Anyone still lose 2 lbs/week and eat...

cassondraragan

all their exercise calories?? I'm wondering if I'm sabotaging myself by not eating the exercise calories...

♥_Ellybean_♥

I do not eat any of mine, lost 2lbs per week this last month. half the time I don't even input them until after i complete my journal

ambermichon

I did this week! I dont eat every calorie though...I leave 200-300 for errors in logging food and exercise in case its off.

muitobem

I don't eat them all but try to eat quite a bit of them back....It's helped me lose some more weight eating them back.....

♥xenawarriorprincess♥

i agree with rpamball, i try not to eat them all so i have room for any errors in logging

mark03264

If you have a lot of weight to lose you can get away with not eating your exercise calories longer. As you have less to lose your body will plateau easier and you will likely need to eat back most of your exercise calories in order to continue to lose fat.

chuckyp

I'm pretty much at my goal weight now, but when I was in loss mode I ate my exercies calories generally and lost 2+ lbs per week at the calorie allotment given to me by MFP.

IMYarnCraz33

I don't usually eat mine back and have lost at the very least 1.7lbs each week.
The only time I usually even get near eating them back or go over is
the first day or 2 of TOM.

quitmakingexcuses

I usually eat most of my calories/exercise calories and usually have around 100 or so remaining and I lost 2.2 lbs this week for a total of 12 lbs in 6 weeks.

mikesnwgirl

I don't ever eat mine back and I lose about 2lbs a week. I'm sure the more I lose I will have to up my calorie intake, but for now it's working.

taso42_DELETED

You lose 2 lbs per week by eating at a 1000 cal per day deficit. Presumably you have plugged your info and weight loss goals into MFP, and it has come up with a calorie target for you that includes your deficit. So you would eat that many NET calories and you should lose your 2 lbs per week on average. Yes, it's that simple. That means "eating your exercise calories".

If you don't "eat your exercise calories", then you're simply increasing the calorie deficit. If you have a lot of fat to lose, you may lose it faster this way. Careful though, as you will inevitably sacrifice muscle as well, and your metabolism will slow down. As you lean out, it becomes increasingly important to fine tune your calorie deficit.

You can get away with this for a while, but if you're interested in lifetime health, fitness, and well-being, be mindful of what habits you are setting into stone right now.

kr3851

I don't eat all mine back but I try to maintain a net of 1200. MFP allows me just over 1400 a day, so most days it's not in the green by more than 200 if I can help it!

robin52077

I don't eat all mine back but I try to maintain a net of 1200. MFP allows me just over 1400 a day, so most days it's not in the green by more than 200 if I can help it!

well then you should eat 200 more per day.

It's not "MFP allows me to go up to..."
It's "My goal to REACH DAILY is...."

There is a built-in deficit IN your goal already. You should NOT be increasing it more.
If they say to NET "just over 1400" then NET JUST OVER 1400!!!! It's that simple. Why are you "trying to maintain a net of 1200"?!?! That is not your recommended goal.

:noway:

Sorry but I am honestly DUMBFOUNDED by people who think they can achieve their goals in a healthy manner while eating 1200 calories.
1200 is the BARE MINIMUM healthy amount. Why push it, go with the healthy goal given to you.

NancyAnne1960

If I'm hungry, I eat exercise calories back. If I'm not hungry, I at least try not to go under 1100 - 1200 calories for the day.

jasonweinberg

robin you are such a zealot. not everyone has to proceed the way you proceed. if she doesn't want to eat that 200 calories a day and it is working for her than what is your problem with that? personally, i lost a great deal of weight while eating well under 1200 calories per day and suffered no ill health effects from it. why is it that your point of view needs to be expressed as "the only healthy way" when in fact it is not?

melibea

I never lose 2lbs per week, more like 0.8 lbs or so... but I do notice that I lose weight more consistently when I eat my exercise calories back. If I don't, I plateau.

Oishii

I always ate mine back and always lost more than mfp predicted BUT I don't think this is because I ate them back. Mfp's figures just don't work for me and I don't know why.

Now I'm maintaining I'm trying out sticking to a calorie ceiling of 2450, while mfp thought I could maintain on about 1650! If I want to lose weight again (hopefully post baby) I'll start with my calories at mfp's idea of maintenance!

