Clarity on the Eating back exercise calories controversy

nataliesouth

Hi, I'm under a doctors care and this is what I've learned thus far. You have to eat a min. of 1200 calories or your body will go into
starvation mode and the next time you eat, it may store the fat instead of burning it. But at the same time I can't eat more than 1500 calories. For instance if I eat the 1500 calories then I probably will only lose 1/2 - 1 lb a week. The less you eat is better but
you do have to eat in order to lose. I know that sounds strange.

Okay about working out and burning off calories. I do track mine because you won't believe how fast the calories do add up so with this it has taught me to eat healthier. Now if you exercise first thing in the morning then you will burn off calories and fat from
the day before. If you eat first and then workout then you burn calories and carbs that you have just eaten so you do have to make
them up to reach 1200. I eat 6 small meals everyday and just about every 3 hours I put something in my mouth. Even doing this
is hard to get 1200 calories in cause I feel like I'm eating all the time but I can tell you that I've lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks and I know I've lost inches cause my shirts are fitting looser on me. I'll measure in about 2 more weeks, I'm trying to measure only once a month.

I hope I touched some of your question. It is still a learning process for me but getting easier. I know you don't track anything on mfp but give it a try, you'll see how calories add up and whether you need to eat more or less. Don't forget to cound any sweetened drink as well. I cut out sodas about a year or so ago but it was hard to cut out sweet tea. I'm like, don't take that from me. Well, now I'm happy to say I drink mostly water and I do drink sweet tea maybe once a day and sometimes less than that. Other times I drink half and half. I just don't won't to drink my calories. I would rather eat more.

Dahamac

I burn about 1,800 calories a day by bicycling into work. Yes, I treat the commute as more of a training ride.

If I did not eat back the majority of my calories by carefully balancing my good carbs, lean protein, and healthy fats then I'd crash and burn. By that I mean that I would likely go into hypoglycemic shock (bonk) either at work or while riding back home.

One word of warning, MFP does overestimate calories burned due to the general nature. I hit a plateau using MFP's calories and eating them all back. This was due in part to overestimation of calories burned and my body becoming more efficient at burning the calories, a reducing in BMR due to reduced weight, and simply the fact that one's body resists losing its stored energy.
So as part of the ongoing stragety to break the plateau, I invested in a Heart Rate Monitor and now that I am getting a more accurate estimate of calories burned the plateau is breaking.

I am now beginning to get close to my initial goal weight and will soon start focusing more on body composition (body fat %) rather than just weight. I desire to lose body fat and not lean muscle.

Julzanne72

My thoughts are this: I'm not going to eat when I am not hungry. I think the signals from my body are a lot more accurate than what people on MFP message boards tell me.

Also, I feel that MFP way overestimates calories burned through exercise. I usually eat back maybe 100-200 of my exercise calories, but that's it.

MFP does overestimate, that's why you should invest in and use a HRM when working out, so you can get an accurate calorie burn.

postrockandcats

I think the confusion is because some people lack math skills. I was a little confused about it because I've never heard the phrase "eating back your exercise" before. But once I learned my BMR and TDEE and did the math, it made perfect sense.

I don't know about math skills, but once I figured out TDEE, I understood what was going on and I've been eating back appropriately. I also use a FitBit.

lavieboheme1229

I think this topic should not even be allowed any more. If people don't get it by now they never will. New members can see it in old topics.

amen.

lavieboheme1229

Hi, I'm under a doctors care and this is what I've learned thus far. You have to eat a min. of 1200 calories or your body will go into
starvation mode and the next time you eat, it may store the fat instead of burning it. But at the same time I can't eat more than 1500 calories. For instance if I eat the 1500 calories then I probably will only lose 1/2 - 1 lb a week. The less you eat is better but
you do have to eat in order to lose. I know that sounds strange.

oye. I think you need a new doctor. Or at least a second opinion.

liss125

I have no understanding on all the calorie intake deficit malarkey but i know i have consistently lost 2lb a week my exercising and not eating back. I may somedays go slightly over my normal allowance by 50-100 calories but my exercise generally adds 700 or more per day.

