eating back excersise calories doesnt work for me :(

Yasmine91

Just like the title says, I gained doing what others swear by. So..does this mean I am one of the people who can only lose weight by eating little? Really frustrated right now

littlememo

I've recently increased my exercise and am monitoring how much of my exercise calories I eat back as there are so many different opinions...
It's looking more and more like I'm going to be one of those people who can't eat their exercise calories back in order to loose weight, so I understand your frustration

lakeena01

I completely understand your frustration because I am like you. Myfitnesspal limited me to 1500 calories for the weight I want to lose. Well when I put in my exercise, the site adds morcalories I am "supposedly" allotted. WELL THAT DOES NOT WORK FOR ME *sad face*. So I have been limiting myself between 1500 and 2000 calories. I have been doing a ton of cardio for the past 4 weeks and lost 6 lbs. I do not see a difference in my body and that is really discouraging but I know it will happen eventually. I am not going to incorporate weights until I at least lose 20 lbs. What ever you do... DO NOT GIVE UP! Have a productive day *hugs*.

dawnhite7778

Bump

Trinity1982

ive found that if i eat my cals back, i don't lose weight but that's just me. i find myself SUPER hungry which is why i haven't lost much weight at all.

Vegetablearian

Check that you are recording your intake of calories and your expenditure of calories correctly. You can only gain if you eat more than your burn, or your body is seriously holding onto water

PennyNickel14

I looked through your food diary and you are not tracking consistently over the last few weeks. How long did you try to bump up your cals. Because there are lots of days missing and some days at 500 and 1000 calories gross.

It takes a while to see results when changing your calorie intake.

Keep at it ! You can do it !

russellma

How long did you eat the exercise calories?

Sometimes, it can take up to a month for your body to feel comfortable with the extra calories and register a difference.

msgsarah

I think if you don't have much weight to lose- which you don't look like you have from your profile pic- then you can't eat them back. Your body doesn't *want* to lose weight as you aren't overweight, so you have to be strict to see any changes, I'm guessing.

I try to have a metabolism shock day- for six days stick to your calorie limit, then on day 6 eat 500 cals over. That seems to shock my sluggish metabolism into burning some weight off, it might work for you too?

Good luck x

JannineOwen

eating back exercise calories doesn't work for me either, i use a HRM so i know that what i burn is as accurate as can be, i can get away with eating a small amount of them back if i do a big burn, say if i burn 1000 cals it doesn't seem to make much difference if i eat 2-300 of those back but otherwise i gain weight or stay the same.

Kirsty_UK

How long did you eat the exercise calories?

Sometimes, it can take up to a month for your body to feel comfortable with the extra calories and register a difference.

this

plus are you sure you are accurately measuring cals eaten and cals burnt?

marthafox1

Doesn't work for me either Yasmine. I'm guessing my age has something to do with it for me. I have a fairly hectic workout schedule and will consume some additional 100-200 cals on top of my 1400 but that's about my limit - if I don't I put on weight and get fatter. (my workouts generally burn from 600 - 1000 cals) It's a shame because I love food. I am concentrating more on macros now though so some good has come from it. I also allow myself one spike day - so you could argue that on that day I am eating back my exercise cals! I am happy with this balance so it's a good long-term plan for me.

Don't be disheartened though there is a lot of good advice on here about it and the one thing that is repeated over and over (and over) is that you need to be sure that you have given it a fair crack before throwing in the towel and to be sure that you have your calculations done accurately and been seriously honest with your diary and weighing of food.

cmarshel

Just like the title says, I gained doing what others swear by. So..does this mean I am one of the people who can only lose weight by eating little? Really frustrated right now

A quick glance at your diary makes is appear that you haven't been eating back exercise calories except for yesterday? Give it an honest attempt for at least two weeks.

smiles4support

strength training isn't a bad thing...it can help speed up your metabolism. start light with 12-15 reps....and don't forget u have to eat to lose too...every 3 hours which breaks down to be 3 meals & 2 snacks.......& water........DON'T FORGET THE WATER!! GOOD LUCK

Smuterella

Do you already have your exercise factored into your daily activity level? If you have included your workouts there, for example you have put yourself as active, then you don't necessarily need to log your workouts or eat back the exercise calories.

It is like I have put myself as sedentary, that includes my daily walk to work, so i donh't log that or eat the calories.

abbiepql

Everyone is different and changing up your lifestyle through diet and exercise takes time to show - like give it a couple of weeks. I have a very sluggish metabolism and although I am up to about 800 cals a day in cardio - 6 days a week and eat only 1200 calories a day (faithfully for over year now) I still only average about 2 lbs. a week loss That is NOT eating back calories except for one day a week. Give it time and remember it took a while to gain the weight you want to lose even if it's a small amount.

erickirb

Just like the title says, I gained doing what others swear by. So..does this mean I am one of the people who can only lose weight by eating little? Really frustrated right now

No, this means one or more of the following is happening:
You over estimate how many cals you burn from exercise (using MFP or the machine will do this)
You under estimating how much you eat (not weighing solids and measuring liquids)
You have a lower BMR then MFP predicts
You are retaining water, most likely either due to workouts or sodium intake
You have Thyroid or other hormone issues

wearywithchildren

I'm one of those people too and it is really frustrating. I've come to realize that I have horrible metabolism! After literally years of trying to "watch what I eat" and being very active (I have four kids and I'm a runner), I've learned that I need to stick to around 1200 calories per day regardless of whether I exercise which definitely took some getting used to but, honestly, now that I'm several weeks into this routine and I've seen good progress, it's much easier to just eat my 1200 calories and go to bed a little hungry.

