Do you eat your exercise calories?

feltlikesound

I eat them within my hunger -- as in, I eat until I feel adequately fuelled. That usually means I eat almost all of them back, but sometimes I fall short.

Using this approach I have consistently lost 1-1.7 or so pounds a week for the past 8ish weeks.

jillica

It is up to you (& your body), but...

I usually do and just this last Friday, I did not. It wasn't intentional - I was just busy and ended up eating less than I was planning.

The next day I taught my Jazzercise class, and I did NOT have the energy that I needed to go full intensity. I really struggled so I won't be doing that again.

Sheila_Ann

I found that when I was not eating back my calories, I was netting around 400-500 (at the time I didn't know I should not be below the 1200/day) and I stopped losing weight. I met with a nutritionist and she told me that I should eat back my calories. That your body needs at least 1200 just to maintain your every day activities etc. I use a HRM to track my calories burn and I also use fitbit to help with my all day calories burn. I work out with a trainer 2x a week and she tells me how much to put for calories burn when I'm with her.

I can honestly say that I'm down to 130lbs and every week I've avg about .7 oz loss. There are days when I don't eat them all back. If I have a big deficite I'll eat a handful of nuts to get me up. But I won't eat just to eat. Listen to your body.

Everyone has to find there comfort zone and for me that's the above statement.

Good luck!
Sheila

myfitnessnmhoy

Just wondering? I've done 750 cals today in exercise and am really reluctant to eat them!!!

Yes. I eat at a regulated deficit to lose weight. That is my NET caloric intake.

I work out to improve my level of fitness and the cardiovascular health of my body. I can't do that as effectively if I'm starving myself.

I've tried not eating them back for the last 30 years of on-and-off dieting. It works great in the beginning, I lose weight really fast, but then I stop losing weight and start feeling tired and hungry all the time.

Experiment and see what works for you. I need to eat them back or I plateau and I can't work out as effectively. I also open myself to a greater chance of falling off the weight loss bandwagon and making poor food choices due to constantly feeling hungry.

I'm enjoying my workouts, enjoying my food, and losing weight. I have no interest in going back to constant hunger and tiredness to speed this process up. Slow and steady wins the race.

Consider at least experimenting with eating them back for a couple of weeks to see what happens. Or not, it's your life and your choice. Good luck in your journey.

WaterBunnie

I eat back most of mine because I want to stay healthy during what might be a 2 year process. I want to keep as much lean muscle as possible and to fuel my workouts which I can do more intensively if I'm not weak with hunger. I also have patches of alopecia (from a previous period of great stress I think) that I certainly don't want to get worse through malnutrition so I eat what I should be eating to help boost my auto-immune system. MFP already factors in a healthy deficit so why widen that?

romanyromany

I totally eat back my calories! I find it very motivating to do more exercise so that I can eat more! I usually burn about 800 cal extra. And I'm losing weight slowly and surely. Not only that I'm fitter and more toned than I have ever been. Plus if I were to only exist on 1200 calories or near i would go totally mad and give up. Being able to eat about 1800 and sometimes more (mountain biking for 3 hrs burns off loads!) while still being able to lose weight is the key to why this is first weight loss programme i have EVER been able to stick to. Today I went to the Dentist so couldn't eat much so .... i've got a fab slice of 400 cal cheesecake to use up some calories!! He he he!!!!

runlaugheatpie

If I am hungry, I eat them. If I'm not, I don't. Typically I'm always at or near my calorie goal for the day, I exercise almost daily. I'm not going to starve myself so I eat when I'm hungry.

CoderGal

Calorie burn estimates can be very off. It depends on how you measure them. HRMs are only accurate for same level cardio burns. etc etc.

Yes, I eat my exercise calories. But I don't gorge myself till I'm sick either. Chances are if you've been eating constantly all day and can't get up to your calorie level, you're not burning that many calories. If you had a period where you didn't eat for the day and then exercised and ate and didn't feel like gorging yourself to make up for it, don't worry about it. Just don't go hungry, at all.

SPBROOKS68

If I am Hungry then YES if not then no...Normally on days I work out I am not hungry after hitting the gym..But the next day I am STARVING!

taso42

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

superstarcassie

Yes- because I want to lose fat, not muscle. Under eating will cause you to lose muscle. I don't always eat every single exercise cal, but I try to eat around 2200ish a day.

AmyB69

I've never eaten mine.

cynthiaj777

Okay, my BMR is 1730 (according to various websites) and MFP gives me 1200 per day so I am already 500 odd less per day.

So are you guys saying that for you, if you eat your exercise cals you don't lose anything even though your cals have already been adjusted by mfp to allow weightloss?

Kinda new and a bit confused lol

Cheers x

You should be netting 1200+ a day. If you don't exercise, eat 1200. If you exercise for 500, you should eat 1700 i.e. net 1200. You have to give your body fuel to repair itself otherwise working out and not eating back the calories/giving your body the nutrients it needs is harmful.