I looked at your diary and it says your daily goal after exercise is 3000 calories! I'm saying this in all politeness, but again it boils down to math.

Yeah. I suspect you are overestimating how many calories you are burning through exercise. If you are using MFP data for exercise, it tends to be too generous.

liss125

Oye! This drives me nuts.

You exercise? EAT IT BACK! Simple. The end.

The confusion comes in when someone logs dusting for 20 minutes as "Cleaning, light moderate effort" for 30 minutes, and it says they burn 200 calories. They eat the 200 calories and then say "But, I thought I was supposed to eat my calories back!" Yeah, if you had actually burned 200 calories, you would be golden. But you probably burned 60-100. If you had been running up and down the stairs, and vacuuming, and moving things, and making beds, and logged it for the right amount of time, you would be spot on.

MFP CAN overestimate your calories burned, which is why people use Heart Rate Monitors (commonly referred to as HRM). I personally don't have one. I eat my exercise calories. I'm honest with the intensity of the intensity of my workouts. I lose weight like it's going out of style.

FUEL YOUR BODY PEOPLE!

Well said

runzalot81

Information overload!!! Help me out, Friends! I started at 140 lbs and want to lose about 10- but retain and refine muscle. I'm already very active. MFP put me at 1200 calories a day and I really think it's too low. I was down to 137 in less than a week. I weigh in again tomorrow and I think I will be down at least another pound. Sounds great but I really want to fuel my muscles. I'm also training for a half marathon. I also need to fit into my teacher clothes lol I'm really thinking about increasing my net calorie (I'm already overeating 1200 many days anyway) goals. What do you think? 1400 or 1600?

Please, friend me and help me figure it out

astraldream

I have no understanding on all the calorie intake deficit malarkey but i know i have consistently lost 2lb a week my exercising and not eating back. I may somedays go slightly over my normal allowance by 50-100 calories but my exercise generally adds 700 or more per day.

I looked at your diary and it says your daily goal after exercise is 3000 calories! I'm saying this in all politeness, but again it boils down to math.

But that explains nothing. If i am eating my normal amount not eating back all my calories yet still losing 2lb a week how is that bad? Plus if i was to eat all that i would be ill. No i am not good at working it out but lets be truthful, is my way workinhg? yes. nuff said

megalin9

Oye! This drives me nuts.

You exercise? EAT IT BACK! Simple. The end.

The confusion comes in when someone logs dusting for 20 minutes as "Cleaning, light moderate effort" for 30 minutes, and it says they burn 200 calories. They eat the 200 calories and then say "But, I thought I was supposed to eat my calories back!" Yeah, if you had actually burned 200 calories, you would be golden. But you probably burned 60-100. If you had been running up and down the stairs, and vacuuming, and moving things, and making beds, and logged it for the right amount of time, you would be spot on.

MFP CAN overestimate your calories burned, which is why people use Heart Rate Monitors (commonly referred to as HRM). I personally don't have one. I eat my exercise calories. I'm honest with the intensity of the intensity of my workouts. I lose weight like it's going out of style.

FUEL YOUR BODY PEOPLE!

AMEN

meggonkgonk

Yes. People have a hard time getting past the concept that they work out to "burn off calories." They feel like eating the calories back is a waste of the time they exercised. Which I can understand as frustrating, but I think it's not made clear enough that the weight would come off regardless of the exercise. I personally loved that about MFP because if I didn't want to exercise in a day, I didn't feel like I had to- the pressure was lessened somewhat.

It's not helped by the fact that people with 30+ lbs to lose can run a relatively bigger deficit without stalling so we get a lot of people who are "consistently losing X lbs" not eating their cals back. It's really different when you have 125lb girl struggling to lose that "last 5lbs" and trying to force it off through extreme deficit; or when you have someone who's eventually stalled at 160 or so because they've been doing that extreme deficit all along.

