So if I exercise and earn extra calories...

kylTKe

Yes, eat your exercise calories.

iKapuniai

I try to eat mine. I say try because sometimes I am just not hungry.

Damn... I wish I could say that!!!

indiepops

ok there is a very divided opinion about whether to eat them back or not. personally why bother, we've all already put all this weight on, to exercise and burn calories is how to get rid of the excess weight, right? so why eat them back? you might as well stick to your calorie allowance and not bother exercising! its alright people saying well if i burn X amount of cals then i only have X amount of net calories for the day, but you havent, your exercising to burn the fat that you're trying to lose. thats how i do it, i never feel deprived, i am healthy and i lose about 1.4 to 2 lbs a week. started a new regime now so today was my new starting weight ive lost 12lbs since jan x

OK, I'll break down the math simply. Eating 1200 calories and burning 600 calories from exercise is the physical equivalent of eating 600 calories a day.

Do you think eating 600 calories a day is healthy? I mean, if we exercise to burn off all the calories to lose weight, why bother eating at all? Just stop eating, and you should lose weight even faster, right? After all, who cares about being healthy? :huh:

did i say dont eat at all, dont be ridiculous. i would never encourage that. like i said there's divided opinions about whether to eat back or not, she was asking advice and i said what i do and what works for me, isnt that what forums are for...uummm i do apologize, im awfully sorry i forget we aren't aloud to have opinions

ElizabethRoad

If you weren't supposed to eat them, it wouldn't say you earned them.

And this is the first time I have ever agreed with anything Elizabeth posted :drinker:

If you don't eat them, you make your deficit bigger and potentially counter-productively so. Do a forum search for TDEE and get to reading.

I don't even know who you are. :drinker:

AFitJamie

did i say dont eat at all, dont be ridiculous. i would never encourage that. like i said there's divided opinions about whether to eat back or not, she was asking advice and i said what i do and what works for me, isnt that what forums are for...uummm i do apologize, im awfully sorry i forget we aren't aloud to have opinions

Hi Indie,

This isn't in any way an attack on you, and absolutely we are all allowed to have opinions; however, I would suggest that there is a difference I think between an opinion (P90X rocks!) and some of the facts behind healthy advice. One of the challenges I find is often that answers have assumptions built in, but many others from all around the world on this board may not share those assumptions.... I recognize that I tend to make my posts long, and I'm sure it irritates some people, but I struggle with short answers full of assumptions... So I try to outline what I'm basing my advice on.

You did suggest that people shouldn't eat back exercise calories. That may be based on what you do, and your workouts and eating plans may be such that not doing so doesn't create a significant daily shortfall.... Also depending on starting weight and amount over, different people will be able to handle differing levels of a daily shortfall ... However as blanket advice, it isn't necessarily complete. Many people can get very focussed on their workouts, they can burn a *lot* of calories in a workout. I have a friend here who burned almost 1000 a day or so ago... And it wasn't really a brutal workout, just a few DVD sessions and a long walk, etc... If she were to eat a 1200 target and not eat back her exercise calories, it is very much like her eating only 200 calories in a day, and that simply isn't healthy if is done on a consistent basis. So depending on what the OP has in mind for workouts, etc., advice that says you don't need to eat them back, without more, can be misleading.

I value diversity and opinions and really like discussions like occur here on MFP... Hope you get where I'm coming from.

indiepops

did i say dont eat at all, dont be ridiculous. i would never encourage that. like i said there's divided opinions about whether to eat back or not, she was asking advice and i said what i do and what works for me, isnt that what forums are for...uummm i do apologize, im awfully sorry i forget we aren't aloud to have opinions

Hi Indie,

This isn't in any way an attack on you, and absolutely we are all allowed to have opinions; however, I would suggest that there is a difference I think between an opinion (P90X rocks!) and some of the facts behind healthy advice. One of the challenges I find is often that answers have assumptions built in, but many others from all around the world on this board may not share those assumptions.... I recognize that I tend to make my posts long, and I'm sure it irritates some people, but I struggle with short answers full of assumptions... So I try to outline what I'm basing my advice on.

You did suggest that people shouldn't eat back exercise calories. That may be based on what you do, and your workouts and eating plans may be such that not doing so doesn't create a significant daily shortfall.... Also depending on starting weight and amount over, different people will be able to handle differing levels of a daily shortfall ... However as blanket advice, it isn't necessarily complete. Many people can get very focussed on their workouts, they can burn a *lot* of calories in a workout. I have a friend here who burned almost 1000 a day or so ago... And it wasn't really a brutal workout, just a few DVD sessions and a long walk, etc... If she were to eat a 1200 target and not eat back her exercise calories, it is very much like her eating only 200 calories in a day, and that simply isn't healthy if is done on a consistent basis. So depending on what the OP has in mind for workouts, etc., advice that says you don't need to eat them back, without more, can be misleading.

I value diversity and opinions and really like discussions like occur here on MFP... Hope you get where I'm coming from.

i think people are taking my opinions the wrong way, obviously ruffled a few feathers here. and i wasnt saying anything about or to you hun, it was who i quoted. i was just explaining what i do, the point of what i put was to say, try what i do, try what other do and see what works for yourself, i wasnt meaning it to say 'only do it my way' that'd be silly to express on someone. you're entitled to your opinion as am i.
but can i just point out to all you haters, i dont know any other diets that tell you to 'eat back' as far as i am aware, maybe WW as you gain extra points, but they're optional. ive only ever seen it on here, PERSONALLY before you all start quoting diets at me.
end the end of the day, hate on me, tell me im wrong. everyones entitled to free speech