PLEASE HELP! I am obese. Should I be eating back exercise ca

adamb83

I dont eat mine. My body has ENOUGH fat to burn if it needs energy & fuel.

Unfortunately, the body won't look to fat first - it stores fat if it's feeling starved. It will start eating away at lean muscle if it needs the energy/fuel. This is why it's important to eat!

yesthistime

If you're not super hungry then there's no need to eat just to reach your daily goal, but do make sure you net at least 1200 in order to make sure you're properly fueling your body.

Agree.

RikanSoulja

No, you are right, it wouldn't be muscle yet. You can't gain muscle in a calorie deficit and would need to be strength training anyway, not just cardio.
I think it depends on your settings. What did you put as your weekly goal to lose, your activity level and how many calories is MFP telling you to eat?

This is not true. Depending on where you were physically prior to starting, you could be gaining muscle. The reason I say this is because muscle gain is not only caused by lifting weights. ANY weight bearing exercise can increase muscle mass, especially when you are going from sedentary to active.

Zumba would be considered a weight bearing exercise in this case, and in order to support your body mass in the motions, your leg muscles would have to build up and become stronger. As far as I understand, you aren't in a deficit, as you were eating your BMR and exercise calories.

This is why measuring inches is super important.

ANY exercise that has any weight resistance can cause muscle gain. Your body mass is considered weight resistance. This is why doing things like lunges, squats, push ups, etc will develop muscles. Please don't believe that you have to be specifically strength training with weights in order to build muscle.

That being said, I agree that your muscles are probably swelling with water. Try waiting at least 24 hours of a rest day after your last workout before weighing, and get a tape measure.

This. You can gain muscle in a deficit if you are overweight. Especially if you consume enough protein.

Graciecny

I've never eaten back my exercise calories even when I was on Weight Watchers(they call them activity points). This is just my opinion, not based on fact but I don't think you should eat them. Many times we overestimate the activity intensity and it might give us more calories back than it should. If you are in weight loss mode and not maintenance mode, I wouldn't eat them back.

That is all well and good for you, but honestly - my calories per day are 1340 right now, set for a 1 pound per week loss for my sedentary lifestyle. I exercise to the tune of 400-600 calories per day EVERY day. If I didn't eat back my calories, my net would end up being 750-950 calories per day. That, IMO, is not enough food to exist on long-term. Sure, if my daily allowance were 2000 calories, I could probably manage it, at least for a while, but this is not a one-size-fits-all solution. What works for one person may or may not work for another, IMO.

OP, definitely get a HRM - without it, your wildly guessing at calories burned (and even with it, your guessing, but it's likely to be a better guess-timate :laugh: ). Then and only then would I consider the exercise calories fair game, in their entirety. I'm just starting this journey, but I've lost about 11 pounds since the last week of January following what I describe above. I haven't gone over calories since the first day I started (started mid-day and that day was doomed because of my awful breakfast and lunch already eaten, but logged it anyways!) and I've seen, on average, the weight loss predicted.

FWIW, I also saw that when I changed things up (added a more rigorous exercise, etc) I sometimes saw the scale move in the other direction for a short while. It was always followed by a significant drop a week or two later, so don't get discouraged if, as you try new things, the loss isn't linear. It probably won't be. But you WILL lose weight! :flowerforyou:

Oh, and FWIW, my legs are definitely stronger from my cardio work. I haven't yet started weight/resistance training, but being obese, my legs are definitely changing because of being on my feet for a couple hours each day working out. So I'd dare to guess I have built a little muscle just from my legs having to support my rather impressive mass and propel it along. :laugh:

Ge0rgiana

Eat what MFP tells you to and go to a gym and lift weights. Worry about tweaking later. Work the program for a while and assess how well it works before you decide you need to stray from it.

em9371

First of all, WELL DONE on losing 14lbs in 2 weeks, you are doing fantastic, just stick with what you are doing!!!
You generally lose more the first few weeks, then your losses will level out - try also taking measurements as you can lose inches rather than lbs at some times. I lost 6 the first week, gained 1 the second week, then lost 5 the third week. Now I lose between 1-3 most weeks on 1770 cals - net is around 1500 after exercise. (I am 5'5, 210lbs BTW). My diary is open if you want a look. Ive also adjusted my macro settings to 45C / 30F / 25P as stanadard protein of 15% is very low if you exercise a lot.

As you get smaller you need to aim for lower losses so your net cals dont fall too low, generally:
75+ to lose = 2lb / week
50-75 to lose = 1.5lb / week
25-50 to lose = 1lb / week
0-25 to lose = 0.5lb / week

MFP says to eat back your exercise as the deficit for your chosen weight loss is already included in the calorie allowance you are given. If you dont eat them back ,you are creating double the deficit which can be too high and affect your loss HOWEVER - the exercise calorie counts on MFP can be on the high side, so if you use those eat back maybe 1/2 to 2/3 to make sure you arent eating back too much, or get a HRM for more accurate burns.