Search eating 2000+ on the forums. YOU MUST EAT!

senyosmom

Typically I eat back *some* of the calories

HannahDiaz25

Since I am only trying to loose about 1 pound every week and half or so and MFP already has me on a 500 calorie deficit, I eat back about 1/2 of my exercise calories... I try not to eat to much more then half back because I dont trust the calorie count onmost machines... cant wait to get my fitbit :-)
So far this has worked great for me.

jogglesngoggles

I do eat back my exercise calories every day...My reasoning...Burn out the bad, replace it with the good. I've had great results with this so there must be something to it!!

cynthiaj777

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

haha awesome link!

RaeN81

Usually I eat some or all of them. I try to go by the premise: if I am hungry--eat them. I use an HRM to track them and sometimes I am just not hungry enough when I have a huge burn day. I try not to let my net calorie intake drop below 1200 calories and this is really not a problem for me as I typically net 1700 calories or more. There is alot of debate about this whole concept. Personally, when I was losing (I have been maintaining for a couple of years now), I always tried to consider what I was willing to do over the long haul and eating them back may slow your weight loss (it might not, just for argument's sake) but you learn valuable habits as a result that can help you when you are maintaining your weight for years to come.

cynthiaj777

I think what I am confused about is people saying that they don't lose weight if they eat them back?? If they did then that would just mean that they are back at whatever calorie deficit MFP set for them in order to lose weight....so they should still lose?

I am not going to eat mine back but I am still really confused by the above...

EDIT: HAHA and in the time it took to get my head around what I was trying to type loads more people have replied clearing up the confusion

Because their body is in starvation mode, and every little bit of calorie they eat their body is holding onto. They will have to do a metabolism reset in order to sustain their eating habits in the future. It is not sustainable to eat 1200 calories for the rest of your life in order to maintain your weight. Therefore, you have to eat what your BMR+exercise-whatever deficit you'd like...normally around 500 calories. Then once you want to maintain, slowly take that deficit away. You will have conditioned your metabolism to that calorie intake.

This is also why it is critical to eat 5-6 times a day. Not 2 or even 3. The more often you put in, the more you burn off naturally. It is called a healthy metabolism. Or actually fueling your body the way it needs to be fueled.

I did horrible metabolism damage by eating 700-800 calories NET when I started this website a few years ago. It got to the point that I was maintaining my weight at that calorie intake, which is not sustainable for the rest of my life. So, I did a metabolism reset. I slowly started upping my net to around 1400 calories a day, which meant eating my exercise calories.

My days normally go like this. 1340 baseline (I set this myself based on what my HRM said I burn on average...and I suggest buying one). MFO AND MACHINES WAY over estimate calorie burn during exercising. A HRM will tell you exactly/precisely what you burned. No more guessing. I eat 1340-1400 on day I don't exercise, but I normally get in around 800-1000+ exercising a day. Therefore, I am eating 1340+800-1000 calories a day. I eat roughly 2140-2340 calories a day. And since I reset my metabolism to run on this amount.....guess what? I haven't gained. Most do gain a little in the beginning doing a metabolism reset, but some don't. Now remember, that 1340 already has a little deficit built into it from the beginning, so even when I'm eating 2340 calories a day, I'm still at a deficit!

You are doing a HUGE disservice to your body by not eating exercise calories. You will do more harm than good in the long run. Search metabolism reset and read some of the testimony. Remember, people gain normally during the 6 weeks of increasing (or however long they set the increase to), but once the body resets the metabolism, the weight falls back off and healthy weight loss begins, which can be SUSTAINED forever!

cynthiaj777

I eat back every single exercise calorie for 3 reasons

1. I am trying to lose FAT, not just weight. If my calories are too low ... I lose muscle too.
2. I use a heart rate monitor, so I know my calorie burns are not grossly exaggerated.
3. That is how MFP is designed. The calorie deficit is built in before exercise. Not eating them back is INCREASING the deficit (see reason #1).

Hi where do you get a heart rate monitor from??

http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/polar-ft4f-purple.html
This is the one I have.

OhKelsey1

I eat back every single exercise calorie for 3 reasons

1. I am trying to lose FAT, not just weight. If my calories are too low ... I lose muscle too.
2. I use a heart rate monitor, so I know my calorie burns are not grossly exaggerated.
3. That is how MFP is designed. The calorie deficit is built in before exercise. Not eating them back is INCREASING the deficit (see reason #1).

This.

1holegrouper

If I am hungry, I eat them. If I'm not, I don't. Typically I'm always at or near my calorie goal for the day, I exercise almost daily. I'm not going to starve myself so I eat when I'm hungry.

I think this is a very healthy way to look at it. When we are not treating our bodies well it gives us bad signals (ex; eat this donut!) but when we are treating it well then we really need to listen to our body and start trusting it again. There are times we just need to eat more. To consistently burn fat while preserving or even building muscle is a daily fine balance. 'Less calories is better' is not always the healthiest and best approach.

perpetuarose

I ate them at first but noticed I wasn't losing, so now I try to only eat a 1/4 of them if I feel physically like I need it. Now I'm losing more quickly, about 1.5-2lbs a week, as opposed to stalling out for 2-3 weeks, then losing a pound.