success not eating back exercise calories

thetiwi1890

Bump...just curious

funkycamper

Sorry, that's just not true. MFP gave me the same number of calories that every professional has ever given me: 1200. MFP is NOT setting calories much lower. They are right on the money as far as how many calories I need to eat to lose weight.

I don't know why a couple of social-weight-loss-oriented web sites decided that this is the way to go. The only reason I can think of is that they 1. didn't want people to go "anorexic" on them and eat a LCD + do a lot of exercise on top of that and/or 2. they thought it was a cool concept that would somehow set them apart from other weight loss plans.

To my way of thinking it is much more likely that people will eat badly and then think to themselves, "well, I'll just burn this off later". This concept of "eating back your calories" does nothing to help people establish healthy eating habits, it just gives them the idea that they can eat whatever they want as long as they burn it off.

If I nourish my body at 1200 calories, and then burn 500, I AM STILL NOURISHED. Unless I am some kind of olympic athlete or body builder, then the only thing that eating those calories back will accomplish is to slow my progress.

No disrespect to you or anyone, but again I say: until or unless I see empirical evidence showing otherwise, this is an unproven idea that will merely lead people to a slower weight loss and NOT teach them the healthy eating habits they need to learn.

Peace out.

No, you're really not well nourished at that level. The World Health Organization came up with the 1200 calorie amount when researching the MINIMUM number of calories that could be given to starving people to help keep them from starving. It's the MINIMUM for nominal health for a relatively INACTIVE person.

BuckeyeLife

One simple thing I see that makes this topic not worth reading... OP's account has been deactivated. "I don't like your approach, I quit."

My cousin is dropping an insane amount of weight weekly(8-12 lbs, more to lower side lately) and he is not even remotely eating enough. Can you lose weight this way? Sure, can you really screw your body up, yep. Been pushing him to get his calorie intake up.

Oilfanchick

Very well said......

cindyrey

WHEN I EAT BACK MY CALORIES I DON'T LOSE, BUT WHEN I JUST EAT 1200-1400 CALORIES I LOSE ABOUT A POUND TO A POUND AN A HALF A WEEK.

apham16

I only eat them if and when my body tells me that I am still hungry, and I am still losing weight.

SHBoss1673

I only eat them if and when my body tells me that I am still hungry, and I am still losing weight.

this is a dangerous methodology for people who's metabolic systems have been altered by long term underfeeding. The human body will adjust to many things, long term reduced calorie intake will eventually adjust the hormones (like leptin and ghrelin, the hormones that tell us when we are hungry), so someone who has abused their body for a long time with overeating won't have the correct "warning system" to tell them when they should eat. Likewise, someone who constantly under-eats won't receive the warning signals about energy deficiency that someone who is eating at a healthy rate is.

Long story short, if you've been eating healthy your whole life, it's generally ok to "trust your body" otherwise, be wary of this, you may be doing more harm than good.

rachelbethany

EXACTLY.

swhitney2, Sweet_Potato, sittingduck76: All that means is that the calorie estimates being used are inaccurate. MFP can be VERY off for estimations of calorie burn. If you only eat 50% of your exercise calories you aren't saying 'I can't eat back everything I burned' you're saying 'I don't think that estimation of my calorie burn is accurate so I'll go with a lesser number'.

Same thing

wk9t

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

/\ /\ /\ /\ /\

This. It works for me.

clobercow

I eat 500cal below BMR. I exercise anywhere between 400 and 800 calories per day. I do cardio and I lift. I do not eat my exercise calories. I've lost INCHES! and almost 15 lbs in 25 days.

There is no need to consume exercise calories if you feel fine. People on here like to spread 100% pure bull****.

People will blabber on all day about "starvation mode" "eating too few calories" "don't eat this, don't eat that" blah blah blah.

Who gives a ****? Not me. Nor should you.

Here is my tip.

Use your brain and do what works for you.

That is it.

Nothing more.

Trolls need not reply. Say I'm wrong all you want.

Lleldiranne

I (almost) always eat back my exercise calories. I have it set to lose 1/2 pound per week, so I already have a 250 calorie deficit. I like food, and I'm breastfeeding (which I log as well) so I don't want to deprive myself too much because I don't want to compromise my supply. It's working for me, I'm losing at least 1/2 pound a week. It works for some people to eat them back. For others, it works to not.

carld256

I tried to eat back my exercise calories tonight. I ended eating a PB&J sandwich at 10pm and I'm still short 450 calories.

Ed_81

I started on my new lifestyle a couple of months ago, I cut out all unhealthy food and all fizzy drinks (even though I only ever drank diet stuff)
I made sure that as soon as I woke up I had a glass of water and a healthy breakfast, which is normally a bowl of healthy cereal (like puffed wheat or high fibre bran sticks) with skimmed milk. I always weigh how much much goes into the bowl and follow the serving suggestion amount.
I also tend to have a good size lunch, such as 2 lettuce, extra light mayo and wafer thin sliced chicken sandwiches for lunch.
In the evening I have a good sized healthy dinner, never anything fried, plenty of fresh vegetables and meat etc.

