success not eating back exercise calories

10stonemeplz

I am interest to here from people who have had good losses not eating back their exercise calories! I wonder what the point is in doing loads to eat loads back - I run every day to help me be healthy and slim me down

stayxtrue

I dont condone this at all however I do weight training and cardio everyday so eating it all back is extremely hard! Sometimes I carry 600-1000 calories over and I am still seeing muscle gains and losing fat, the main thing I look at is whether I am constantly hungry, if I am not hungry I am not going to force myself to eat, but I do eat a lot

Terasome

The way I look at it is, you are given say minimum 1400 calories to eat each day, which if you dont exercise, you will lose weight anyway because you are already running at a deficit (500 built in). If you exercised and burnt 500 calories you are now running at 900 calories giving yourself a 1000 calorie deficit. Far too much.

So because you have burned 500 and your deficit built in is already 500 there is 1000. You need to replace the 500 you burnt or close to it so that you will still lose the weight you have input into MFP. If you dont your metabolism will slow down and you wont burn as well as you had hoped and you wont lose like you want.

Does that make sense?

CorrieV1976

I do if I'm hungry, if I'm not I dont worry about it.

MrsSpinks

I try not to (I usually only eat about 100 exercise cals back a day) so that when we eat out or want a cheat day (which happens on a weekly basis!!), I know I have made myself a nice big cushion with all the exercise calories and I still lose. This is amazingly motivational for me when I still lose a pound, even when I have had a day of 2500+ calories at the weekend for example!!

thirtyandthriving

I don't unless I'm hungry and then I do. It has worked for me so far.

10stonemeplz

I guess I find it strange - biggest loser people dont eat theirs back, and also people on very low calories diets are also under the daily 1200 a day anyway, how come their metabolisms keep going?

xSophia19

When i started my weightloss journey January 2011, I was eating 1300 cals a day, and burning about 400-800 cals a day doing a different types of excercises. And the weight dropped offf! As i actually stuck to it - and not ate 1 excercise calorie back!

But last couple of months, - i have been really naughty and eating about half of my excercise cals back, and the weight is comeing offf mega slow now :sad: I need to stop doing this! As i am only halfway to my weight goal - and its going to take me years and years if i keep on at this!

It different for everyone though - it might work for you if you eat some or all of your excercise calories back. Or it might not, only you will find that out by trying it out for a few weeks and seeing what works best.

10stonemeplz

I started calorie counting 2 years and went from 218 to 147, by eating 1200 calories a day and over that time I started running and did alot of walking and also running around after 5 children! I never considered the calories from exercise until I found this site and it says to eat them back! Now I am worried that I am doing something wrong, hence the original post. I have lost weight well not eating them

appleseeds

I guess I find it strange - biggest loser people dont eat theirs back, and also people on very low calories diets are also under the daily 1200 a day anyway, how come their metabolisms keep going?

Haha the EP I just watched the guys ate 3 steaks for dinner...so I'm thinking actually they might be eating back Cal's here and there.

Also, I'm under the impression if you a a lot of weight to lose and a body fat percentage high like those guys do you can maintain a low calorie diet for a lot longer without significant metabolic effects as someone who has only got, for example, 10 kg to lose.

MaximalLife

I guess I find it strange - biggest loser people dont eat theirs back, and also people on very low calories diets are also under the daily 1200 a day anyway, how come their metabolisms keep going?

Do they?
Read up on those winners who've gained all their weight back. Not all but some.
Erik Chopin was one such winner from Season 3. He started at 407-pounds and reduced to 193. After the show he gained most of the weight back as is typical.....:ohwell:

If you want to follow the "Biggest Loser" examples, go for it.
Can't say you weren't warned, and I want to be the first person to eat dirt if you succeed.

No matter what, my desire is to see you do well, lose weight, look good, feel great and live a happy life.
Give it a try; I can tell you want to.

I sure did give it a go, and you can bet the farm that I will never - I MEAN NEVER do that again.
My experience was just like Erik.

And after I lost the weight that first time? I looked like hell.
Maybe you'll be different.

SusanMcAvoy

I try not to eat most of them back. Sometimes I eat some of them if I'm hungry. It's always nice to have a cushion. But when I first started I never ate them back. I averaged around 1100 calories a day. Now I average around 1380 a day. Sometimes higher if it's a weekend and I have red wine. That always put me over. All my life I was taught in order to lose weight you eat less and workout more. I never heard of eating exercise calories back until I came on MFP. It makes no sense to me to force oneself to eat if you're not hungry. My goal is to eat less calories than I used to. Most of my fitness friends do not eat their exercise calories back. Good luck on your journey. :flowerforyou:

trud72

I do if I'm hungry, if I'm not I dont worry about it.

