You HAVE to eat your exercise calories....

walldancer

u,,,,nope. biggest loser? Do you think they eat back their exercise calories???? Nope. they lose tremendous amounts of weight as we all know.

pamelad77

Does it really work though? Not being funny when I say that, but I'd like to see a follow up program a year later to see how many have kept up the good work, or how many have put it back on plus more due to losing it so quick.
The US version might already do this, but don't think the uk one does

Sneakypeek1972

im confused? i stick to my net goal only, if i go over into my earned calories so be it

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kekl

Yeah, but the Biggest Loser really isn't an indication of the right or healthy thing to do. They lose insane amounts of weight insanely fast which can't be healthy for you.

People don't want to see "Oh great job, you lost 1 lb this week!" they want to see "Wow, you lost 15 lbs this week!" It's that whole instant gratification culture thing we have...

Cait_Sidhe

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

Seriously. Go there. Read the links. It explains everything.

hailzp

I agree with the above poster. The biggest loser is not a good example of losing weight healthily. I eat my exercise calories, well most of them and I lose weight weekly.

Lesley2901

Yeah, but the Biggest Loser really isn't an indication of the right or healthy thing to do. They lose insane amounts of weight insanely fast which can't be healthy for you.

People don't want to see "Oh great job, you lost 1 lb this week!" they want to see "Wow, you lost 15 lbs this week!" It's that whole instant gratification culture thing we have...

I agree - slow and steady is much healthier than drastically cutting calories to see a quick loss.

vim_n_vigor

You don't HAVE to do anything. Your body, your choice. I do suggest you read this though and really think about what you are going to CHOOSE to do.
http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

dad106

I depends on the person.. and biggest loser is a really bad example to be using because those people are in a controlled environment, with diet plan all laid out for them.

When you are obese(like the biggest loser contestants) you can get away with not eating exercise calories back. As you lose the weight though, 1200 calories a day just isn't going to cut it anymore for most people. Which is why people encourage eating them back or raising your calorie goal.

I personally eat mine back(have for this whole journey.. I like food.. what can I say?) and I've lost all the weight I've wanted too. I'm also smaller than ever and keeping it off pretty darn well... so there is some truth to it. You can't just pick one TV show and say it isn't true.

angellmoore

I have a friend who is a personal trainer so I asked her about this question. At least for my routine this was her answer. I can only get in a 30 min workout 3 days a week (I work 12 hour days). But on the other 4 days I work out for at least an hour. She said on days that I work out for only 30 min do not eat back those calories. On days that I get in at least an hour eat back half of those exercise calories. Hope this helps.

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4theking

The biggest loser show to validate your point does not work and looks at it way to simplisticly. The healthy way to lose fat is to create a small deficit through diet and or exercise over the course of the week. The extreme, unhealthy way is to create a huge deficit like what is done on the biggest loser show......another word for this type of losing is starvation. Even though their bodies metabolisms are down regulating, it is not enough to overcome their ridiculously large deficit. The problem can occur from a weightloss/fatloss perspecitive, when you are in between the extremes. Genetics play a large role in how each individuals body responds to a stress.

Angelabec

Seriously, no one HAS to do anything. You don't HAVE to eat back your exercise cals, you don't HAVE to eat primal, paleo, clean, low carb, low fat or any other way, you don't HAVE to eat breakfast, or six times a day or do IF. You don't HAVE to lift heavy, or do hours on end of cardio. I think I've covered the general topics that pop up, day after day.

Obviously everyone is free to recount what works for them, and to make recommendations, but the world & MFP would be a much calmer place if people would accept that not everyone wants to do the same thing.

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marshallexi

I think this is all down to personal choice.

I log all my calories in and out on spreadsheet, I know I have better fatloss when I eat back upto 75% of my calories. On weeks when I eat less my fat has either stayed the same or upped a little bit.

It's all about learning what your body needs, no one is the same.

LexyDB

Not once have I exceeded my daily calories and never have I eaten 1 calorie back from exercise and I regularly drop between 1 to 2lbs a week so how can anyone say that you should eat back what you've worked off?

Create a deficit with exercise to compliment the adjustment to your diet and then eat back what you've just worked off, why?

May as well just avoid the exercise and up your daily calorie intake to what you would have lost with exercise. Nope, didn't think that would work either.

3,500 kcals excess creates a pound of fat, to lose 2lbs a week requires you to burn off 7,000 kcals which is not easy but a safe and managable regimen. Sensible diet and regular exercise will ensure this, some weeks you won't drop weight but gain muscle tone. This doesn't mean failure as you are transforming your body and more muscle burns more calories so you will lose more. It will get to the point when you won't put on as much muscle unless you lift ridiculous amounts of weight but when you get to that stage, you'll burn off more excess fat.

