You HAVE to eat your exercise calories....

FitLink

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

google it and see how they have done - lots didn't keep the weight off and even some of the winners of the show and the $250,000 didn't keep it off either . Find what works for you - for the rest of your life ... that is the most important part ... IMHO :laugh:

It looks to me like the vast majority are well on their way to being just as big as they started out. Fads, even reality show fads, don't make permanent changes, and are more likely than not to fail. If a small percentage succeed, we all think we'll be in that small percentage, but in reality, most of us will be in the majority who fail at this approach (what a surprise--the majority will be in the majority--imagine that!).

chrisb75

As many of you know I am a HUGE proponent of Eat More to Weigh Less. I currently consume 2550 calories a day, lift heavy 3 days a week, walk, and work on home improvement stuff. I went from eating 1700 calories a day to 2550 and haven't looked back. The inches are dropping off, the weight is following. If you can eat more and still lose, why wouldn't you?

iron_jj

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

Is losing weight that fast really healthy? I have my doubts. But whatever floats your boat, each their own. :laugh:

tistal

I have tried it both ways and lost both ways so I say meh, what ever floats your boat. I upped my total cals and lost more with out eating back my exercise cals. There are so many depending factors that go into play with the whole eating back your exercise cals thing. Everyones body is different so everyone is gonna lose differently.

Gilbrod

:bigsmile: Make me

tyoung8

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.

Thank you!!!!!!

JamesonsMommy

I may dip into them if i need to but i find it impossible to eat them on days i have a 1k calorie burn..

tony2009

I hate seeing all of these threads. I really wish people would just try different things to see what works. Everyone's body is different. I always eat mine back, or plan ahead for activities by upping my intake throughout the day. It's worked great for me. I personally don't even feel well or have enough energy to do anything if I don't eat back my calories or eat them beforehand.

Try new things, experiment.

Cyphio

Guess I will add to this conversation. I agree with everyone is different and responds differently to these two methods (eating back calories or not). I think both are fine as long as it does not prevent you from receiving all the nutrients and calories that you need for daily functioning. Your body does need certain components to fully operate at its max ability and in my opinion if you are not getting these components then you are not losing weight in a healthy way. To each is own though.

BuckeyeLife

As many of you know I am a HUGE proponent of Eat More to Weigh Less. I currently consume 2550 calories a day, lift heavy 3 days a week, walk, and work on home improvement stuff. I went from eating 1700 calories a day to 2550 and haven't looked back. The inches are dropping off, the weight is following. If you can eat more and still lose, why wouldn't you?

Some people are poor? Heh, no idea. I am not passing on food, ty.

DeniseB0711

IF you are using the biggest loser as an example you must know what equation they use to get the amount of calories a contestant needs to eat.
The biggest loser diet is your weight, times 7.

If you weight 250 to start, that's 1750 calories you are eating. That's more than enough for your body to function correctly.

However if you are like Me who weights 169, that's 1183, NOT ENOUGH calories to eat and hae my body function correctly, there I need to exercise and eat back my calories just to 1200.

And its true some of those larger constestants are eating over 2K calories to start.

myfitnessnmhoy

The manner in which people choose to apply it is their own choice, but honestly - a lot of thought went into how this plan is designed - trying it out as designed just seems like the logical thing to do.

My personal recommendation, which is worth nothing but I hope helps someone starting out:

Start by getting your diet under control. Regulate your caloric intake. Balance your fats, carbs, and proteins to make sure you are feeding your body well. Eat back your exercise calories if you choose to exercise - just try it to start, because you're in a learning phase at this point. Drink plenty of water. If I had to do it all over again, I'd choose "maintenance" mode for the first two weeks (no weight loss).

The first couple of weeks will probably be pretty chaotic weight-wise and otherwise just trying to get your diet under control, learning what foods you need to fuel yourself properly, and drinking enough water.

Then things should settle down a bit. Maintain this intake for a month and see if you are sustaining weight loss at the pace you set.

