anxiety when eating exercise calories

2getgeorge

go ahead and feel guilty, BUT try to eat them.

if you eat them they will keep you on track for your goal whether its loosing or gaining "X" amount of weight per week.

if you dont eat them just make sure you eat the same amount of calories consistently. Don't bounce day to day. 1600 one day then next 1200 then 2000 the next and so on. .

when you don't eat them back, your body will consume itself for energy.(extreme case) and it will eat the good stuff first, muscle, leaving the FAT for last. you might still loose weight but your body composition will be lower on muscle mass.

disclaimer: I'm not a doctor or even a nutritionist , just my understanding of the topic through my research

ssieben

If you are wearing the same clothes but weigh more.... I'd say that you prolly gained some muscle weight. Do you feel like you look more toned? You must feel wayyyyyyyyy better eating at least 1200 cals a day rather than a measley 600. Keep up the good work, and in regards to eating back calories.... If you feel hungry, eat. If your honestly not hungry... then dont. Always listen to your body.

emilyisbonkers

Hi, Have you included your hula hooping and walking at work as part of your lifetsyle rating or do you add them as exercise?

For myself I don't add any of my day to day exercise such as walking at work into my lifestyle as I have a sedentary job and only walk at work intermittently.

I do log physical exercise such as continuous walking and gym workouts and eat most of the calories (I try and make sure I net 1200 calories particularly when I have burnt over 400).

Walking which is not sustained (e.g. walking between departments at work) for me is not aerobic enough to count as cardio/daily exercise.

Do you have/ can you borrow a pedometer or heart rate monitor to see how active your work is?

If you can't accurately measure what you are doing at work then I would suggest entering your lifestyle as sedentary or lightly active.

Only log sustained exercise and eat those calories, this way you won't be overestimating what you have burned.

I have set my activity level to sedentary and I log my work as slow walking, i work at greggs so I am literally on my feet walking around all day

emilyisbonkers

If you are wearing the same clothes but weigh more.... I'd say that you prolly gained some muscle weight. Do you feel like you look more toned? You must feel wayyyyyyyyy better eating at least 1200 cals a day rather than a measley 600. Keep up the good work, and in regards to eating back calories.... If you feel hungry, eat. If your honestly not hungry... then dont. Always listen to your body.

thankyou, although i meant net calories, I would likely eat 1200 cals and then burn another 600, now I eat around 1600 and burn 400ish on average

SilentRenegade

Hi, Have you included your hula hooping and walking at work as part of your lifetsyle rating or do you add them as exercise?

For myself I don't add any of my day to day exercise such as walking at work into my lifestyle as I have a sedentary job and only walk at work intermittently.

I do log physical exercise such as continuous walking and gym workouts and eat most of the calories (I try and make sure I net 1200 calories particularly when I have burnt over 400).

Walking which is not sustained (e.g. walking between departments at work) for me is not aerobic enough to count as cardio/daily exercise.

Do you have/ can you borrow a pedometer or heart rate monitor to see how active your work is?

If you can't accurately measure what you are doing at work then I would suggest entering your lifestyle as sedentary or lightly active.

Only log sustained exercise and eat those calories, this way you won't be overestimating what you have burned.

I have set my activity level to sedentary and I log my work as slow walking, i work at greggs so I am literally on my feet walking around all day

I work in retail and I set mine at lightly active. If you read the examples, it says Sales Person, Nurse, etc. Mind you, I do heavy lifting at work sometimes and also climb ladders, but this is not every day.

Stacyanne324

I don't eat mine back but I also don't follow a daily calorie schedule as much as a weekly one. Mon-Fri I stick around 1200 calories and weekends I spike (about 2000 calories Sat and 3000 Sunday). This still puts me at a defecit so I'm losing steadily and I don't have to worry about the exercise calories because the weekend spikes keep my metabolism humming along.

But, that said if I was following a 1200 calorie diet 7 days a week I'd definitely eat the calories back.

And yes I think you have gained muscle...well done!

nickyrobinson

Yes, you likely are more muscular and have a better shape than when you were 123 pounds. Clothes fitting is a better gauge than the scale, anyway. Take your measurements and record those along with your weight. I saw a 1 inch decrease in my waist size in a week where the scale said I gained 2 pounds!

If it helps, don't eat back quite ALL your exercise calories. I usually try to eat back 3/4 of them, just to give myself some wiggle room. Also, I like the feedback of "and was under her calorie goal"! Alternatively, you can just put in 3/4 of the time on your exercise minutes (record 45 minutes instead of 60 minutes). But since you are pretty much at the 1200 calorie floor anyway, I wouldn't go less than 3/4.

