everyone is going to metabalize their food differently, so my suggestion is to try different things and fine tune your diet to how your body works. It's a lot of trial and error, and a lot of reading and research but it is worth it in the end.

yamdad

i find that i am stuffed most of the time, and cant eat my calories without feeling my stomach is going to explode. i hit a platue and didnt workout or diet for july, but im back on track and hopefully i can surpass my platue this time with the change in diet, and adding bicycling to my exercise routine. i have another 20 pounds to go

sophjakesmom

I do eat back and I have an average weight loss of 1.3 lbs per week for 8 months now.

ilovelucy1026

I've only been doing this for a week and have not eaten back my exercise calories.

foremant86

I eat mine back, i feel tired and sick if I don't and in the 2 weeks I've been on here I've lost 4lbs.

not eating back your exercise calories is a dangerous game. Say you eat the recommended 1200 calories a day but you burn off 800 from exercise so you're only leaving your body 400 calories to use to fuel your body, does that really sound healthy?

caroltina

I don't because I exercise at 6 pm, so I took my cals from the suggested 1340 to 1500 to give me a bit of a boost for the exercise, but I don't eat all of these if I don't feel like it. In addition that makes me do at least 200 cals of exercise on my rest days to make upnthe deficit

caroltina

I don't because I exercise at 6 pm, so I took my cals from the suggested 1340 to 1500 to give me a bit of a boost for the exercise, but I don't eat all of these if I don't feel like it. In addition that makes me do at least 200 cals of exercise on my rest days to make upnthe deficit