To Exercise Calories or Not??

mrsfortune

Has anyone ever loss while eating majority of their exercise calories everyday or almost everyday? I do the treadmill Mon-Fri now but I eat all my exercise calories. I'm trying it out to see if that works for me. Next week I will do the same but I won't eat my exercise calories. I want to see which works best for me but, I would like to know if anyone has had any success with it.

bdubs125

I would give it more than a week at a time. It takes at least couple weeks for your body to adjust, much less see results. I eat most of mine everyday, and at a minimum make sure I net 1300.
Good luck!

spammyanna

First off, a week isn't long enough to gauge whether it works or not.

And yes, I have lost almost 50lbs eating my exercise calories. Some days I eat them all, other days I only eat part of them, but I always net at least 1200.

You just have to find what works for you.
Good luck!

secretgirl4611

MAYBE THIS MIGHT HELP TO UNDERSTAND MORE.. AND YES, IT WORKS FOR EVERYONE

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

metabolism reset:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COzMKkXeiFo

eating more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nepewrLE_eE&feature=relmfu

taso42

Yes, that's how the pros do it. It's called being mindful of your calorie deficit.

sfoster3171982

I stopped eating my calories back and I have been losing EVERY week. I also watch my sodium and sugar and I make sure I drink ALOT of water. I have also added the gym to my regimen.

marycmeadows

You should also ry different exercises. your body adjusts rather quickly to what you're doing and doing the same thing day in and day out really isn't good. do you strength train? do the stair climber? do the elliptical? do high inclines on the treadmill? ((Oh and please tell me you don't hold on while on the treadmill. please. please?))

anyways, yes, I typically eat back most of my exercise calories. always have. and I've lost 111.2lbs since january 2011.

beckyinma

Yes, that's how the pros do it. It's called being mindful of your calorie deficit.

YES! I stopped eating them back and stalled for 5 months.. 5 months I can never get back.

staceyo1211

When I started exercising and eating right I hadnt heard of eating back exercise calories. I've never eaten back any exercise calories ate 1270 calories a day and thats it. I lost 60 pounds in 7 months doing this so this method worked well for me. I never felt hungry or starved. I'll add I exercised 6-7days a week.

irisheyez718

Yes, I eat almost all of my exercise calories most days. I try to.

mrsfortune

Thanks for all the feedback! I guess I should clarify a few things, I took a hiatus from MFP for a few weeks, was logging but not consistently and I started logging consistently again last month trying to maintain something a little more reasonable to work with for a long time. I upped my calorie intake and started exercising more regularly and also started eating my exercise calories. I have been doing this for 3 weeks now I lost 1.4 lbs so far last week, Saturday will be my 3rd weigh in. I will then try the other way starting next week . Now I know your body needs more time but I am pretty damn scared to put on a single pound so I wasn't going to chance it another week but figured before I jump ship I should ask my fellow MFP'ers opinions on the matter. I do the treadmill everyday for 30 minutes and I do a weight loss program which changes the pace and the incline randomly so my body won't adjust, a couple of days in the week I will throw in some Zumba. Though I am eating my exercise calories I never go over between 1800 and 2200 calories.
I appreciate all feedback because I am still a work in progress. I've learned so far what has gotten me to this point so I would love to learn how not to get back here.
Thank you all.

spammyanna

If it's working, why mess with it? I think your loss is amazing, and like they say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it'!

mrsfortune

You should also ry different exercises. your body adjusts rather quickly to what you're doing and doing the same thing day in and day out really isn't good. do you strength train? do the stair climber? do the elliptical? do high inclines on the treadmill? ((Oh and please tell me you don't hold on while on the treadmill. please. please?))

anyways, yes, I typically eat back most of my exercise calories. always have. and I've lost 111.2lbs since january 2011.

I don't know why but I read the last part in my elementary school teachers voice in my head....LOL
No, I don't hold onto the treadmill bar anymore. I may hold it for a sec after running just to steady myself when it slows down and that's it. I do change the incline and the pace up, sometimes I walk longer or shorter but never less than 30 minutes. Oh and I do Zumba.

mes1119

I eat about half of them, but I kind of "save" them for the weekend because I always go over on those days. I just make that I am at or a little below my calories for the week.

Pebble321

Of course. The forums are full of people who have lost weight while eating exercise cals.
The real question here is - are you using MFP to calculate your calorie goals? If so, then you should be adding exercise calories to your daily calorie allowance.
If you are using another calorie calculator that already accounts for exercise you don't need to. The end result will be the same, it's just a different way of doing the maths.

mrsfortune

MAYBE THIS MIGHT HELP TO UNDERSTAND MORE.. AND YES, IT WORKS FOR EVERYONE

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

metabolism reset:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COzMKkXeiFo

eating more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nepewrLE_eE&feature=relmfu

Thank you for posting this!!!

cmriverside

I stopped eating my calories back and I have been losing EVERY week. I also watch my sodium and sugar and I make sure I drink ALOT of water. I have also added the gym to my regimen.

You have 161 pounds to lose. Yes, that will work for you. And the original poster also has a lot of weight to lose...about 121 pounds; so it will work for her, too.

I always ate mine, and then some. But I only had 55 pounds to lose. So the more you have to lose the less important exercise calories are. You have lots of stored energy in your body fat.

mrsfortune

If it's working, why mess with it? I think your loss is amazing, and like they say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it'!

Thank you!

clobercow

So much Broscience on this forum. The greater the calorie deficit the more fat loss occurs. Depending on your workouts and how intense they are, along with how you feel, will tell you how much you need to eat. This is you and you alone. There is no magical minimum calories to be healthy.