Along with eating junk, drinking alcohol, having treats or not being honest about what you're eating will cause most people to fail miserably and the amount of threads on here pay testament to this.

Bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle are the reason why a lot of people are out of shape and overweight. You start a health plan and continue snack eating, consuming chocolate, cakes and alcohol and ask why the diet isn't working.

hsk71

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

Seriously. Go there. Read the links. It explains everything.

HA HA HA HA HA

dad106

Not once have I exceeded my daily calories and never have I eaten 1 calorie back from exercise and I regularly drop between 1 to 2lbs a week so how can anyone say that you should eat back what you've worked off?

Create a deficit with exercise to compliment the adjustment to your diet and then eat back what you've just worked off, why?

May as well just avoid the exercise and up your daily calorie intake to what you would have lost with exercise. Nope, didn't think that would work either.

3,500 kcals excess creates a pound of fat, to lose 2lbs a week requires you to burn off 7,000 kcals which is not easy but a safe and managable regimen. Sensible diet and regular exercise will ensure this, some weeks you won't drop weight but gain muscle tone. This doesn't mean failure as you are transforming your body and more muscle burns more calories so you will lose more. It will get to the point when you won't put on as much muscle unless you lift ridiculous amounts of weight but when you get to that stage, you'll burn off more excess fat.

Along with eating junk, drinking alcohol, having treats or not being honest about what you're eating will cause most people to fail miserably and the amount of threads on here pay testament to this.

Bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle are the reason why a lot of people are out of shape and overweight. You start a health plan and continue snack eating, consuming chocolate, cakes and alcohol and ask why the diet isn't working.

First off, MFP already gives you a deficit per day that amounts to 3,500 and 7,000 calories a week.. anything that you do on top of that makes the deficit bigger. Make it too big, and you will have trouble losing. You also can lose with just diet alone on MFP because that is the way it is designed.. a lot of people do it that way at first if they are very obese.

Second, you can't gain muscle tone in a deficit.. it's impossible unless you are just starting out or obese. If you aren't seeing the scale move, then it's most likely water retention from the muscles repairing themselves.. not actual muscle gain.

Three, a lot of people eat junk, chocolate, alcohol etc and have lost weight just fine. I am one of them. I refuse to give up chocolate and fast food.. because thats how my life is structured. I can't always sit down and cook a meal, so I do what I can, stay in my calories,exercise and lost 30 pounds/6 sizes.

So while what you are doing may work for you, and you may think you know it all, you don't

Everyone is different and does different things... so just be mindful of that.

hbrittingham

Along with eating junk, drinking alcohol, having treats or not being honest about what you're eating will cause most people to fail miserably and the amount of threads on here pay testament to this.

Bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle are the reason why a lot of people are out of shape and overweight. You start a health plan and continue snack eating, consuming chocolate, cakes and alcohol and ask why the diet isn't working.

Really? I drink alcohol and I eat chocolate, yet I still have lost weight just fine and am maintaining just fine. I am not going to deprive myself of the things I like so I can "diet" according to what someone else thinks I should or should not indulge in.

SirZee

Too much silliness on these forums about this topic. Do whatever you want. Unless you are at an elite athlete training level (marathons, etc) this is really irrelevant, and the hour-or-more-eat-half-back advice sounds like a reasonable thing to follow.

LexyDB

Not once have I exceeded my daily calories and never have I eaten 1 calorie back from exercise and I regularly drop between 1 to 2lbs a week so how can anyone say that you should eat back what you've worked off?

Create a deficit with exercise to compliment the adjustment to your diet and then eat back what you've just worked off, why?

May as well just avoid the exercise and up your daily calorie intake to what you would have lost with exercise. Nope, didn't think that would work either.

3,500 kcals excess creates a pound of fat, to lose 2lbs a week requires you to burn off 7,000 kcals which is not easy but a safe and managable regimen. Sensible diet and regular exercise will ensure this, some weeks you won't drop weight but gain muscle tone. This doesn't mean failure as you are transforming your body and more muscle burns more calories so you will lose more. It will get to the point when you won't put on as much muscle unless you lift ridiculous amounts of weight but when you get to that stage, you'll burn off more excess fat.

Along with eating junk, drinking alcohol, having treats or not being honest about what you're eating will cause most people to fail miserably and the amount of threads on here pay testament to this.

Bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle are the reason why a lot of people are out of shape and overweight. You start a health plan and continue snack eating, consuming chocolate, cakes and alcohol and ask why the diet isn't working.

First off, MFP already gives you a deficit per day that amounts to 3,500 and 7,000 calories a week.. anything that you do on top of that makes the deficit bigger. Make it too big, and you will have trouble losing. You also can lose with just diet alone on MFP because that is the way it is designed.. a lot of people do it that way at first if they are very obese.

Second, you can't gain muscle tone in a deficit.. it's impossible unless you are just starting out or obese. If you aren't seeing the scale move, then it's most likely water retention from the muscles repairing themselves.. not actual muscle gain.

Three, a lot of people eat junk, chocolate, alcohol etc and have lost weight just fine. I am one of them. I refuse to give up chocolate and fast food.. because thats how my life is structured. I can't always sit down and cook a meal, so I do what I can, stay in my calories,exercise and lost 30 pounds/6 sizes.

So while what you are doing may work for you, and you may think you know it all, you don't

Everyone is different and does different things... so just be mindful of that.

Of course, that is why countless threads of people moaning saying they haven't lost weight or the diet isn't working or I've reached a plateau and what should I do litter the forums.

There will be an exception as you stated but generally, you won't get results from doing nothing to help yourself which so many on here complain about.

sallycan

You are SO right! Again it is the media leading us down the a path of deceit! :-)

AmadaLynn

Along with eating junk, drinking alcohol, having treats or not being honest about what you're eating will cause most people to fail miserably and the amount of threads on here pay testament to this.

Bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle are the reason why a lot of people are out of shape and overweight. You start a health plan and continue snack eating, consuming chocolate, cakes and alcohol and ask why the diet isn't working.

Really? I drink alcohol and I eat chocolate, yet I still have lost weight just fine and am maintaining just fine. I am not going to deprive myself of the things I like so I can "diet" according to what someone else thinks I should or should not indulge in.

Agree - I have ice cream almost daily. And I have lost 1 pound per week.

I am usually right at, over, or a little under my calories.

I exercise just so I can eat a little more.

1310 calorie goal is hard to keep.

umachanxo

I think that everyone finds what works for them. Saying one way is the ABSOLUTE RIGHT WAY ALWAYS and everyone else is wrong is just pointless. There will always be people who disagree and say it doesn't work for them. But if it works for you, then great.

I wish the best of luck in your weight loss journey. But, it's best not to just stir up an argument like this.

douglasmobbs

For an obese person who will have to be losing weight for a considerable length of time there is very little if any link between eating habits at the start or middle of the weight loss and eating habits whilst on maintenance. I am using an obese person in their weight loss to make the point clearer.

The difference in BMR between a 400lb person and a 270lb person is approximately 1,500 plus the amount they burn doing the same amount of exercise is dramatically different.

If you are sticking to a 1,000 calorie deficit during a weight loss programme your diet will change over time regardless of eating back calories or not due to the change in BMR. Therefore I strongly doubt that eating back your calories or not will change the chance that you maintain weight loss.

As with many things on diets the nutritional intake (excluding calorific value) of the food you eat is more important that the calories. There will be a natural minimum amount of calories you have to eat to hit the nutritional values. If eating back your calories lets you stick on a diet then that is best for you. If seeing the reward in faster moving scales is best then not eating back the calories is best for you.

SirZee

PS. same thing with "muscle tone" which I think you mean "muscle gain". It is incredibly difficult to gain muscle. If you lift weights hard and regularly, you can count on 1lb a month or so, so again, unless you are a serious resistance trainer, quit worrying about that/using it as an excuse.,

ironanimal

Do they keep it off? uh, nope.

UrbanRunner81

If it is on TV it has to be true.

SassyCalyGirl

Along with eating junk, drinking alcohol, having treats or not being honest about what you're eating will cause most people to fail miserably and the amount of threads on here pay testament to this.

Bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle are the reason why a lot of people are out of shape and overweight. You start a health plan and continue snack eating, consuming chocolate, cakes and alcohol and ask why the diet isn't working.

Really? I drink alcohol and I eat chocolate, yet I still have lost weight just fine and am maintaining just fine. I am not going to deprive myself of the things I like so I can "diet" according to what someone else thinks I should or should not indulge in.

agree 100%

alana1966

I seriously do NOT believe that losing weight quickly is unhealthy - fast, slow, whatever - as long as it comes off. I work in the medical field and have never once heard a doctor tell someone to lose their weight "nice and slow" - they do surgeries to make it come off FAST all the time.

It's all a matter of what the person does with their HABITS after the weight is off.