Givemewings

Yes I do. I am eating most or all of my exercise calls and the weight is dropping off nicely.

robin52077

robin you are such a zealot. not everyone has to proceed the way you proceed. if she doesn't want to eat that 200 calories a day and it is working for her than what is your problem with that? personally, i lost a great deal of weight while eating well under 1200 calories per day and suffered no ill health effects from it. why is it that your point of view needs to be expressed as "the only healthy way" when in fact it is not?

Jason, my point is that if someone asks to lose 2 lbs per week, is told 1400.....WHY would they WANT to eat 1200?

I am basing my POV on the hundreds of threads that say "I eat less than 1200 and the scale isn't moving, help!"
Then we tell them to eat more, and like magic...the scale moves downward, they are happier, no more headaches, tiredness...more energy, etc.

And when you give advice, you can't use your personal situation as an example, because you are a minority case, NOT what the average person should be doing. Your statement needs to amended to: "i lost a great deal of weight while eating well under 1200 calories per day AFTER HAVING A SURGICAL PROCEDURE AND WHILE BEING MONITORED BY DOCTORS"

I know that, but not everyone does, and they may think it's ok for an average person to eat below 1200 like you did and it would be ok, when in fact it most likely would not be ok long term.

You know I respect you and think you have done an AMAZING job in your loss and look great but your case is vastly different than the average "dieter".

And just to point out:
Telling her to eat 200 more is not "MY WAY". It is MFP that GAVE her that goal, so it is MFP's way, you know, the website we are all choosing to use, for free? Shouldn't it be used the way it was designed? (for MOST people).

debswebby

I know I'm being totally thick but I don't get it. If you eat your exercise calories what's the point of doing the exercise? Am really confused with the whole net calories, exercise calories thing.

HelenLRoss

I was wondering if the target calorie burn in the excercise section of MFP is correct though? I do swimming training to quite a hard level and when i input the time i swam into MFP it said I had burnt 1094 calories which is alot. If i ate all those back I would be having almost double my calorie intake one day a week. Is this correct? I am worried now that by not eating these calories i am hindering my weight loss as I havent lost anything this week!

BerryH

Debs, there's all sorts of answers to that. Bear in mind that weight loss is 80% diet, exercise doesn't make a huge contribution from that point of view. BUT it contributes MASSIVELY to overall health, which should be the main goal of losing weight, not just getting into skinny jeans. Exercise will help change your body composition, lowering your body fat so you're not "skinny fat", and increasing your metabolism so you're still torching calories while watching the X Factor.

And the thing that appeals to most of us is it's very hard to stick to a reduced calorie diet. Being able to eat more but still remain at a calorie deficit that will enable us to lose a target amount every week is a HUGE benefit of the way MFP works over other programmes, and the reason it's the only one many of us have stuck with far longer than more traditional approaches.

BerryH

I was wondering if the target calorie burn in the excercise section of MFP is correct though? I do swimming training to quite a hard level and when i input the time i swam into MFP it said I had burnt 1094 calories which is alot. If i ate all those back I would be having almost double my calorie intake one day a week. Is this correct? I am worried now that by not eating these calories i am hindering my weight loss as I havent lost anything this week!

MFP's estimates are just that, an estimate. Although I find they match my burn quite accurately for most exercises, I feel they're way out for swimming. Try eating just half back, or just enough not to leave you hungry. Swimming burn is hard to get an accurate figure for as heart rate monitors are not designed to transmit underwater even if they're water-resistant.

debswebby

Thanks Berry. So when MFP tells me I have 588 cals remaining after I've entered my exercise, I do actually have that amount left and I should eat it? I like to save any cals remaining for the weekend.
Does this mean I can do less exercise? Can I stay home and eat less? Nah that wouldn't happen. I'd get bored and eat more.
xx

HelenLRoss

Thanks Berry I will see how i get one with that. I think i ate 200 calories extra on saturday after swimming so maybe if i stick with eating a little more then it will work. Thanks for your help! Its nice to be able to have people to talk to about this stuff.

Midori_i

I'm already very close to my target weight (a kilo to go that just won't budge) and simply can't NOT eat my exercise calories back. My body seems to know very well how much it wants and if I don't eat at least 1600 calories a day, I feel horribly deprived and am so hungry at night I can't sleep. I could never keep that up. Ergo I work out to earn those extra 400 calories I need a day and eat back every single one. Been able to keep that up for four months now and I'm almost there.

