Should I eat my exercise calories?

SalamanderMeg

I have a 10 month old daughter who is still nursing. I've been stuck at a plateau despite eating ~1,500 calories a day and running 3-4 miles a day most days of the week. Well, I've been stressed out, and when I got on the scale I was so upset that it actually went up a pound that I said "screw it" and ate all sorts of bad things for two days-yesterday I ate over 2000 calories. Today I got on the scale and I was DOWN two pounds. What is going on? Anyone else been through this?

maru84

I haven't personally but I've read about other moms who upped their calorie intake and lost weight. You definitely need to account for how much your baby eats- go to where you would enter food in for one of your meals (I do breakfast), search for Breastfeeding, and select the number of negative calories based on how often you bf. My 10 month old son still nurses a ton so I go with the -400 calories. You should eat at least some of your exercise calories too. Try it, see how it works, I bet you'll have more energy too.

Falling2Grace

I had to up my calorie intake to lose weight. i used to only subtract out 200 calories for breastfeeding, My net was set at 1200 and then i added 200 (= 1400 calories). but then i kept getting hungry and the scale was not budging, so i upped that to 500 calories. So now i eat 1700 calories and i ALWAYS eat back my burned calories. i have been able to lose 1-1.5lb per week without fail. Ive also heard that people, in general, that begin to plateau, usually need to eat back their burned calories and many times need to up their calories in general.
it sounds to me like your body is requiring more calories to lose weight. So if its working, i say stick with it.

Falling2Grace

Ditto what maru said

SalamanderMeg

Thanks Ladies! It seems so counter-intuitive, but I'll try it!

viadelorosa03

I have a four month old and eat 1200 calories a day, then I eat back my nursing calories (500), and If I exercise I eat all of those calories back as well. I started out NOT eating my exercise calories, but I found I wasn't loosing weight as fast (or not at all) and my LO was waking up more often during the night. So I started eating back my exercise calories and have at least one splurge day a week ( My eating habits are good, so a splurge for me is 2 low-calorie enchiladas opposed to 1 and a milky way :bigsmile: ) and I'm actually loosing about 2lbs a week. Good rate for me considering I only have about 10 pounds left to loose. Hope you figure it out soon. It can be frustrating not seeing results. When it doesn't seem like my hard work is paying off I tell myself that If I continue to make good choices it HAS to pay off at some point, but If I quit now I will NEVER be at my goal. You can do it!

boatstop

My daughter is 10.5 mo old, and I nurse 3-6x each day. I never dip below 1800. I have lost all of my baby weight plus 10 lbs. I know it seems wrong, but it's so hard to tell how much you burn. If you are hungry, eat! Especially if you are working out on top of it. And LOTS of water!! You can do it!