SNAP,,,x :drinker:

grrrlface

I've lost 27lbs so far altogether and have never eaten back exercise cal. If you're hungry though you definately should eat them. I don't get hungry so I don't eat them, it's just my body. Do what yours tells you. :-)

Articeluvsmemphis

Hungry, Eat, Not Hungry, Don't Eat. . . But I eat a lot as well, I exercise a bunch too

ANNABELLEMoorsey

I have never ate any of my calories back and ive lost 60lbs in four months. Obviously the more weight you lose the harder it is but I am still losing the average amount of weight (most importantly FAT) that should be lost each week which is 1-2lbs
I had never even heard of eating back your exercise calories until i joined this site. I work out everyday and can sometimes burn between 700-1500 calories depending...
I think if your like me and work out often then maybe up your calorie intake to around 1500 maybe. That seems to work perfectly for me. I think eating back your calories counteracts the whole point of doing exercise which is to bun fat, to eat the calories back you might as well not exercise that's how I see it!

CyberEd312

MFP already builds in your deficit when you set up what you want to lose each week so any calories burned during exercise should be consumed to fuel you body for your workouts. My BMR is 2450 and I set my MFP to lose 1 lb. a week.. I consume 3200 calories a day (that is with eating my exercise calories back) and am still losing 1 to 2 lbs. a week after 31 months and 295 lbs. lost on this journey.....

CyberEd312

I have never ate any of my calories back and ive lost 60lbs in four months. Obviously the more weight you lose the harder it is but I am still losing the average amount of weight (most importantly FAT) that should be lost each week which is 1-2lbs
I had never even heard of eating back your exercise calories until i joined this site. I work out everyday and can sometimes burn between 700-1500 calories depending...
I think if your like me and work out often then maybe up your calorie intake to around 1500 maybe. That seems to work perfectly for me. I think eating back your calories counteracts the whole point of doing exercise which is to bun fat, to eat the calories back you might as well not exercise that's how I see it!

You do realize by running high caloric deficits (by not eating your exercise calories back or a big portion of them) you are also sacrificing muscle (when the body gets large caloric deficits it will burn the fasted source of energy to replenish what you aren't giving it, so it will attack muscle and break it down) it is not all fat that you are burning up which is counterproductive and will actually start slowing down your metabolism..... You can get away with it for awhile if you have a large quantity of weight to come off but eventually your going to hit the plateau wall, not to mention the muscle loss on top of it all... Just food for thought.......

ANNABELLEMoorsey

I have never ate any of my calories back and ive lost 60lbs in four months. Obviously the more weight you lose the harder it is but I am still losing the average amount of weight (most importantly FAT) that should be lost each week which is 1-2lbs
I had never even heard of eating back your exercise calories until i joined this site. I work out everyday and can sometimes burn between 700-1500 calories depending...
I think if your like me and work out often then maybe up your calorie intake to around 1500 maybe. That seems to work perfectly for me. I think eating back your calories counteracts the whole point of doing exercise which is to bun fat, to eat the calories back you might as well not exercise that's how I see it!

You do realize by running high caloric deficits (by not eating your exercise calories back or a big portion of them) you are also sacrificing muscle (when the body gets large caloric deficits it will burn the fasted source of energy to replenish what you aren't giving it, so it will attack muscle and break it down) it is not all fat that you are burning up which is counterproductive and will actually start slowing down your metabolism..... You can get away with it for awhile if you have a large quantity of weight to come off but eventually your going to hit the plateau wall, not to mention the muscle loss on top of it all... Just food for thought.......

Thanks for the concern but I actually analyse my fat mass and muscle percentage each time I weigh in and over the past few months I have not only continued to loss fat but actually gained a good amount of muscle so I don't think that applies to me

UsedToBeHusky

At first, I did not eat back my exercise calories and I lost a lot. Then, I decided to eat them back because I was strength training, but I haven't lost as well since. I'm thinking of going back to my old methods until I can get some more weight off.

Lorleee

A Registered Dietician (she's well known in these parts, appears on televsion regularly and has written several books on nutrition and weight loss) has helped me lose 35 pounds so far, and she never once mentioned eating back calories. In fact when I read about it here I told her about it and she was a bit surprised. She did some calculations with me, showed me how many calories I'm consuming in a week and how many I'm burning, and said I should certainly not be eating them back.

SHBoss1673

A Registered Dietician (she's well known in these parts, appears on televsion regularly and has written several books on nutrition and weight loss) has helped me lose 35 pounds so far, and she never once mentioned eating back calories. In fact when I read about it here I told her about it and she was a bit surprised. She did some calculations with me, showed me how many calories I'm consuming in a week and how many I'm burning, and said I should certainly not be eating them back.

that's because "eating exercise calories" is specific to MFP. It's not a universal concept. But I guarantee that if you explained to her exactly how MFP does it, I'd bet she's changed her tune. As a personal trainer, I work with multiple Registered Dietitians, and I vet them all the time for clients. I only once had one question MFP's concepts and usually once they were explained that you're given a deficit before hand and exercise calories are just there to keep you within that calorie range they were fine with it. It's actually a very scientifically sound principle if you think about it. In fact, if I explained MFP to a dietitian and they said it wasn't a good idea, I'd require them to give me some very detailed explanations as to why. In fact, that happened once. And I became skeptical of the "dietitian" and I did some background checking on him, turns out he wasn't "registered" at all, he was a nutritionist who lied about receiving a degree, and I reported him to the AG's office and he was fined and his license was revoked. It happens.

wwww1199

I dont condone this at all however I do weight training and cardio everyday so eating it all back is extremely hard! Sometimes I carry 600-1000 calories over and I am still seeing muscle gains and losing fat, the main thing I look at is whether I am constantly hungry, if I am not hungry I am not going to force myself to eat, but I do eat a lot

I totally agree with this!

erickirb

In theory you will lose more by not eating them back. The problem is it is unhealthy to have an extremely large caloric deficit >1000, and MFP already has you in a deficit if you eat 100% of the calories including exercise calories.

