eating your burned calorie! Really!

rbear713

All I can say is that for me, counting actual calories and staying under my own limit (right now its 1500) has worked - I exercise a TON, and its 80% cardio. Also, I cut 15 - 20% off mfp's burn amounts. Again, for me, sticking to about 10 cals a minute for my workouts seems to work, but I don't even consider eating them back - I dont need them, and every cal I don't put into my mouth = 1 more cal my body needs to burn from my fat...

Listen to your body (its not crap if you are truthful with yourself) and dont be afraid to try something different like eating your cals back - maybe it will work for you, maybe it wont - but as long as you are working towards your own goals, you cant go wrong - just remember to keep on pushing forward...and if/when you fail - pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and continue down the road...DON'T GIVE UP!!

KareninCanada

Wow, so many post, so much great information!!!! I feel success runnin' through me! This is what I think I will try. On days I don't exercise I will eat 1200 and on days I do I will eat 1500 to 1600. What thoughts would you guys have on that?

That's kind of what I do... except it's 1500-1700 on days I do nothing but crawl out of bed and sit at my desk all day, 1700-1800 on a normal day, and NET 1700 on days I work out hard.

CyberEd312

I would definitely invest in a HRM... I have a Polar FT60 and love it... It is all about intensity when it comes to how many calories you will burn during a workout. A HRM is not the end all be all but it is alot more accurate than relying on the gym machines or MFP... I am only speaking from experience but I think through my trials and tribulations I can tell you that eating back your exercise calories is a vital part of the process especially if you are using MFP the way it is intended to be used... My BMR is 2420 a day and that is with my 500 calorie deficit built in (set to lose 1 lb. a week). I exercise 6 days a week with 1 day off but split train most days. I am currently eating 3400 calories a day and am still losing at a rate of 1 lb. a week 32 months into my journey. You have to play around with your calories and bump them up in increments to find what works best for you but my rule of thumb is to eat back 85% of my exercise calories back leaving 15% for error in my logging and calories burned... I don't see how anyone can workout and not be hungry afterward and ready to eat... When I leave the gym I am starving and ready to get home to refuel my body.... Good luck to you on your journey.....

mixedfeelings

I'm experimenting at the moment. I've never been able to eat much without putting on weight. I'm 5'10", my calorie goal is 1420 but I stick to around 1200, when I exercise I eat a bit more but not the full amount as I'm not hundred percent sure I'm burning what the site says I am, next month I'm going to purchase a heart rate monitor to track calories burnt that way. Even then I don't think I will eat all the extra calories I'm given but I do use it to my advantage when I know I won't be able to control my calorific intake as much.

Forgot to mention, I do try and up my protein when working out, and my extra calories when I don't need them, well I usually have milk/soya milk.

Wow big difference...

I am 5`2 and I eat 1200cals...You're 5`10 and stick to only 1200? I find 1200 is too little for me somedays....

I was quite surprised how much I could eat for that amount and I add everything I use and drink, I've just swapped the oils I use in cooking, sugar, milk which has made a big difference. I've started weighing everything out though.I bulk out meals with veg though.

LorinaLynn

A lot of us who are adamant about eating them back are people who stalled out or messed up our metabolisms in the past by NOT eating them back. I stalled at about 20 lb lost and it took a couple months of gradually upping my calories until I started losing again. My athletic performance improved in leaps and bounds, too, because I was actually fueling my body. It took a long time for my metabolism to properly recover, though.

Then again, it probably depends just how much exercise you do. I do a lot, so I can't imagine getting by without eating those calories back!

Yep. In the past, I had no idea about exercise calories and just thought, "The less you eat, the more you'll lose." Then when I wasn't losing like I thought I should, I thought, "I guess I'll have to eat even LESS." I blamed myself and thought I had a crappy metabolism, or lacked discipline, or was just stuck at the weight/size I was.