Anna800

Yes once I bought a heart rate monitor I found that all my exercise estimated burns were too high. Even when I ran on the treadmill and took a 1 minute walking break, I learned that if I don't touch the heart rate monitor on the machine, it doesn't accurately calculate a lower burn. I have a food scale and weigh everything I eat, even entering recipes I do from scratch. I honestly have the math down to a science, what I haven't mastered is limiting alcohol, but that's another story. lol

There was a study once where all someone ate was twinkies everyday and yes he lost weight because he was under a certain calorie point. So you can lose weight if you starve yourself, but what that does to your body is something you don't want. Yes someone can successfully lose weight by not eating back their exercise calories, but they are missing the bigger picture. I read an interesting thread here the other day where a girl said how weak she used to feel when she ate little and bruised easily. She posted a before and after pic, she was skinny in both, but weighed more in the after pic when she started eating 1200 calories and her body had a better shape and she felt better.

nowakkk

Do like your FitBit? Would you recommend it for tracking daily activity?

KharismaticKayteh

This already seems like a popular topic, but *bump*.

I'm loving all the commentary and really learning a lot, plus it's really cool to hear from people from both sides who are losing weight in their own way. If I begin tracking my exercise, I may try eating back calories, but for now, I'm just going to guess how much to eat back (I don't think my workouts are very hardcore since I just use the Wii Fit and occasionally jump rope or walk, haha).

CoderGal

The 2 people who are ripped advocate eating back exercise calories. Just sayin' guys. They seem to know what they're talking about.

I'm not ripped by any stretch, but I'm 118 lbs and have around 17% body fat, I eat 'em back.

Exactly what I would have said +2 pounds haha (and I'm 5'7).

WendyTerry420

I think if people are logging 850 calories for an hour of exercise, that may be why they are hesitant to eat all of those calories back.

I want to know how people are burning that much in one hour.

I'm honest with the intensity of the intensity of my workouts. I lose weight like it's going out of style.

I also try to be as honest as possible. Check my profile page for my motto. Who gives a crap about what others think? Why lie to yourself about your own personal journey? Lying to myself is the reason that I got so big before I did something about it.

I don't know about math skills, but once I figured out TDEE, I understood what was going on and I've been eating back appropriately. I also use a FitBit.

You need math skills to figure out your TDEE. And you need to know how to calculate percentages to figure out how many net calories you need each day. (Unless you just completely trust the internet, in which case, why bother asking any questions at all. :laugh:

meggonkgonk

Information overload!!! Help me out, Friends! I started at 140 lbs and want to lose about 10- but retain and refine muscle. I'm already very active. MFP put me at 1200 calories a day and I really think it's too low. I was down to 137 in less than a week. I weigh in again tomorrow and I think I will be down at least another pound. Sounds great but I really want to fuel my muscles. I'm also training for a half marathon. I also need to fit into my teacher clothes lol I'm really thinking about increasing my net calorie (I'm already overeating 1200 many days anyway) goals. What do you think? 1400 or 1600?

Please, friend me and help me figure it out

It sounds like you set your loss goal too high (1 or 2 lbs a week?) for how close to your goal weight you are. I would recommend doing 1 of 2 things:

Set your goal at .5 or .75 lb per week and focus on protein in take over other macros
OR
Manually change your calorie intake each week- Do 1300, 1400, 1500, 1600, and then drop back to 1300. Repeat. This type of cycling helps your body learn to adjust to increased cals which you will need for maintenance and I find it's a good way to consistently lose when you are close to your goal.

erickirb

Information overload!!! Help me out, Friends! I started at 140 lbs and want to lose about 10- but retain and refine muscle. I'm already very active. MFP put me at 1200 calories a day and I really think it's too low. I was down to 137 in less than a week. I weigh in again tomorrow and I think I will be down at least another pound. Sounds great but I really want to fuel my muscles. I'm also training for a half marathon. I also need to fit into my teacher clothes lol I'm really thinking about increasing my net calorie (I'm already overeating 1200 many days anyway) goals. What do you think? 1400 or 1600?

