success not eating back exercise calories

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nutritionist who lied about receiving a degree, and I reported him to the AG's office and he was fined and his license was revoked.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.

SassyCalyGirl

I do not eat burned calories back and have been very successful. Originally I was shooting to lose 10 lbs but after losing 6lbs I am happy with where I am. I also lost 3.5 inches in my waist and 1 inch from both my hips and bust. And my loss was not "lean mass".

sandown12

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?

VLCD they ruin theyre metabolisims thats why they arent a good plan Ive doen them many times and hence I have to work much harder to lose 1lb ,Biggest losers are exercsing to extreme
My partner hes a construction worker 5ft 10 weighs 154lbs and eats 5000 calories a day only pputs weight on if hes on a break from work so hes eating his exercise calories as hes on his feet 10 hours doing hard work 5 days a week at weekends he eat 2500 calories a day

SHBoss1673

to be clear, nobody who follows MFP suggests that NOT eating them back will result in total failure. The reason why it's suggested is more for conceptual reasoning and ease of the program, as well as keeping your body in a state where it feels it can release the fat calories for energy.

See at MFP we aren't trying to help you drop weight "as fast as possible", that's not the model, if you want that, go try the cabbage soup diet. At MFP we're about HEALTHY fat loss that is sustainable and helps you work towards a permanent lifestyle change. Keeping your deficit moderate will help to achieve that goal by minimizing internal stress and allowing you to focus on health and wellness instead of weight.

I'm saying this: Can you lose weight faster by not eating them? Possibly, depending on your situation, but that's not what we're aiming for. We're aiming for teaching you how to eat right and exercise for EVER. So that you don't need to come back here a year from now and start all over again.

erickirb

I do not eat burned calories back and have been very successful. Originally I was shooting to lose 10 lbs but after losing 6lbs I am happy with where I am. I also lost 3.5 inches in my waist and 1 inch from both my hips and bust. And my loss was not "lean mass".

The less you have to lose the more important it is to eat them back. And I would argue that a large % of your loss was lean mass, as even body builders when cutting lose muscle, and they eat a lot of protein and lift heavy weights, both of which help retain muscle while in a caloric deficit.

On top of that with less than 10lbs to lose you weekly goal should be to lose no more than 0.5lbs/week or you will lose more lean mass then if you had a deficit this small.

KellyBgetsfit

I asked my friend who is a personal trainer, and he said weight loss is all about burning more calories then you consume. You have to have a calorie deficit to lose weight. I am only 5' 0 so my BMR is very low -1240. If I ate back all the calories, I would not have as much of a deficit.

He also said a HRM isn't a perfect measure of calories burned. It's better then what a machine or computer would tell you but it can still be low.

UsedToBeHusky

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.

You know... I try to avoid engaging in debate with you because it never seems to go well. But you do know that the rate of muscle loss is dependent upon one's BMI, and for those that are obese, the loss to muscle is minimal, right?

paulslimjonesbryant

i burn about 1500 to 2000 calories a day so it would be silly for me too eat back

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.

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.

It does happen, yes. It also happens with some trainers who are not qualified to give out advice on nutrition because they simply don't have the educational background (not saying this is you, just saying there are quacks in any profession, or people who consider themselves Jacks of All Trades. RD's have studied food science for years).

Everyone should do their research when consulting a professional, and everyone should take what they read on an internet forum with a grain of salt. My RD has not steered me wrong and I know I'm doing right by my body. A weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week is safe and healthy, and leads to a sustainable lifestyle change.

erickirb

i burn about 1500 to 2000 calories a day so it would be silly for me too eat back

Wow if you burn that much I would def, eat at least half or your existing muscle will be saying bye bye.

SassyCalyGirl

I do not eat burned calories back and have been very successful. Originally I was shooting to lose 10 lbs but after losing 6lbs I am happy with where I am. I also lost 3.5 inches in my waist and 1 inch from both my hips and bust. And my loss was not "lean mass".

The less you have to lose the more important it is to eat them back. And I would argue that a large % of your loss was lean mass, as even body builders when cutting lose muscle, and they eat a lot of protein and lift heavy weights, both of which help retain muscle while in a caloric deficit.

On top of that with less than 10lbs to lose you weekly goal should be to lose no more than 0.5lbs/week or you will lose more lean mass then if you had a deficit this small.

Well I am not here to argue. I had my stats done and I did not lose lean mass.