Who does not eat back exercise calories???

ChellieIrish

Has anyone seen this thread it explains it very well here :flowerforyou: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

I eat about 50 - 75% of my workout cals and have a treat day on a Fri which is my weigh in day and it works I fell off the wagon due to RL getting in the way but I have managed to nearly be back to where I was before I fell off :bigsmile:

In order to workout in a healthy way you really need to fuel your body with enough food I'm exactly halfway to where I want to reach with my goal :drinker: so I know it's working for me :drinker:

Editing to add I use a Polar HRM not the MFP calories guide :bigsmile:

c2sky

By the way, my RD says under 150 pounds, a person should shoot for only 1/2 to 1 1/2 pounds of weight loss per week. I'm right where I should be. Sometimes I go up a half pound, sometimes down 2, but I always average about what my RD says. When I was fluctuating in calories with exercise, my weight loss was much slower, like a pound off per every 3 weeks or so. It's coming off nicely, now that I maintain a consitent calorie level.

But hire a good sports nutrtion RD. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it.

psuLemon

By the way, my RD says under 150 pounds, a person should shoot for only 1/2 to 1 1/2 pounds of weight loss per week. I'm right where I should be. Sometimes I go up a half pound, sometimes down 2, but I always average about what my RD says. When I was fluctuating in calories with exercise, my weight loss was much slower, like a pound off per every 3 weeks or so. It's coming off nicely, now that I maintain a consitent calorie level.

But hire a good sports nutrtion RD. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it.

I woudl like to say, it's awesome that you found what works for you. Keep it up. Do you mind if I ask how they calculated your calories?

audram420

During the week I try not to eat them, but I make up for it on the weekends! :drinker:

h3h8m3

One size doesn't fit all, but math generally doesn't lie. Have you ever look around this forum (and please dont' take this as sacastic) about how many plateau or I don't understand why I am not losing weight threads there are? Do you know what ever single one has in common? You guessed it, they all involve not eating enough.

That's an absurd statement. Really, come on. Every single thread where someone isn't losing weight is because they're eating too LITTLE huh?

You really don't understand how metabolic slowdown works if you believe that's true.

seasonalvoodoo

I really think it all depends on where you are in your weight loss. I didn't eat mine back for a long time and lost a lot of weight. And then I stopped. And then I gained a few back. I had to start eating more to lose once I got down closer to my goal. So those who aren't right now...probably will down the road. it is just a matter of where you are on your journey. :-)

Agreed...seems like the people who are most insistent that you should eat them are at their goal weight and in better shape then many of the people on here. Its easier to say "eat, eat, eat" when you don't still need to lose a bunch of weight. People who are just getting on track are thinking how eating a lot (and eating when you weren't even hungry) is what got them here in the first place!

I am not necessarily close to my goal weight (37 LBS left to go, but I could probably go lower and will reevaluate when I get there) and I almost always eat all of my exercise calories and have been doing so from day 1 (Jan 3rd of this year).

As you can see, it has not hindered my weight loss.

psuLemon

One size doesn't fit all, but math generally doesn't lie. Have you ever look around this forum (and please dont' take this as sacastic) about how many plateau or I don't understand why I am not losing weight threads there are? Do you know what ever single one has in common? You guessed it, they all involve not eating enough.

That's an absurd statement. Really, come on. Every single thread where someone isn't losing weight is because they're eating too LITTLE huh?

You really don't understand how metabolic slowdown works if you believe that's true.

I am sorry you feel that way. And ok, not every one is not eating enough, it's about 90%. Others are due to other factors such as under estimating/over estimate calories, over estimating// underestimating calories burn, or process/sodium filled foods. But seriously, I will say, I am not a doctor, but have spend a lot of time researching and analyzing data. I look at things from a scientific and mathematical stand point. Every person I have helped, has lost weight, so obviously something is working. So if you would like to post some research to further educate me so I dont' spread misinformation, I would highly encourage it.

Mitchlou84

I have a funny approach.

I set mine to lightly active (have no car) and log all my exercise. I am set to lose 1lb a week. This gives me 1700. During the week I exercise heaps, and don’t eat them all back, but don’t tend to net below 1200. I thought I was at times, and still losing and not hungry but it was because I was underestimating my portion sizes (I have scales now!).

So Mon-Thurs I tend to net 1200 (2lb loss), I am happy with this, I prob eat 1800-2000 which seems like heaps of food but I get a bit of a bigger loss.

Fridays and Saturdays I exercise, but mostly eat them all back, netting 1700 (1lb loss) unless it’s a big night out.

Sunday is my day off exercising. I’m starving and try my best to just eat 1700.