So eating them all back works just fine for me. I might even have to eat a little more to lose that very last kilo... But even if I don't and just stay where I am, I'll be happy with myself.

kr3851

I don't eat all mine back but I try to maintain a net of 1200. MFP allows me just over 1400 a day, so most days it's not in the green by more than 200 if I can help it!

well then you should eat 200 more per day.

It's not "MFP allows me to go up to..."
It's "My goal to REACH DAILY is...."

There is a built-in deficit IN your goal already. You should NOT be increasing it more.
If they say to NET "just over 1400" then NET JUST OVER 1400!!!! It's that simple. Why are you "trying to maintain a net of 1200"?!?! That is not your recommended goal.

:noway:

Sorry but I am honestly DUMBFOUNDED by people who think they can achieve their goals in a healthy manner while eating 1200 calories.
1200 is the BARE MINIMUM healthy amount. Why push it, go with the healthy goal given to you.

Maybe I should have explained a little more - because clearly according to you I'm doing it all wrong.

I started off eating all my exercise calories back (measured using a HRM with a chest strap, so fairly accurate) and didn't lose anywhere near 2lb per week. So I have tweaked and tweaked until I came to this solution which WORKS FOR ME at the moment. Once it stops working, believe me, I'll change it up. I don't see the point in eating extra food if I'm not hungry. If I am hungry though, I'll happily eat everything available to me in MFP's allowance.

I just thought I'd give someone an insight into WHAT WORKS FOR ME AT THE MOMENT. Thanks for shooting me down.

jasonweinberg

robin yes i had the lap-band surgery and yes i was under the care of a dr. and a nutritionist. i didn't go into those details because my point was that our situations are not all the same so our approaches do not have to be the same. i guess mfp "has a program" but it is also a calculator tool and support group. there is no law that says everyone has to use it the same way. as your friend on here, i see how you police the forums looking for people who do not "follow the plan" and i find that you are often very condescending to those who for whatever reason do not approach it the way you believe they should approach it (for example CAPLOCKING WORDS for emphasis). mfp does not in anyway in your diary specifically say your goal is to eat exactly your calorie goal and in fact when you come in under it it posts a rather congratulatory message in your feed. you seem to believe it is somehow clear that you are "required" to eat all your allotted calories however it is not.

personally, if i was answering a question someone asked me in a forum on here i would be quite put off if i got a response in the tone you used with this poster. that is why i stepped in to put in my two cents. again, we are free to use the tool mfp as we wish, there is no law that says it needs to be used in a specific way. personally, my nutritionist told me that all these theories about "starvation mode" are greatly misunderstood and overblown. why can't those of us who haven't "bought into it" the way you have freely post our opinions without being treated as "heretics"?

jasonweinberg

I don't eat all mine back but I try to maintain a net of 1200. MFP allows me just over 1400 a day, so most days it's not in the green by more than 200 if I can help it!

well then you should eat 200 more per day.

It's not "MFP allows me to go up to..."
It's "My goal to REACH DAILY is...."

There is a built-in deficit IN your goal already. You should NOT be increasing it more.
If they say to NET "just over 1400" then NET JUST OVER 1400!!!! It's that simple. Why are you "trying to maintain a net of 1200"?!?! That is not your recommended goal.

:noway:

Sorry but I am honestly DUMBFOUNDED by people who think they can achieve their goals in a healthy manner while eating 1200 calories.
1200 is the BARE MINIMUM healthy amount. Why push it, go with the healthy goal given to you.

Maybe I should have explained a little more - because clearly according to you I'm doing it all wrong.

I started off eating all my exercise calories back (measured using a HRM with a chest strap, so fairly accurate) and didn't lose anywhere near 2lb per week. So I have tweaked and tweaked until I came to this solution which WORKS FOR ME at the moment. Once it stops working, believe me, I'll change it up. I don't see the point in eating extra food if I'm not hungry. If I am hungry though, I'll happily eat everything available to me in MFP's allowance.

I just thought I'd give someone an insight into WHAT WORKS FOR ME AT THE MOMENT. Thanks for shooting me down.

i've got your back!

cassondraragan

MFP's estimates for exercise are way off for me. When I do elliptical it overestimates by 150-200 calories, when I'm running it UNDERestimates by about 150 calories. So, I just don't use it.

cassondraragan

Thanks everyone for your input! And besides the one slightly uncomfortable dialogue, you all were great! I think I'm going to start eating all my exercise calories and increase my resistance training as well. Then, I'll see what happens! This is for the long term after all.