If you don't eat them you will end up losing more lean muscle as you lose weight, have less energy everyday, not progress as fast in cardio or strength building, not to mention the possibility of slowing your metabolism, losing hair, becoming malnourished etc.

Teliooo

I do when I feel like it. I am eating to maintain this for life not just a quick fix. If you plan to eat like that forever then fine. If not then long term you probably won't as successful as you will always be relying on eating a small amount each day.

calibellcollins

i personally dont like eating the calories i have "earned" from working out. i see more results not eating them. when and if i eat them i tend to be stuck at a weight i cant break. i also think whatever is working for you then keep it up. if you hit a wall and the weight doesnt seem to be dropping off then tweak it .maybe eat only half of your exercise calories and if the weight starts again then you know what you should do. i think it is different for eveyone but i personally dont like to eat them.

nathan72

i have had GREAT success not eating my exercise calories. once or twice a week on the days that i treat myself, i will eat an extra 500 calories or so and then work them off, but 5 or 6 days a week i stick to my calorie goal no matter how much i burn in exercise. i think this has helped keep my metabolism going...i have lost weight every single week for 17 weeks. (3-6 pounds per week)

erickirb

A Registered Dietician (she's well known in these parts, appears on televsion regularly and has written several books on nutrition and weight loss) has helped me lose 35 pounds so far, and she never once mentioned eating back calories. In fact when I read about it here I told her about it and she was a bit surprised. She did some calculations with me, showed me how many calories I'm consuming in a week and how many I'm burning, and said I should certainly not be eating them back.

that's because "eating exercise calories" is specific to MFP. It's not a universal concept. But I guarantee that if you explained to her exactly how MFP does it, I'd bet she's changed her tune. As a personal trainer, I work with multiple Registered Dietitians, and I vet them all the time for clients. I only once had one question MFP's concepts and usually once they were explained that you're given a deficit before hand and exercise calories are just there to keep you within that calorie range they were fine with it. It's actually a very scientifically sound principle if you think about it. In fact, if I explained MFP to a dietitian and they said it wasn't a good idea, I'd require them to give me some very detailed explanations as to why. In fact, that happened once. And I became skeptical of the "dietitian" and I did some background checking on him, turns out he wasn't "registered" at all, he was a nutritionist who lied about receiving a degree, and I reported him to the AG's office and he was fined and his license was revoked. It happens.

Nice reply.

I like to post this example so people can see the difference between MFP and what professionals suggest.

Say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 (1450+400) on the days you do. Whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1750 everyday regardless if you workout (they take your planned exercise into account when assigning calories, MFP does not).

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 12,250 (1750*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (which means same weekly weight loss). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1750/day above.

erickirb

i personally dont like eating the calories i have "earned" from working out. i see more results not eating them. when and if i eat them i tend to be stuck at a weight i cant break. i also think whatever is working for you then keep it up. if you hit a wall and the weight doesnt seem to be dropping off then tweak it .maybe eat only half of your exercise calories and if the weight starts again then you know what you should do. i think it is different for eveyone but i personally dont like to eat them.

You may see better results on the scale, but I can assure you that more of your loss will be from lean muscle then someone that eats them back, which means you may hit your goal wieght quicker not eating them, but you will have a higher BF% at that wieght, then if you did eat them.

So ask yourself, do you want to lose weight, or fat? If you answered fat, you should be eating most of your exercise calories back.

mroger801

Up until recently, I have not logged my exercise and therefore did not include calories burned in my daily calculation of weight loss. This was at my doctor's recommendation. Just for full disclosure, this was also when I was meeting with my doctor every other week, so there was a lot more supervision of my daily activity.

Recently, as I have been getting closer to my goal weight and meeting with my doctor less frequently, I realized that I was depriving myself of things I wanted and that I could have if I added in my exercise calories. I have been logging my exercise and working hard to stay within my calorie goal for the day. Sometimes I didn't reach my daily goal without the exercise and sometimes I did. Ultimately, I think I'm paying closer attention to what I'm eating now that I log exercise.

PuffinPie

I try to eat all my calories back if I can and I am eating a ton of good, tasty, healthy food and losing a lot of weight.
I have done it both ways but a diet of 1200 calories (i'm a shorty) plus my exercise calories is what works best for me.
Not felt this fit and healthy for years and I wouldn't recommend doing it any other way.