Eat back all of your exercise calories or you WILL DIE.

Sarauk2sf

I've never counted exercise calories nor ate them back. You won't really know for sure exactly what your exercise expenditure is anyway. And I find it much simpler to set a lower absolute deficit.

Note that this is different than saying that I don't eat before/during/after my workouts, which is not the case (unless I am glycogen depleting).

This is a good point. I think the main issue with not eating calories back is when someone has a large base deficit and then burns a load of calories through exercise - this potentially creates an excessive deficit. If the base deficit is smaller, this is less of an issue, especially when you are not looking at significant burns during exercise.


Edited to fix typos

I agree with gluco, have never eaten back exercise cals. IMO deficit should be determine by body comp. When I was 25% bf, a 1000 cal deficit was no problem. At 8%, totally different story (~300 cal). If I were 40%, I would probably VLCD it up. Current body comp is a huge factor in what kind of deficit you can carry.

I agree - I use the term I 'excessive deficit' to mean excessive to that individual, based on their then current BF%. The higher the BF%, the greater the deficit can be before it becomes too excessive.

chrystee

I watched Etreme weightloss last evening and the lady ate 1500 calories a day for her 355 lbs body and also exercised at a 3500 deficit......wow..... she survived....goes to show you dont have to eat your calories back....I think each person is different and should do what works for them.... main thing is to lose, feel healthy and be energised.....

I really think we have to factor in metabolism.. I feel that my metabolism is very low due to being very overweight for more than half my life.. So right now, I have to work a little harder, and really watch my calories. I notice that I'm starting to fuel up more.. I'm sweating more while working out, I'm starting to "feel" when I'm hungry, etc.

kiwipez

The "FOOD" tab, "Exercise" tab, "TOOLS" tab, and the "Community" tab are tools. A plan for dieting is something that you follow strict guidelines and has meals, and different foods to choose from. This site, Weight Watchers and the such where you control it are tools and guidelines, and are made for lifestyle changes. People can use "PLANS" though to go along with their "TOOLS" and "GUIDELINES" until they are comfortable to do it without a plan. after the "plan" is up, hopefully they can just use the tools and guidelines. Plans are meant for short term, but tools and guidelines are meant for a lifetime. That's the difference. Just like people calling this site a "DIET". it's not a "DIET", it's something you use (Tools and guidelines) to make a lifetime change in your life. Some people though, need to wean themselves into a lifestyle change, by starting with a plan. or some people just like to use a plan b/c of the recipes or it gives them something strict to use instead of using just tools and guidelines so they don't have to worry about falling off track...

Hmm....if this site isn't a plan then I don't have one. I could not follow any plan that tells me exact meals to eat and not to eat. The whole calories vs workout thing this site has going on will be my salvation if I stick to the intake recommended and try to limit my naughty foods. I can'd do low carb, I get dizzy. I can't do high protein I get headaches. So, I eat without worrying too much about that type of stuff, mostly I limit salt and sugar intake.

So you're doing your own plan and using mfp to track it.

michaela531

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/ -- listen to the most recent podcast called "Eating Your Exercise Calories" It will answer all questions.

Simply put -- no -- don't eat them back.

Sarauk2sf

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/ -- listen to the most recent podcast called "Eating Your Exercise Calories" It will answer all questions.

Simply put -- no -- don't eat them back.

fat2fitradios calculations include exercise calories already in the target goal their model spits out - so you are comparing apples to oranges when comparing the recommended target from there with MFP.

Sarauk2sf

I watched Etreme weightloss last evening and the lady ate 1500 calories a day for her 355 lbs body and also exercised at a 3500 deficit......wow..... she survived....goes to show you dont have to eat your calories back....I think each person is different and should do what works for them.... main thing is to lose, feel healthy and be energised.....

I really think we have to factor in metabolism.. I feel that my metabolism is very low due to being very overweight for more than half my life.. So right now, I have to work a little harder, and really watch my calories. I notice that I'm starting to fuel up more.. I'm sweating more while working out, I'm starting to "feel" when I'm hungry, etc.

Actually, the heavier you are the higher your BMR and TDEE (all other things being equal). Which is one reason why people need to re-assess their targets as they lose weight - their BMR and therefore TDEE decreases so you have to reduce calories to keep the same deficit.

mmapags

I watched Etreme weightloss last evening and the lady ate 1500 calories a day for her 355 lbs body and also exercised at a 3500 deficit......wow..... she survived....goes to show you dont have to eat your calories back....I think each person is different and should do what works for them.... main thing is to lose, feel healthy and be energised.....

I really think we have to factor in metabolism.. I feel that my metabolism is very low due to being very overweight for more than half my life.. So right now, I have to work a little harder, and really watch my calories. I notice that I'm starting to fuel up more.. I'm sweating more while working out, I'm starting to "feel" when I'm hungry, etc.

Actually, the heavier you are the higher your BMR and TDEE (all other things being equal). Which is one reason why people need to re-assess their targets as they lose weight - their BMR and therefore TDEE decreases so you have to reduce calories to keep the same deficit.

Absolutely what Sarauk2sf said here. Being overweight would cause a higher metabolism (in the abscence of thryroid issues). When you lose weight and get more fit, you metabolism lowers due to greater metabolic efficiency and demand.

m1311

We have three in our family on this diet (well, four, but the last one just started this week). I am trying to lose a stubborn last few pounds. My husband has more to lose, and one daughter thinks she has more to lose as well (all of my children look perfect to me).. For me, eating back calories was a huge teaching tool because I used to try to just limit calories, meanwhile exercising like crazy. Before sites like this, it was hard enough to report calories and get a reasonable idea of how much they were worth to begin with. MFP makes it easy. But on top of that, I never counted my exercise. I would lose a few pounds and then get headaches and want to sleep all the time, and then POOF there went the focus and I'd be right back where I started.

This time, I am able to stick to the plan. Sometimes I don't really feel like eating after exercise in the evenings, but I try to put in some healthy calories that don't require much digestion: yogurt, soy milk, or something like that. And–wonder of wonders–I am losing without a struggle.

My husband has been very successful so far. Like me, he eats back as many calories as he can. Both of us try to overestimate on the number of calories in uncertain food items (home recipes) and underestimate on calories burned because they seem a little high here sometimes. But still, eating back calories keeps us from "panic mode." I can't comment on starvation mode, but personally used to gain weight every time I started to think about dieting.

Our daughter tried to set her weight loss too high (as far as we were concerned): two pounds a week. She actually started gaining, even though she was eating her calories back. I'm not sure whether she was reporting accurately, but I think that she wasn't eating enough. We'll see what happens now that she's lowered her weekly goal. She was pretty depressed about it. Since I don't believe she needs to lose weight, it's easy to soothe her and tell her it will all work out.

What am I trying to say here? It's that I think people could consider relaxing, eating as many of their exercise calories as feels reasonable, and not focusing on whether they're losing weight fast or not. The slower you lose it, supposedly the easier it is on your body, and the less chance there is of gaining it all back. The site seems to work as planned!

Xhellokitty5588x

I eat them back because 1200 calories is not enough for me if I run 5 miles or spend an hour lifting. I think another big issue is that people may rely on the exercise calorie burn generated through MFP. I use a heartrate monitor which I think is a little more accurate so I eat my calories back usually around 1600 a day including exercise calories eaten.

seabuckaroo

right on....Well put^