In addition to this I started running to work and back, it's about a mile and it takes me about 10 minutes. I've also taken up a little weight training and was using the wii fit for 45 minutes a night (though for the past week I've been doing the 30 day shred instead of the wii)

Everyone I have spoken to has been amazed by the difference, my belly has decreased dramatically, my jeans size has already dropped by 2 and I have much better definition to my muscles and body in general.

Recently I started logging my calories and exercise on here. It turns out that what everyone else (bar mfp) finds as healthy eating is actually really under what I should be eating! I'm consuming on average between 1200 and 1500 calories a day and burning off around 550 through exercise.

Doing this though I have dropped from 242lbs to 210lbs in 2 months.

Maybe when I have dropped another 30lbs I'll re-evaluate my intake, especially if I plateau or my muscles start to decrease, but all the time that I'm seeing such vast improvements I shall stick with what I'm doing.
Those people who say that it'll all come back etc, this might be true if you are just dieting, for those of us who have made this our new lifestyles it won't come back unless we let it.

Good luck to everyone out there and keep with it, what ever works for you.

BuckeyeLife

I eat 500cal below BMR. I exercise anywhere between 400 and 800 calories per day. I do cardio and I lift. I do not eat my exercise calories. I've lost INCHES! and almost 15 lbs in 25 days.

There is no need to consume exercise calories if you feel fine. People on here like to spread 100% pure bull****.

People will blabber on all day about "starvation mode" "eating too few calories" "don't eat this, don't eat that" blah blah blah.

Who gives a ****? Not me. Nor should you.

Here is my tip.

Use your brain and do what works for you.

That is it.

Nothing more.

Trolls need not reply. Say I'm wrong all you want.

This is a guy who's been on MFP for a year and has 12 lbs lost. Maybe you gained some muscle back, maybe you lost weight then re-evaluated goal, but given your picture I am skeptical of that. Eating back exercise calories is important, period. If you wanna give yourself a deficit over 1k, go ahead, you're losing lean muscle mass to do it. I won't even argue that this process doesn't drop weight off, because it does. But it is taking from muscle and not fat. Too many people who do this stuff for a living for me to disagree. But what do certified trainers know?

KMS5308

I don't force myself to eat them. But sometimes on the weekends I tend to eat more (out to lunch/dinner). A few years ago when I lost a bunch I did the same way I am now and did well. I figure the same will work now. I find if I stress myself out about then I don't lose as well.

ChristinaOlliver

I personally eat when I'm hungry. If I end up going over my calories on a rest day, or not eating all my extra calories on an exercise day, then for me it's not the end of the world. Everyone on here has had results doing different things, you just need to learn what works for you!

love22step

While losing, some days I ate the calories back and some days I didn't. It evened out. Now that I'm on maintenance and working on building strength and muscle tone, I try to stay close to the recommended calories, including eating back my calories burned. I feel I have to give my body something to work with.

pg3ibew

I have been on here since January. Exercising almost everyday. ONLY cardio until recently. Now I do both, cardio and weights. I have eaten back my workout calories maybe 2 or 3 times. Most days I do not even eat my alloted calories for just the diet. Not for any reason but for the fact, I have not been hungry enough to eat all my calories.
While I have lost over 50 pounds, I notice I lost ALOT of muscle as well as fat. But I liken that to the fact that I did NOT pick up a weight until 3 weeks ago. Not that I should have eaten back my work out calories.

I go by the motto, IF I AM HUNGRY, I EAT. IF NOT HUNGRY, I DON'T EAT. Seems to work for me.

RmYWarrioR

Both my wife and I eat back a portion of our exercise calories. You must remain healthy and support muscle growth. You have to feed the muscles if you work them, can't starve them. If you do yes, you will lose the fat then you will have lose skin over light muscle and bone.

Robin_Bin

I like being able to eat within a range instead of a specific amount of calories. So, I eat back some of my exercise calories. I make sure I meet the minimum (have only eaten less on a couple of days when I was sick and not hungry), and I rarely go over the amount MFP gives me for the day. Some days I exercise so I can eat some special things, enjoy a good meal out; some days I exercise because I want to and I don't "eat back" all the calories. (And I've been losing a little bit faster than my target rate or than I've ever lost before.)
I think it will be a much more sustainable, long-term lifecycle change, but it may be different for you.

terpsoccer

I burn roughly 1000 cals per exercise day using my Polar FT40 and chest strap as my guide. My trainer has me at a goal of roughly 1900 cals. I use MFP to log my food and exercise but I use the calorie goal he's given me based on our calculations, and told me to ignore the gained calories. So if i get 1900 cal and burn 1000 i don't have enough time in my day to eat 2900 cal. If I'm not hungry I don't eat. I'm already eating 6 times a day. I happen to think that "rewarding" yourself sets you up for more cheat days but that is just me

DietandVlogsense

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

This is how I think as well.

I will, if I know there is a high calorie meal that evening, do extra, but other than that not really. So I guess I will "bank" some calories by doing an extra workout if we are going out for a meal, but even then I still log everything and try and stay below.

So, nothing silly like having desserts or anything like that.

