Ate exercise cal's back....and gained....am NOT sold!

true2texas

Eating the cals you burned cancels out your exercise which leaves you at zero weight loss. If you want to maintain the weight you are at now that wouldn't be a problem. To lose weight you have to burn MORE calories than you consume. So, I wouldn't eat many of my exercise calories unless you are seriously working out and burning 500+ cals in exercise alone--like long-distance runners. I run like 6miles on some days and burn like 700+ cals, therefore on those days I eat more of my cals to restore energy.

GeekMom17

I don't eat mine back unless I dip below a net of 1000. My goal is 1500 a day and if I eat that and exercise I will eat a little over but, I never eat them all back. To me that would defeat the purpose at least I think so.

mcarter99

I think there are pitfalls you need to watch out for if you 'eat back'.

* People say the MFP database overestimates exercise calories. (I have no idea.)

* Claims made by the people making the exercise class or DVD are often exaggerated ("Zumba burns 1000 calories", eg)

* A Polar HRM was found in a study to overestimate calorie burn for women by over 30% on average

* A HRM nearly always includes your BMR calories, so you're eating back part of your expected deficit unless you make adjustments

* Even if you told MFP you're sedentary, you still are expected to burn 20% of your BMR through daily activity. So don't try to log every movement you make. Even sedentary people fold laundry and sweep floors and walk the grocery store aisles.

And not really a pitfall but a sidenote-- If MFP only 'allows' you .5 lb loss/week because you can't go below 1200, 'eating back' is agreeing to that loss rate. Most plans/authorities/doctors would be fine with you adding activity to be able to burn 1-2 lbs/week, in my opinion.

veganbaum

Eating the cals you burned cancels out your exercise which leaves you at zero weight loss. If you want to maintain the weight you are at now that wouldn't be a problem. To lose weight you have to burn MORE calories than you consume. So, I wouldn't eat many of my exercise calories unless you are seriously working out and burning 500+ cals in exercise alone--like long-distance runners. I run like 6miles on some days and burn like 700+ cals, therefore on those days I eat more of my cals to restore energy.

This is false if you are using MFP's set-up without customizing. MFP ALREADY gives you a deficit to lose weight WITHOUT exercise. If a person's goal is to lose 2lb/wk they ALREADY have a 7,000 calorie weekly deficit. They go out and exercise 5x/wk - conservatively maybe a 1500 extra deficit - if they eat that 1500, they STILL have a 7,000 calorie deficit. Making a bigger deficit is not the healthiest thing to do, especially if you are not significantly overweight.

apriltrainer

I think there are pitfalls you need to watch out for if you 'eat back'.

* People say the MFP database overestimates exercise calories. (I have no idea.)

* Claims made by the people making the exercise class or DVD are often exaggerated ("Zumba burns 1000 calories", eg)

* A Polar HRM was found in a study to overestimate calorie burn for women by over 30% on average

* A HRM nearly always includes your BMR calories, so you're eating back part of your expected deficit unless you make adjustments

* Even if you told MFP you're sedentary, you still are expected to burn 20% of your BMR through daily activity. So don't try to log every movement you make. Even sedentary people fold laundry and sweep floors and walk the grocery store aisles.

And not really a pitfall but a sidenote-- If MFP only 'allows' you .5 lb loss/week because you can't go below 1200, 'eating back' is agreeing to that loss rate. Most plans/authorities/doctors would be fine with you adding activity to be able to burn 1-2 lbs/week, in my opinion.

Good thing stopped relying on my polar. If the machine tells me 300...and my hrm tells me 100...can you imagine how little I am actually burning?

So I don't log any activity..

nataliexxxx

I don't eat mine back I lose faster

SuziQueue

My dietitian has advised me that I should not "eat my exercise calories". She says I should net no less than 1000 calories a day, and that I should shoot for 1200. She has warned me that as I get smaller my allowed calories are going to drop, which makes good sense. I'm 5'6" and weigh 216 right now. Hope this helps!