If you are NOT losing weight, the site has over- or under-estimated your calories burned or calories taken in. But if you've spent that time getting your diet under control (balancing your carbs/protein/fats, making sure you drink plenty, etc) you will also start recognizing the signals your body sends.

Once you have a well-established and consistent balanced diet, and if you are otherwise healthy with no medical conditions, AND you are not still not losing weight (or not losing it as fast as you had set your goal to assuming your goal is reasonable):

- If you are feeling hungry, fatigued, constantly tired, or cannot sustain good workouts, eat more. The site has underestimated the number of calories necessary to sustain a healthy metabolism for you, and you're not burning enough calories. This eating more might cause temporary weight gain for a week or two. Stick with it. It'll pay off.
* Alternatively, you can lower your calories further, but the outcome of this is weight loss through suffering. 30 years of doing this has taught me it's unsustainable, for me and anyone else I've ever met who has done this. Your mileage may vary, but I honestly doubt it. You won't be as healthy on the other side, and you won't be equipped to keep it off.

- If you are feeling energetic, happy, sustaining awesome sweaty workouts, and sleeping OK, eat less.

If you are losing weight consistently at more than 2-4 pounds a week, maybe as much as 5 if you have 100 or more to go, start eating more.

Start with eating properly, then the issue of whether you eat your exercise calories back will answer itself for you.

Honestly, I wish the site recommended people eat at maintenance for a few weeks before it moved on to weight loss. A balanced(*) diet is the key to starting a successful weight loss regimen.

(*) "balanced" can mean many things - the site's recommendation is pretty close to the typical American-style balanced diet. Low-carb eating plans can be used, but it involves some research, starting out the plan using external tools, then adjusting your goals on MFP manually.

oilphins

I ALWAYS eat back at least half of my exercise calories and the weight is still coming off. Remember, everyone's metabolism is different. It depends on your carb intake, protein intake, and so forth. Some things work for some people and don't work for others, so do what works for you weather it's eating your exercise calories back or not. So I'll have to say your wrong. Sorry.

jodazary

if i eat all my exercise calories back im overstuffed and then the next day i feel like oh well i ate all that stuff yesterday so i can today too then i quit exercising and i gain it all back then i have to start over so no way will i eat em back

kayl3igh88

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

There's a UK biggest loser? How did I not know this?? :grumble:

BAMFMeredith

It depends on the person. I don't eat mine back most of the time. When I ate them back, I didn't lose a pound. I don't eat them back, and I'm steadily losing (nice and slowly, like I should). Some people have great success with it, some don't...just depends on the person's regular calorie intake/body chemistry/daily activity level and probably a million other factors.

Eat them back. Or don't. Whatever works for you.

minadee

I agree ^^. It depends on the person. If you plateau, then try eating them back. IMHO, it backfires when people are overestimating their calorie burn, and in my experience, MFP was definitely overestimating my exercise calories.

Rff7362

I have about 1950 Excersize Calories per week, That is 3.25 Bottles of Wine per week-Awesome! Seriously, I have only been on this a month and have achieved the goal of 10 lbs lost. After the next month (10 lbs), I will have reached my high goal wieght. Loosing weight healthly is the key here. 2-3 lbs per week does that if your eating right. What I love about this is that I can take my quality diet and eat the right portions. Trading my calories for wine is always a good thing.

Wineaux- Wine lover that uses a glass

Il_DaniD_lI

I was at one point NOT eating back my exercise calories and was not losing weight at the rate I wanted and losing no inches. I was also lacking energy big time.

I started eating back 80% of my exercise calories and it worked much better for me. I was losing at a better rate, I lost inches, and I had tons of energy. I would have given up had I not started doing it this way.

jdploki70

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

The show "you are what you eat" does in the UK. Huge caloric drops and lifestyle changes in diet and exercise are probably closer to what we are doing than a pop culture contest.