This is me:

I eat 80% of my BMR. I exercize 500+ calories per day. This creates huge calorie deficits. I've lots fat and inches. I have to go buy more clothes. I'm dropping 3-4 lbs per week. Fatigue doesn't happen unless I really push hard for more than 1.5 hours in the gym. I get cardio 6 days per week. I lift 3 days per week in addition to cardio.

I also fast for 12-16 hours per day and I try to carb cycle. (still trying to work that out)

OMG WTF BBQSAUSE!

According to all of the bro-scientists around here, this is BAD BAD BAD! I'm going to die, or over train, put on fat, eat my organs, lose muscle, go into starvation mode, BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Yeah right... I have great energy. I'm losing fat. I feel great. Hunger isn't an issue. I'm shedding weight. I lift and I'm getting stronger and more lean.

But this is me and I'm doing great with this.

To sum this up. You have to do based on how you feel and how your progress is going.

whiplashpcw

I always ate back my exercise calories and I still lost 29lbs in 3 months. It can work

hiker282

To exercise is to burn calories...it's pretty much a guarantee. You also burn them sitting on your *kitten*, but you'll burn more if you get up and move around....that's all.

taso42

So much Broscience on this forum. The greater the calorie deficit the more fat loss occurs. Depending on your workouts and how intense they are, along with how you feel, will tell you how much you need to eat. This is you and you alone. There is no magical minimum calories to be healthy.

This is me:

I eat 80% of my BMR. I exercize 500+ calories per day. This creates huge calorie deficits. I've lots fat and inches. I have to go buy more clothes. I'm dropping 3-4 lbs per week. Fatigue doesn't happen unless I really push hard for more than 1.5 hours in the gym. I get cardio 6 days per week. I lift 3 days per week in addition to cardio.

I also fast for 12-16 hours per day and I try to carb cycle. (still trying to work that out)

OMG WTF BBQSAUSE!

According to all of the bro-scientists around here, this is BAD BAD BAD! I'm going to die, or over train, put on fat, eat my organs, lose muscle, go into starvation mode, BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Yeah right... I have great energy. I'm losing fat. I feel great. Hunger isn't an issue. I'm shedding weight. I lift and I'm getting stronger and more lean.

But this is me and I'm doing great with this.

To sum this up. You have to do based on how you feel and how your progress is going.

With all due respect to the poster above, those who are extremely overweight can tolerate a much larger deficit for some time. After you've dropped another 60 lbs, you will get better results with a sane deficit.

Crying_In_Color

So much Broscience on this forum. The greater the calorie deficit the more fat loss occurs. Depending on your workouts and how intense they are, along with how you feel, will tell you how much you need to eat. This is you and you alone. There is no magical minimum calories to be healthy.

This is me:

I eat 80% of my BMR. I exercize 500+ calories per day. This creates huge calorie deficits. I've lots fat and inches. I have to go buy more clothes. I'm dropping 3-4 lbs per week. Fatigue doesn't happen unless I really push hard for more than 1.5 hours in the gym. I get cardio 6 days per week. I lift 3 days per week in addition to cardio.

I also fast for 12-16 hours per day and I try to carb cycle. (still trying to work that out)

OMG WTF BBQSAUSE!

According to all of the bro-scientists around here, this is BAD BAD BAD! I'm going to die, or over train, put on fat, eat my organs, lose muscle, go into starvation mode, BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Yeah right... I have great energy. I'm losing fat. I feel great. Hunger isn't an issue. I'm shedding weight. I lift and I'm getting stronger and more lean.

But this is me and I'm doing great with this.

To sum this up. You have to do based on how you feel and how your progress is going.

^This

clobercow

So much Broscience on this forum. The greater the calorie deficit the more fat loss occurs. Depending on your workouts and how intense they are, along with how you feel, will tell you how much you need to eat. This is you and you alone. There is no magical minimum calories to be healthy.

This is me:

I eat 80% of my BMR. I exercize 500+ calories per day. This creates huge calorie deficits. I've lots fat and inches. I have to go buy more clothes. I'm dropping 3-4 lbs per week. Fatigue doesn't happen unless I really push hard for more than 1.5 hours in the gym. I get cardio 6 days per week. I lift 3 days per week in addition to cardio.

I also fast for 12-16 hours per day and I try to carb cycle. (still trying to work that out)

OMG WTF BBQSAUSE!

According to all of the bro-scientists around here, this is BAD BAD BAD! I'm going to die, or over train, put on fat, eat my organs, lose muscle, go into starvation mode, BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Yeah right... I have great energy. I'm losing fat. I feel great. Hunger isn't an issue. I'm shedding weight. I lift and I'm getting stronger and more lean.

But this is me and I'm doing great with this.

To sum this up. You have to do based on how you feel and how your progress is going.

With all due respect to the poster above, those who are extremely overweight can tolerate a much larger deficit for some time. After you've dropped another 60 lbs, you will get better results with a sane deficit.

I understand what you say but I do not agree.

So long as we have fat to lose, more than 5-6% for men, from what I understand, calorie deficit will pull from the fat reserves. That is how the body functions. Being in a fasted state burns fat and doesn't lower the metabolism by any measurable amount. It's completely normal and natural to how the human body works.

The fewer calories consumed, the longer a person will be in a deficit and in a fasted state. Once I lose another 60 lbs, this is a guess, but I'll be at or around 19% body fat. There is nothing but anecdotal evidence on here from people saying that eating more makes people lose more weight.