Even with all that said, I don't worry about the day to day numbers, after all that is not how our bodies operate. I look more at the running totals and try and ensure that my average over a week is under 1500 calories, but NO LESS than 1400... The planner tells me I should east 1700 a day.

If one day I go over a bit, then I get that back the next day or even the day after that. Using this way of working, I have lost 21lbs in just about 1 month, so I figure I must be doing something right and I certainly don't feel like I am starving myself or damaging my body by loosing the wrong type of weight.

Indeed, my muscle definition has improved over that time and I am loosing inches in key places as well as dropping fat lbs!

DietandVlogsense

Sorry, that's just not true. MFP gave me the same number of calories that every professional has ever given me: 1200. MFP is NOT setting calories much lower. They are right on the money as far as how many calories I need to eat to lose weight.

I don't know why a couple of social-weight-loss-oriented web sites decided that this is the way to go. The only reason I can think of is that they 1. didn't want people to go "anorexic" on them and eat a LCD + do a lot of exercise on top of that and/or 2. they thought it was a cool concept that would somehow set them apart from other weight loss plans.

To my way of thinking it is much more likely that people will eat badly and then think to themselves, "well, I'll just burn this off later". This concept of "eating back your calories" does nothing to help people establish healthy eating habits, it just gives them the idea that they can eat whatever they want as long as they burn it off.

If I nourish my body at 1200 calories, and then burn 500, I AM STILL NOURISHED. Unless I am some kind of olympic athlete or body builder, then the only thing that eating those calories back will accomplish is to slow my progress.

No disrespect to you or anyone, but again I say: until or unless I see empirical evidence showing otherwise, this is an unproven idea that will merely lead people to a slower weight loss and NOT teach them the healthy eating habits they need to learn.

Peace out.

No, you're really not well nourished at that level. The World Health Organization came up with the 1200 calorie amount when researching the MINIMUM number of calories that could be given to starving people to help keep them from starving. It's the MINIMUM for nominal health for a relatively INACTIVE person.

When you think about it, that makes sense.

If you put your activity level at senditary (sp) then you get lower cals recommended, but then you can exercise to allow you more.

I have to say that, in my opinion, if someone is attempting to routinely exercise away their food intake, then yes, they will loose weight, but it is unlikely to be a permenant achievement.

I personally and set at 1650cals a day, with a weightloss goal of 2lbs a week, which IS aggressive. I tend to hit around the 1600 mark net, day in, day out, WITH exercise, so in total I consume around 2200cals a day, so you can calculate that I do about 600cals a day of cardio.

Guess what, I am loosing around 2lbs a week... That tells me that the MFP system is working correctly.

DietandVlogsense

Both my wife and I eat back a portion of our exercise calories. You must remain healthy and support muscle growth. You have to feed the muscles if you work them, can't starve them. If you do yes, you will lose the fat then you will have lose skin over light muscle and bone.

THIS!!!!!

ClairBears84

I eat back most of my calories from working out, especially on a strong day ( 600burn) i try eat atleast half of that back. Works for me

cersela

I never knew you were supposed to eat back exercise calories before I started using MFP. I have been trying to get used to eating more calories that I ever have, by adding more everyday but it's been really hard because I'm usually not hungry, especially when the only time I can go to the gym is at the end of the day. Yesterday I was the closest to my goal calories I have been since using this and I felt so ill and sluggish by bedtime.

ClairBears84

I never knew you were supposed to eat back exercise calories before I started using MFP. I have been trying to get used to eating more calories that I ever have, by adding more everyday but it's been really hard because I'm usually not hungry, especially when the only time I can go to the gym is at the end of the day. Yesterday I was the closest to my goal calories I have been since using this and I felt so ill and sluggish by bedtime.

Try adding things like avo and olive oil that are "light" but high cal and healthy. or nuts

Sbehlmer

I think the "key" is finding what works for YOU (because what works for you might/might not work for the next person). Some will find success in eating their exercise calories back, while others will not. I had suffered from diabetes for the past 13 years, & the time came when I ended up in the emergency room with a sugar level of almost 400....the doctor was blunt & said I needed to start eating healthier & exercise on a daily basis or I would have diabetic complications down the road....the next day I joined MFP & started on my weight loss journey. As of a few weeks ago I am no longer on any diabetes medications & my doctor is extremely pleased with my progress.....I try to keep my calories between 1200-1500 calories daily, I eat lots of fruits, veggies & protein, & I'm completely satisfied (I vary my calories daily so that my body doesn't get used to a certain calorie intake), I exercise daily (running, power walking, Jillian Michaels videos, & weights)...I just started running, & ran a 5K run the other day, & feel better than I ever have, & have lost 54 pounds in 97 days. I have not only lost weight, but I have gained muscle, & both those things together is what I'm wanting to accomplish (I'm extremely happy with my results so far)

Every single person's body is different, & reacts differently to food & exercise...it's like an experiment, just finding out what works for you

kaybeau

I use mine asa cushion when I am cheating !

Kipperdog123

Yesterday I didn't eat my exercise calories back, and I lost a pound, so that says something!