tvanhooser

Every "expert" tells you something different based on their own perspective and presuppositions. You just have to find what works for you and stick to it. As for me, MFP set me at a bare minimum base of 1200 and I am fairly sedentary as a writer and lifelong exercise hater. I'm only 5'1.5", had lost about 23 pounds through diet control alone before my friend introduced me to MFP. Due to medical issues with my knees and ankles, I finally got motivated to discipline myself start exercising in spite of myself and have been doing that pretty much 7 days a week for 2 1/2 months now. I'm about 21 pounds further along now (was hoping for about 10 more but have to adjust my expectations accordingly) and being an avid researcher (writers have to be) I've read alot of "professional advice" -- at least one that I've read said the whole eat your exercise calories back idea is a myth. The truth is probably somewhere in between the extremes of all or none. All I know is that even though MFP allows me 1600 to 1800 per day most days after exercise, if I eat more than 1400 or so, I start gaining so I shoot for somewhere between 1200 and 1400 most days and don't feel hungry, tired or sick so I'm sticking with that plan. I just have to watch the line for actual calories consumed, not the one that says I have X number of calories (carbs/fats/protein, etc.) consumed. I also found a Mayo Clinic page the other day that said the recommended maximum sodium intake I am allowed on MFP is right, because I have high blood pressure, should be about 1000mg less so embarking on an experiment to see how that might play out and affect my weight loss cause I've read alot about salt and water theories of weight loss too. I believe that somewhere in the fine print there is a disclaimer about the recommendations being generalizations and everyone's body will respond differently. So find the level that works for your weight loss while still being healthy and go with it. No one can tell you what is going to work for your body but you. You just have to tune out all the fitness nazis who insist that their way is the only way and you are on the path of doom and destruction if you do anything else. Develop selective hearing and discernment about what's good science and health and doable for you and what's hokum and hearsay and bully talk. I have no patience for the latter so just choose voluntary deafness or walk away when I hear it. Good luck and many blessings on your efforts as you go forward!

jellybeanhed313

I would agree that exercise calories are waaaaay over estimated here. When I use my fit bit to measure a workout vs using mfp's estimate, I get about half the calories burned. So I would just eat back half. Plus it depends on the activity level you set. Mfp gives you calories back already for that activity.

gjulie

I eat most of my exercise calories. My settings are for light activity and a goal of 1 pound per week for weight loss. That allows me 1400 calories per day, which just wasn't enough for me. I found myself feeling hungry all day long. So now I work out more. Sixty minutes every day. My weight loss has slowed down a bit but I don't feel like I'm constantly starving anymore. For me, it's worth it.

scott1646

I would say go for it on only eating 1/2 of the calories back. That's pretty much what I do. During your first month of losing weight, your going to lose water weight and your weight it go up and down a bit. I had 9 days of not losing any weight in my first month, but now it seems to be fine.

Just keep focus, do what your doing and don't give up.

chocolateandvodka

i can't eat them back without gaining weight. hell, i can't eat 1200 calories and lose weight, even with exercise. and with my h/w, you'd think i'd be able to

3foldchord

Every body is different. Do what works for you, sometimes it's a bit of trial and error to find what works... And sometimes what works changes over time.

RuthSweetTooth

I agree with Peachy, I am set to sedentary with 1 minute of exercise (because it won't let me enter 0 minutes of exercise). That way, when I enter my exercise calories, I can actually eat some of them back if I want to. This helps keep me from overeating on the 1-2 days a week I don't exercise, as I try to exercise at least five days a week, 30 minutes.

If you open your diary we can also give you more feedback. Send me a friend request if you want me to look further.

(Hi Peaches!)

Ruth

The bottom line is this:

If you have calculated your calorie needs based on a sedentary level of activity and then you log your exercises, you can eat back those calories.

If you have calculated your calorie needs factoring in a higher level of activity, don't log those exercises, and don't eat back the calories. Your allotted intake will automatically be higher.

ltkasmala

I try to stick as close to the 1200 calorie limit this site set up for me. I "earn" calories back almost everyday for some amount of exercise... If I go over a couple times a week but still am under the 1200 net I still seem to loose a couple pounds at least. I don't want to make a habit of it, however. I have lost about 15 pounds in the almost 2 months I have used this site and that is the most I have lost in this amount of time in past 10 years! I understand the logic behind using all the calories up but in my mind I cannot justify making progress if I constantly use up exercise calories regularly.

I am anxious to see how your next two weeks of progress goes. Please be sure to update. I'll be starting back at work/school end of August and may need some modifications to my routine! Best of luck!

suziecue66

I am reading the Reverse Taper Diet...and just started implementing it for a contest I will be doing(contest is Oct.) COmplete opposite of what I used to do. The heavier you are...the less you eat because your fat is what you want the body to go for...

But as you gradually lose weight and you have less fat...the more you actually eat because you don't have enough fat as a buffer. It's supposed to take you to maintenance level.

Totally opposite of what I used to do for contests.I used to start high and then go low the closer I got to a contest and be all crabby and rebound at the end.

So those people who have ALOT of weight to lose really shouldn't worry. Fat is there to use for fuel. It won't be if one is constantly eating.

