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

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  • scott1646
    scott1646 Posts: 110 Member
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    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
    chocolateandvodka Posts: 1,856 Member
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    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
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
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    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
    RuthSweetTooth Posts: 461 Member
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    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
    ltkasmala Posts: 109 Member
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    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
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    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
    TheBraveryLover Posts: 1,217 Member
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    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
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    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
    smartmom0818 Posts: 83
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    [/quote]
    If your goal is fitness, you should put the scale away and focus on a healthy lifestyle.
    [/quote]

    This.
  • Kara52217
    Kara52217 Posts: 353 Member
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    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
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< "eats" back exercise calories. Looks sexy as phuck.
  • Dsnyfrk921
    Dsnyfrk921 Posts: 64 Member
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    I, personally, don't eat my work out calories back. I stick to a 1200-1250 calories intake per day.
  • smartmom0818
    smartmom0818 Posts: 83
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    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
    backonbandwagon Posts: 36
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    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
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    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
    jasonpclement Posts: 146 Member
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    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
    vanillabear12 Posts: 5 Member
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    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
    thelovelyLIZ Posts: 1,227 Member
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    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
    thelovelyLIZ Posts: 1,227 Member
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    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
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    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.

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