Do you eat back your burned calories?

Moxylein

Hi everbody,

I'm 25 and have been diagnosed Hashimoto. I started becoming active on MFP a few weeks ago and somehow some of the comments of my friends here confuse me.
I started eating low carb a month ago, after my basal metabolism was checked by my physicia,n and under control of my doc. He told me not to eat over 100 g of carbs a day, no matter how much I excercise to be able to lose any weight. Before that I tried "ordinary" low cal with about 1600 a day and I never ate back my burned calories from excercise. I usually work out a lot and I start to lose some weight finally after switching to low carb.
But now my friends here all tell me that I'm starving myself and should eat back all the calories to keep up my metabolism. Is that true? But if I stop excercising I will start to gain about 200g-500g a week again. How do you guys do it? Do you eat back your calories?

It would be really nice to have some MFP friends, who are also hypothyroidal and can understand my problems, so if you'd like to, I'd be glad for some new supportive friends as well.

Isabelle

hsrunningmom

I typically eat back my exercise calories because if I don't I feel really bad/run down. If I don't exercise, the weight just piles on. Trying to figure out my next step because my weightloss has stalled and I am actually thinking about cycling my calories. I think not eating back all your exercise calories is fine as long as you don't have a huge calorie deficit.

bathsheba_c

I'm not sure I understand the question. You can increase your calories consumed without going over 100 g of carbs a day. Definitely if you are exercising a lot you should eat back at least some of your exercise calories. And if you are planning on stopping exercising, then you need to find an exercise that you don't want to stop doing. Physical activity is good for helping to manage hypothyroidism, aside from being generally healthy. Of course, if you stop exercising, then you just stop eating back your exercise calories, and your net calorie consumption will be the same.

Moxylein

I'm having fun while excercising, but everybody tells me I'm doing too much. The staff at the gym, my diet assistant, they all say I can't lose weight, because I excercise too much. But I just LOVE the sports I'm doing. Additionally I read about reversed T3 and that too much excercise isn't good for you if you have thyroid issues.
It all just keeps me puzzled...

And about eating back: on the days I work out hard, I burn maybe up to 1000 cal with sports. But with that low carb nutrition I have the feeling I'm eating just soooooo much and that I'm full all day, so I manage to eat about 1200-1400 cal a day. But not because I'm keeping myself hungry all day!

piesbd

I never used to eat back my calories..... however, I stopped losing weight a long time ago. It was not until just recently that I learned about the net calories, and that I was more than likely not eating enough. I am trying to eat back most of what I burn, and will see how that goes.

debbylee22

I don't, but I'm also stalled.
I'm wondering... if we really should trust the "calories for exercise" here. I know they are very generous on the elliptical that I use, and I have my doubts as to whether I am burning that many calories. I also have an extremely low heart beat right now, so I suspect the thyroid's going wonky is a bigger factor in the whole formulation then anything I eat, or how much I exercise. I do think we need to listen to our bodies, and when we have those aches in the muscles for no reason, not push too hard. As I was reading yesterday, our body may be "fighting" the exercise... :ohwell:

Moxylein

I'm wondering... if we really should trust the "calories for exercise" here. I know they are very generous on the elliptical that I use, and I have my doubts as to whether I am burning that many calories.

This. I sometimes can't believe the numbers that are displayed on my HRM or calculated by MFP.
And the most obvious thing for me is, that when I keep my net to the advised 1600 I will actually gain, not lose.

It's all so confusing...

Brynne1234

I generally don't eat back all of my excercise calories. I try to at least net 1200 calories for the day (usually eat 1500-1600 on non excercise days). I do use a HRM but I never totally trust the amount of calories burned so I make sure I never eat back the total amount it says I burn. I was steadily losing weight but am now stalled. I'd be interested in what other people with hypo are doing too. I too have a hard time eating over a certain amount of calories just because I'm not hungry most of the time. Anyone can feel free to add me as a friend.

katapple

I lost the weight eating exercise calories (usually half, I would eat them all if I was REALLY hungry!), My net would usually be between 1200 and 1400. I also did it by eating carbs. I needed fuel for all the cardio I was doing so I say I would have about 200g daily. But most of those carbs were from fruits/veggies/whole grains.

Are you weight training with all the cardio? You'll see a big difference if you start doing that.

divacat80

I agree, weight training is key. Also, you might need to only eat low GI carbs. I'm on your same boat, I learned to LOVE sports and I get the same 'you're exercising too much'. So maybe you DO need to eat more calories. It might not show on your scale progress but your body will be more happy since it will be more nourished and it will give you more strength to keep up with the physical demands