Wow, was I wrong! This time around, eating exercise calories, I lost more weight than I did when I was eating half as much, and the majority of the weight I lost was from fat. When I was undereating, I was a size 8 with a muffintop and backfat rolls at 130#. With eating right (small calorie deficit + exercise calories) at a little over 130#, I'm a size 2 or 4 with a tiny waist and a smooth back.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LorinaLynn/view/eat-more-why-very-low-calorie-sucks-201462

mamagooskie

If I am hungry I eat them if I am not hungry I dont eat them

Dumbell_Diva

I dont eat my exercise calories. I have a very slow metabolism and for my first 4 weeks on here I stayed the same, I then put on weight!!! The calorie allowance set doesnt take into account peoples metabolisms which may be faster if you are younger and fitter, and much much slower if, like me, you have a slower metabolism due to medical reasons or medication. I am very active, I dont drive and I walk everywhere. I eat clean, dont eat processed food. I have 3 children and spend all day on my feet, yet still my metabolism is very slow.

I also think that when I exercise and log it, sometimes the site gives more calories burned than Ive actually used. I dont own a HRM but Im sure I dont burn the amount it gives me. One day I could put my heart and soul into my workout and burn a huge amount and the next day I could do the same workout and not burn nearly as much.

My calories were set at 1,250 when I first joined and I try and stay as close to this as possible. Some days I eat slightly less and some days slightly more which usually balances itself out. With my metabolism, if I ate my exercise cals I would be putting on weight every week. And if I stopped exercising I would put on weight!! So I think this debate will rumble on as everybodies bodies are different and the rate at which we burn weight will always be different from one person to the next. Good luck everyone, do what works for you!!

christina0089

I would say eat about half if you are hungry mainly because MFP calories out is set a bit high for most excercises and you would not want to eat more than you burned on accident. If you are using a HRM you can assume its pretty accurate. But all in all your body will tell you what it needs if you need the 600 cal to sustain you then have at it. If not then eat only what you need. Good luck! :happy:

rayleansout

I say eat most of them back in the begining, as you stall or plateau this will give you some room to make a little change like only eating half back for first stall, then eating none back fro second stall, then eating all back for a week and repeat the process,. That is if you tend to Plateau.

simplyblessed5

I do not eat my exercise calories back and it seems to be working for me. I know eating them tends to work well for others. You just have to figure out what works best for you.

stitchinggirl

If I eat any, and I'm not burning many right now because I am not hitting the gym enough, I only eat half, if that much of what it says I burned.

In the end, if the calculator is off, I've left myself room for error. I work out to give myself a little more calories if life is hectic and I choose poorly, but I don't work out to gorge out either.

Really, in the beginning you need to figure out what balance of working out vs. eating works for you.

olee67

I wasn't eating back my calories for a few months and I plateaued for a few weeks. Now, to change things up, I'm eating back my calories to reduce my deficit and keep my net calories between 0-500....

It's good to change it up and not keep it the same. The lowest deficit you should ever have is 1,000 calories..

Don't forget to have a cheat day... Confusing your body is key to keep that metabolism raging hot and burning fat.

oneill38

I wear a heart rate monitor everytime I exercise just got back from the gym and burnt a whopping 1060 cal. I dont eat the back as I thought why am I bothering to exercise then. It is a crazy concept but maybe it might work. If you decide to eat them back let me know so I can see if it works.

Cheers

Huffdogg

I wear a heart rate monitor everytime I exercise just got back from the gym and burnt a whopping 1060 cal. I dont eat the back as I thought why am I bothering to exercise then. It is a crazy concept but maybe it might work. If you decide to eat them back let me know so I can see if it works.