Try thinking of the next 4 weeks as an experiment. you'll do the things you are supposed to do (which you are doing great at, it sounds like) and at the end of it, you'll see what the results are. Check both your weight and you measurements.

Good luck!

emilyisbonkers

Yes, you likely are more muscular and have a better shape than when you were 123 pounds. Clothes fitting is a better gauge than the scale, anyway. Take your measurements and record those along with your weight. I saw a 1 inch decrease in my waist size in a week where the scale said I gained 2 pounds!

If it helps, don't eat back quite ALL your exercise calories. I usually try to eat back 3/4 of them, just to give myself some wiggle room. Also, I like the feedback of "and was under her calorie goal"! Alternatively, you can just put in 3/4 of the time on your exercise minutes (record 45 minutes instead of 60 minutes). But since you are pretty much at the 1200 calorie floor anyway, I wouldn't go less than 3/4.

Try thinking of the next 4 weeks as an experiment. you'll do the things you are supposed to do (which you are doing great at, it sounds like) and at the end of it, you'll see what the results are. Check both your weight and you measurements.

Good luck!

thankyou this was really helpful. I think i may start logging less excercise so i know i havent accidently over estimated and then I'll feel better about eating it all back

moonsforeyes

I know how you feel. It was very difficult for me in the beginning. I'd say start by eating half of them back, see how that works and then go from there. I think you sorta gotta ease into it. Remember weight loss takes time and patience. Don't get discouraged!

nixirain

Hi, Have you included your hula hooping and walking at work as part of your lifetsyle rating or do you add them as exercise?

For myself I don't add any of my day to day exercise such as walking at work into my lifestyle as I have a sedentary job and only walk at work intermittently.

I do log physical exercise such as continuous walking and gym workouts and eat most of the calories (I try and make sure I net 1200 calories particularly when I have burnt over 400).

Walking which is not sustained (e.g. walking between departments at work) for me is not aerobic enough to count as cardio/daily exercise.

Do you have/ can you borrow a pedometer or heart rate monitor to see how active your work is?

If you can't accurately measure what you are doing at work then I would suggest entering your lifestyle as sedentary or lightly active.

Only log sustained exercise and eat those calories, this way you won't be overestimating what you have burned.

I have set my activity level to sedentary and I log my work as slow walking, i work at greggs so I am literally on my feet walking around all day

I work in retail and I set mine at lightly active. If you read the examples, it says Sales Person, Nurse, etc. Mind you, I do heavy lifting at work sometimes and also climb ladders, but this is not every day.

^^^This. If you are walking slowly all day then your activity level is no sedentary it is lightly active. I worked in retail before and I had mine set to lightly active. When I quit and started a desk job I changed in to sedentary.

It may be easier for you to either change your profile setting to lightly active, or find out what your BMR is for your lifestyle and only log voluntary exercise, or none.

LabRat529

hello everyone
I am having trouble with feelings of guilt after eating back my exercise calories, my goal is set to 1200 net, and I like to hula hoop and my job involves a lot of walking, so some days mfp tells me I need to eat about 2000 calories.

I find this is making me very anxious on the days that I do eat that much, I find it hard to believe I could actually lose weight on days where I eat 2000 calories.

However, last year I dieted down to 123lbs, but I was eating around 600 NET calories a day, and now I am eating 1200 NET calories minimum a day, and weigh 133lbs, but DESPITE weighing a lot more, I am the same size and can wear the same clothes.

Am I right in thinking this is muscle weight? How can I get over this fear? Any advice is helpful xx

I have not read any of the other responses, so perhaps I'm being a bit redundant.

However, my first thought while reading this is that you might consider some cognitive therapy. I'm not trying to be mean... but it's clear to me that you don't have a healthy mental/emotional relationship with food (I don't either) and you need to change that. Food is fuel. If you burn calories through exercise, you need more fuel. You should not feel guilty about eating that fuel.

If you're really really having a hard time getting over the mental hurdle of eating your exercise calories back... then I suggest that you set your total calorie intake to 1500 to 1700 and don't change it. Don't eat your exercise calories back. Just stay at 1500 to 1700 and don't fret. That *might* be a more effective strategy for you on a mental level.

Then again, it might not be.

Regardless, you need to find a way to defeat the irrational side of your mind that makes you fearful/feel guilty for eating.

Good luck!

emilyisbonkers

i only work two days a week though, the rest i go to university. Should I just set my activity to lightly active and only log hooping and other exercise i do?