Hoping no one is going to tell me it’s really terrible as I like this approach and it allows me to feel like a human, have a life but still lose at least 1lb a week!

c2sky

@psulemon

Sorry, I left off part of your quote, but you asked, "I woudl like to say, it's awesome that you found what works for you. Keep it up. Do you mind if I ask how they calculated your calories?
[/quote]

Not sure exactly what you mean, but I'll take a shot at answering your question. I met a couple times with her. (actually I met with two of them, to verify) She talked to me about my habits, and took into account my starting weight, my activity level, how many times and what times of day I exercise (like I said, it's very different every day) and my overall activity level. This is similar to the questions MFP asks. But she was also able to look at they TYPES of exercise I do, and the fact that I'm usually at sea level. I have learned when to refuel, when to have low glycemic carbs, when to have high glycemic carbs etc., how much protien etc.

Then she helped me with my habits that I knew were inhibiting me. What she didn't help me find was a tracking system. My sister found that for me here.

Did I answer your question at all?

Iwillshyne

WUD YOU MIND SHARING HOW YOU SHEDDED THE WEIGHT?

Watch_Me_Shrink

I try not to eat them. I only really concentrate on my gross intake not my net. Exercise is just a bonus

BlueVeritas

I'm really short so i only get 1250 per day without excercise. I excercise so that i can get another small meal in or i start to obsess about how little i can eat. I "spend" them more dearly once i've worked for them i opt for a low cal vegetarian sandwhich, apple chips, and a skinny cow dessert vs. one 1/4 cup of ice cream.

christine24t

I generally don't, except for on nights I want ice cream or to go out drinking. Lost 40 pounds so far, so I think it's working.

kiesh82

For the life of me I can't understand why this topic is so controversial. If what you're doing is comfortable and works for you then keep doing it. The end.

mrk34

I don’t eat exercise calories back.

Consuming exercise calories on purpose doesn’t make any sense to me.

My logic: I don't create calorie deficit to waste it by eating additional calories.

I lost 46 pounds in 2010 and 21 this year.

Jesse13

very interesting topic, love it!
Bump

SoCalSwimmerDude

There are two sayings I live by, muscle burns fat and food is fuel.

IF I could start all over in my weight loss, I would live by this statement. I would typically eat my cals back (sometimes all, sometimes a little, sometimes none).

When I got towards the end of my weight loss, I decided, "OK, time to start adding muscle". So I upped my cals to maintenance and started lifting while still doing cardio 2-3 times a week. After that I was losing faster than I ever had before, while eating tons, and starting to see lots of definition. The results have been so wonderful, that I'm addicted to lifting now and I can get up to 3000 cals a day w/out gaining! (and sometimes losing).

Of course, since then, I've really learned alot more about caloric intake and how it effects MY body. I won't preach to everyone, but I'm a big believer in lifting and lifting hard while maintaining lots of good fuel for my body and sticking to cardio to assist in burning fat. I'm a fan of the lemon guy...

And does PSU mean Penn State?

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

Hey everyone..

Who doesn't eat their exercise calories back? Can you tell me how you have done on that generally as far as weight loss and how you feel?

Thanks!

It actually worked for me & at the same time felt safer because honestly I can't rely on how MFP calculates the calories burned vs calories in the foods that I'm taking in. Its not 100% accurate & I observed that MFP calculates the calories burned very generously compared to what we actually burn. If I'm going to do what the others say aka eat back your exercise calories, there might be a tendency that I overestimate my calories burned & at the same time underestimate my calorie intake.

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

For the life of me I can't understand why this topic is so controversial. If what you're doing is comfortable and works for you then keep doing it. The end.

Because some people keep on pushing others to eat back all exercise calories. It doesn't matter if you eat it back or no, the bottomline here is that if YOU EAT MORE THAN YOU BURN, YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT. BURN MORE THAN YOU EAT AND YOU WILL LOSE THE WEIGHT. Our body cannot tell a difference between the essential & exercise calories, PERIOD. Its up to you to eat it or not. As long as you take in more than you burn, don't be surprised if you're not losing anything.

Geez, you know what I never heard of a thing called "exercise calories" before. I only encountered it here but in real life, exercise calories are counted as calorie deficits.

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

One size doesn't fit all, but math generally doesn't lie. Have you ever look around this forum (and please dont' take this as sacastic) about how many plateau or I don't understand why I am not losing weight threads there are? Do you know what ever single one has in common? You guessed it, they all involve not eating enough.

That's an absurd statement. Really, come on. Every single thread where someone isn't losing weight is because they're eating too LITTLE huh?

You really don't understand how metabolic slowdown works if you believe that's true.

I agree. Let's face it, some of us underestimate our food intake while overestimating our exercise OR it could be exercising too much or eating too little below 1200 calories but majority of us do underestimate our food. Sometimes we forget to include the extra mayo or butter in our sandwich fillings, the candy that we munched or the several "taste tests" of the food that we are cooking or the leftover food of our kids. That all counts as calories too!