You act as if the OP is considering some radical new dietary experiment, rather than discussing one of the primary goals of MFP's system, which is to maintain a fixed NET deficit for slow, steady weight loss. If you burn more calories one day than another, you are SUPPOSED to eat more to compensate. Massive deprivation (undereating when your body really wants the fuel, especially), not only sets you up for a binge later, but also increases the chances of undernourishing a hard-working machine and making you prone to reduced benefit from your exercise, or even injury.

oneill38

I am extremely hungry when I get back home from the gym and I have a protein shake and the about 1 hour later have lunch but just find that I haven't been extremely hungry. I will eat more so that I don't deprive my body in the long run. I am definitely not starving myself. I eat when I am hungry and stop eating when I am full.

Patovader

I do NOT eat my exercised calories back and it has worked for me-but.be prepared to be bashed by people who do-huge controversey here and they are not nice about it. Everyone else knows best! NOT.

MFP already puts you in a deficit. Any extra work you do, puts you in a deeper deficit. Being in a severe deficit hinders weight loss.

Good luck with your fitness goals in 2012.

Exactly, I eat most of my calories back (only most because I go well over at the weekends) and have managed to lose 41 pounds here. As someone else mentioned just be sure that the amount you have burned is accurate.

Good luck.

imkegoal

I generally eat about 200 cals less than my allowance- this is partly because I simply don't need any more food, but also to allow for inaccuracies in exercise calories burned, or food not accurately logged (although I weigh my own food, when I eat out I won't ask the restaurant keeper to weigh each of the ingredients!).

I prefer to 'under log' my exercise calories than over log. IE. the 'wobbly plate' is supposed to burn a lot of calories within 10 minutes of using it. A friend of mine always logs 200 calories for 5 minutes based on what they told us in the gym. However, after doing a bit of internet research I read an article which advised that actually it is more likely to burn 15 calories in 5 minutes, so I go with that advise.

I try to eat to at least 300 under the MFP limit- If I haven't reached than by the evening I might have a banana or some qauvers to make up the calories. This is because of worrying about my metabolism slowing down. I also allow myself to over eat 1 day a week (although in reality this has only happened twice in the past month) knowing I make it up by eating a little less other days.

I have to admit I exercise more on Saturday with the goal to stay within my calories limits even after a bottle of wine.This makes my hubbie laugh, as wine isn't very nutricious. but hey; a girl needs her treats once in a while!

I have not yet plateaud using this method. in previous diets I plateaud after 3 weeks, and I am now in my 6th week. Have lost 14 LB so far, which is more than addequate for me- prefer to loose it slow and steady.

kymcyndie55

Main thing it pay attention to your body.
Most people do not recommend eating less than 1200 calories. So once you hit that your usually good. As for the extra calories you burned this is where you should listen to your body. Your body may need you to eat the extra calories but you may not need to use them all..

BerryH

Wow, so many post, so much great information!!!! I feel success runnin' through me! This is what I think I will try. On days I don't exercise I will eat 1200 and on days I do I will eat 1500 to 1600. What thoughts would you guys have on that?

You could also average them out over the week - eat more on non-exercise days if you're hungry, eat a bit less than you burn on non-exercise days when you're not hungry.

I burned over 1,500 calories on a three-hour run on Sunday and ate most of them back - every single one was delicious!

My only concern is 1,200 is very low for most people to sustain for long. Go back to your MFP goals and go with the calories it gives you to lose 1lb a week. Bet it's more!

AH2013

Hi.

When I first joined MFP back in August last year I ate at 1200 cals a day and rarely ate back my exercise cals. I lost 1lb, not even every week but most. I couldn't understand why when I was eating so little, working out a lot and still not losing as much as everyone else. In Dec I hit a wall and my weight stalled for 2 1/2 months. It's only just started moving again after I upped my cals a fair bit and zigzag (I don't want to confuse you, but look it up, I'd recommend it). I'm not an expert, but I would suggest asking someone who is, what you should really set your daily intake to. I really wish I had listened to everyone back then telling me to eat a little more. You've probably come to this conclusion by now but thought I'd just weigh in also as I hate to think others may end up heading for where I hit.

Good luck, you'll get into the swing of things in no time.