Plus as society innundated with food messages all the time..it's hard to seperate true hunger from just a craving. people need to get used to not feeling 100% full. There is NOTHING wrong with that. Nothing.

Reverse taper diet sounds interesting.
http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/tortoise-and-hare-two-approaches-to-losing-body-fat/

TheBraveryLover

Technically, you didn't gain, you maintained after 2 weeks. Also, 2 weeks isn't enough time to write something off. Keep it up for another 2 weeks and see your results.

susannamarie

Eating the cals you burned cancels out your exercise which leaves you at zero weight loss. If you want to maintain the weight you are at now that wouldn't be a problem. To lose weight you have to burn MORE calories than you consume. So, I wouldn't eat many of my exercise calories unless you are seriously working out and burning 500+ cals in exercise alone--like long-distance runners. I run like 6miles on some days and burn like 700+ cals, therefore on those days I eat more of my cals to restore energy.

It is not true that it will leave you at 0 weight loss unless you already have your calories set to maintain.

smartmom0818

[/quote]
If your goal is fitness, you should put the scale away and focus on a healthy lifestyle.
[/quote]

This.

Kara52217

Yep I am to eat back 1/2 of mine if I don't eat at least 1/2 back I gain.
Everyone is different you nee to play around a bit to see what your body will tolerate.

Capt_Apollo

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< "eats" back exercise calories. Looks sexy as phuck.

Dsnyfrk921

I, personally, don't eat my work out calories back. I stick to a 1200-1250 calories intake per day.

smartmom0818

Well, first thing, get a heart rate monitor if you don't already have one. I see people on my friend's list logging exercise and it will say so and so burned 546 calories doing 34 minutes of light cleaning, for example. Now, this could be true, but I don't know. Would any of us be fat if we were burning calories like that every single day? I think MFP is very generous with calories burned and if you are eating them back, you could be over-eating. I stopped logging my exercise on here and rely on just how hard I work out, breaking a sweat, and when it comes in the mail I will rely on my heart rate monitor so I can know what I am really doing and how I may need to adjust it. Good luck!

backonbandwagon

I think this is messing me up too, and I don't need any other excuses for my body to not lose!! :noway: I thought about not recording my exercise for a week to see what happens.

susannamarie

I think people who eat exercise calories back just want an excuse to eat more and more ****. If you're going to diet, diet. Don't sit there making up excuses to eat all the crap that made you overweight to start with.

Or maybe they're eating exercise calories and losing just fine at exactly the rate MFP predicts and feeling great and don't see why they should change to please strangerz on the internetz.

jasonpclement

One thing I like to do...I will eat my calories back earned from cardio. However, my cardio is always underestimated. Thats just a small tip. A much better tip is to weight train, and never log it as exercise. Keeping this method insures you stay at a caloric deficit.

vanillabear12

I would try eating like 1/3 of what you exercised. I try not to eat any of those calories back; just because it says you CAN eat those calories, doesn't mean you should. If you eat back those calories, you're not losing any, so it'll be hard to lose the 3500 that equals a pound.

thelovelyLIZ

I think people who eat exercise calories back just want an excuse to eat more and more ****. If you're going to diet, diet. Don't sit there making up excuses to eat all the crap that made you overweight to start with.

Or maybe we did a long workout and our net calories will be super low if we don't eat them back. If I got for a six mile run (which I do regularly) I will only net between 800-1000 calories, depending on the day. If I run longer (which I also do regularly) it'll be even less. If you're eating right at 1200 (which most people are, and is too low for them in the first place) you HAVE to eat back some of that or you'll be netting a really low number, especially if you're intensely working out.

Besides, who says you have to eat back those calories with crap? Most people understand the important of a healthy post workout snack and eat one.

thelovelyLIZ

When I was calorie counting, I only ate back the calories I felt like I needed to. If I wasn't hungry then I wouldn't but if I was I'd have a little extra. I lost just fine. Two weeks is really too short of a window to judge if it's working for you or not anyway.

meerkat70

Most people overestimate their exercise burn, that's why. When I used to do cardio-I would wear a polar ft 60 and if I told mFP how much I ran it would give me 100 cals I earned! But my polar heart rate monitor specifically set to me???

40.

I rarely use machines in the gym but those ARE VERY wrong as well. On the bike? It told me I burned 300 cals in the hour! My hrm??

120.

Think about that.

I'm not sure this is an insight to many. I reckon the 'mfp overestimates' thread must happen 20 or 30 times a day.

Think about that.