To get down to simply eating less, I suggest eating 5-6 small meals a day and make sure each meal has a good amount of protein. It's more work and it takes planning but this is the only way I have found that my body will lose weight so this is what I do. HTH

purplelilac123

I usually only eat some of the exercise calories because some of the exercise I do like Zumba, Spinning and Kickbosing have really high calorie burn numbers according to the tracker. First, I am not sure of the accuracy of the calories. Also, if I have a day where I go a little over because I could not exercise or I ate something that was a little bit high calories it helps erase the damage. Everyone is different with this but eating back some of the exercise calories is working for me.

Di3012

Just like the title says, I gained doing what others swear by. So..does this mean I am one of the people who can only lose weight by eating little? Really frustrated right now

Last time I lost weight, my weightloss slowed as I got closer to my goal. I would lose perhaps 0.4lbs here and 0.2lbs there. I was at a loss until my husband pointed out that I had, in effect, gone onto maintenance early.

When I looked at my food diary, I realized I was eating back all exercise calories and rather than help, it had done the opposite and slowed my weight loss RIGHT down. It may work for some people, but it definitely did nothing for me whatsoever!

No, you are not alone, nor unusual, friend me if you want, I do not eat back my exercise calories, except sometimes I may go into them by 100, but that is not always a hard and fast rule.

I guess for some people it does work, for me it definitely didn't, so you are not alone. I am on 1200 calories per day and providing I eat no junk, I stay satisfied and do not feel starving and have enough energy to live my day-to-day life and exercise which is running.

Cwilliams8676

I dont eat my calories back either. I eat about 1650-1700 calories daily I exercise daily usually and at 1 hr. im finally losing after not eating them back

erickirb

I dont eat my calories back either. I eat about 1650-1700 calories daily I exercise daily usually and at 1 hr. im finally losing after not eating them back

If that is the case then that means one or more of the following is happening:
You over estimate how many cals you burn from exercise (using MFP or the machine will do this)
You under estimating how much you eat (not weighing solids and measuring liquids)
You have a lower BMR then MFP predicts
You are retaining water, most likely either due to workouts or sodium intake
You have Thyroid or other hormone issues

DinaRobin

I'm finding that eating an extra 100-200 calories on the days I do a good workout works, but no more.

CaseRat

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/you-are-not-different.html


That is all.

Yasmine91

Thanks so much everyone for the feedback, very much appreciated xxx

Ok so the explanation for my diary is is that I am half using calorie counting and using the weight watchers method. So the reason why I have a lot of blank space is because they are the fruits and veg I eat. I eat fruit for breakfast and then through out the day but not all at once only if I feel hungry. Then I eat my dinner which consists of60g of dry white rice, vegan meat pieces and veg. I have this everyday though.

Someone said that I don't look overweight according to my picture lol bless ya, I'm pear shaped so the top half of me looks slim, but I carry A LOT of weight on my hips, thighs and bum. I'm 5ft 8inch and I weigh 200lbs.

I did a body fat estimate and turns out I have 145lbs of water and muscle and 53lbs of fat (27.3%) so I do have lots to lose.

I have a HRM to monitor my calories and they tell me I burn more than what MFP tells me. I have no problem with losing weight eating so little but I don't perform as well and I want to eat healthily after spending 3 years on a VLCD.

Would love to know what to do from here, I havent lost any weight in 2 months

mickipedia

If it doesn't work then stop eating them back.. Everyone is different

laurarpa

Looking at your diary, you don't eat enough, and you don't log enough. If you eat 800-1200 calories a day you aren't going to drop much weight especially if you are exercising. I see ONE day where you ate enough (yesterday). You're going to have to give it a few weeks of consistently eating enough.

It's up to you - let yourself think like that and spend the rest of your life not eating much or trust your body to do what it should and fuel it properly - you're so young, I vote for the second choice.

Cwilliams8676

Hormone issues as I am post a complete hysterectomy and on HRT to level out a little but hasnt helped yet. I retain water due to my estrogen levels. My dietian actually recommended i reduce my calories of 1990 by a couple hundred (it was calculated at active level so no need to add exercise too

erickirb

If it doesn't work then stop eating them back.. Everyone is different

Actually when it comes to cals in cals out we are all the same as long as you have your correct cals burned and consumed. The argument that we are all different is BS as we are all at least 99% the same, with very few exceptions.

wwww1199

This might be TMI but I am post-menopausal and my doctor told me NOT to eat back exercise calories and to cut 200 calories right off the top of anything I eat due to metabolism at my age if I want to lose weight. It's been working so far.

Cwilliams8676

This might be TMI but I am post-menopausal and my doctor told me NOT to eat back exercise calories and to cut 200 calories right off the top of anything I eat due to metabolism at my age if I want to lose weight. It's been working so far.

Thats what i was told and im surgerically menopausal. I was told my metabolism due to my estrogen levels is lower. Its working for me ive never had so much energy either i was also told to eat about 140-150 grams of protein instead of 80 grams