If you have gone from not eating back exercise to adding them in, the sudden increase in cals can cause a temporary gain while your body adjusts to the new cal level, this happened to me too when I had to lay off exercise due to an injury, and the week after my losses started up again.

Gains after exercise can also be due to stored water to repair your muscles - I saw this in a post recently that explains how this works:
Water weight. When you exercise, and particularly with increasing exercise, your body stores water for 2 reasons. One, it stores water for aid in muscle repair, and two, when you exercise, you use glycogen. When you increase exercise, your body stores more glycogen in preparation for the increased exertion. It takes roughly 4 parts water to store one part glycogen, so if your body stores an extra pound of glycogen, you will also gain 4 pounds of water weight.

hope this helps x

jadedone

If you are using the MFP estimates, you should probably assume it is off by 25%. MFP is generally really far off of the amount burned. also give it more time, it has only been 3 weeks. Too soon to establish a pattern. Your weight can go up due to too much sodium, to little fiber or too little water.

Emili03

I've never eaten back my exercise calories even when I was on Weight Watchers(they call them activity points). This is just my opinion, not based on fact but I don't think you should eat them. Many times we overestimate the activity intensity and it might give us more calories back than it should. If you are in weight loss mode and not maintenance mode, I wouldn't eat them back.

That is all well and good for you, but honestly - my calories per day are 1340 right now, set for a 1 pound per week loss for my sedentary lifestyle. I exercise to the tune of 400-600 calories per day EVERY day. If I didn't eat back my calories, my net would end up being 750-950 calories per day. That, IMO, is not enough food to exist on long-term. Sure, if my daily allowance were 2000 calories, I could probably manage it, at least for a while, but this is not a one-size-fits-all solution. What works for one person may or may not work for another, IMO.

OP, definitely get a HRM - without it, your wildly guessing at calories burned (and even with it, your guessing, but it's likely to be a better guess-timate :laugh: ). Then and only then would I consider the exercise calories fair game, in their entirety. I'm just starting this journey, but I've lost about 11 pounds since the last week of January following what I describe above. I haven't gone over calories since the first day I started (started mid-day and that day was doomed because of my awful breakfast and lunch already eaten, but logged it anyways!) and I've seen, on average, the weight loss predicted.

FWIW, I also saw that when I changed things up (added a more rigorous exercise, etc) I sometimes saw the scale move in the other direction for a short while. It was always followed by a significant drop a week or two later, so don't get discouraged if, as you try new things, the loss isn't linear. It probably won't be. But you WILL lose weight! :flowerforyou:

Oh, and FWIW, my legs are definitely stronger from my cardio work. I haven't yet started weight/resistance training, but being obese, my legs are definitely changing because of being on my feet for a couple hours each day working out. So I'd dare to guess I have built a little muscle just from my legs having to support my rather impressive mass and propel it along. :laugh:

All too true! Lol, my legs did NOT like the jumping in my Zumba class last night! Thanks for the input.

Emili03

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE FOR HIS/HER INPUT. :flowerforyou: MFP COMMUNITY, YOU GUYS ROCK! i knew it was early to freak out but I also did not want to continue to do the "wrong" thing and risk gaining back the weight that I have already lost. You have all definitely given me some "food for thought." I will keep going and eat back some but not all those exercise calories since i really didn't feel hungry for all of them anyway.

jenluvsushi

Make sure you eat at least your BMR every day (look it up in the tools....we have similar stats and mine is 1730). Never net less than 1200 calories with your food and exercise calories.

Dtho5159

I started out extremely obese (5'6 and 298lb) and I have always eaten back at least 75% of my exercise calories. I try to leave 100 left in my day just for errors. I think it varies on the person. try not eating them back and see if the loss picks back up. Its really trial and error.

em9371

Make sure you eat at least your BMR every day (look it up in the tools....we have similar stats and mine is 1730). Never net less than 1200 calories with your food and exercise calories.

good advice :-)

Bunnies_Revenge

If you are going by the mfp calorie rn, don't. They always over estimate and you end up eating more than you've actually burned. Go by your hrm (and if you don't have one get one).

If you have been going by your hrm and still gained, it could be water weight or an excessive amount of sodium. Watch your sodium intake as it will make you retain more water, and thus weigh more.

Also, you can eat anywhere between 1200 to 1500 calories a day. I usually eat around 1400 calories because this is what my doctor told me to eat, this is with excerising vigoursly. So it is safe to say that you don't have to eat back your calories.

When you think about calories, remember that what type of foods you are eating is as important as to how much food you are eating. The above advice is good advice. Remember that unless you are working out vigoursly for three hours or more sweating your butt off, try not to go above 2500mg of sodium a day. Too much sodium is bad for your heart, weight, and energy.