Please, friend me and help me figure it out

Set your goal to lose 0.5lbs/week and eat back your exercise calories (all of them if you are using a HRM or 60-80% if you are using MFP exercise estimates)

liss125

I have no understanding on all the calorie intake deficit malarkey but i know i have consistently lost 2lb a week my exercising and not eating back. I may somedays go slightly over my normal allowance by 50-100 calories but my exercise generally adds 700 or more per day.

I looked at your diary and it says your daily goal after exercise is 3000 calories! I'm saying this in all politeness, but again it boils down to math.

But that explains nothing. If i am eating my normal amount not eating back all my calories yet still losing 2lb a week how is that bad? Plus if i was to eat all that i would be ill. No i am not good at working it out but lets be truthful, is my way workinhg? yes. nuff said

I think you may be eating your exercise calories back. It would take hours of intense exercise to burn off over 1000 calories every day. The MFP estimates for cardio are extremely high. What MFP claims burns 1000 calories, may in fact only burn 300 (just an example.)

suziecue66

I have no understanding on all the calorie intake deficit malarkey but i know i have consistently lost 2lb a week my exercising and not eating back. I may somedays go slightly over my normal allowance by 50-100 calories but my exercise generally adds 700 or more per day.

I looked at your diary and it says your daily goal after exercise is 3000 calories! I'm saying this in all politeness, but again it boils down to math.

But that explains nothing. If i am eating my normal amount not eating back all my calories yet still losing 2lb a week how is that bad? Plus if i was to eat all that i would be ill. No i am not good at working it out but lets be truthful, is my way workinhg? yes. nuff said

Its not bad - 2lb per week is good. Just keep doing what's working for you.

astraldream

I have no understanding on all the calorie intake deficit malarkey but i know i have consistently lost 2lb a week my exercising and not eating back. I may somedays go slightly over my normal allowance by 50-100 calories but my exercise generally adds 700 or more per day.

I looked at your diary and it says your daily goal after exercise is 3000 calories! I'm saying this in all politeness, but again it boils down to math.

But that explains nothing. If i am eating my normal amount not eating back all my calories yet still losing 2lb a week how is that bad? Plus if i was to eat all that i would be ill. No i am not good at working it out but lets be truthful, is my way workinhg? yes. nuff said

Its not bad - 2lb per week is good. Just keep doing what's working for you.

Thats what i think, different things work for different people, everyones weight and lifestyle is different.

birdieaz

This has been me for the last 6 months I was steadily losing the weight about 1 lb per week eating the minimum of 1,200 calories and burning about 500 calories per day through exercise. Like I said, it worked for the first 25 lbs, but now, I've seen a huge plateau the last month-2 months. Even though I'm eating clean and exercising daily.

I'm trying to find the right way to add back my exercise calories while still maintaining a NET of 1,200 and also upping my protein intake. I've got the mind set though that the scale will start to rise by eating 1,600 calories now versus the normal 1,200 - even though I'm continuing to burn 500-700 calories in the gym. (Working on this way of thinking).

Could anybody share their experience of adding back exercise calories? Since I've been in a extreme deficit for so long is my metabolism too screwed up to shed those last 15 lbs? Will I see a rise in the scale?

Thanks.

I've been upping my calories for the last 2 weeks because my body hit a plateau for 5weeks. They are now set to 1520 and the weight has started to come back off. I was netting around 800 for most of my 42lb loss and now aim for at least 1200.

First week I did gain 2lbs but that may have been water weight. I was convinced it was going to completely undo all my hard work but that hasn't happened yet. In fact my energy is higher and I'm less stressed.

My next step is to up it even further until I'm ultimately netting 1500 cal a day on non workout days and 1800 on workout days. I'm only 5'2 and it seems like a huge amount but if I can do that and still lose then it would be crazy to go back to eating so little.

justal313

I have a HRM so my exercise calories are as close to reality as reasonably possible. I weigh food when I can and use the nutritional info off of whatever we're preparing but estimation errors and inaccurate nutritional info happens so I don't quite eat back my exercise calories.

I have my NET set to 1200 calories. I exercise pretty well every day and generally burn about 400-600 calories. I try to make sure I'm within 50-100 calories of my NET but under the number so that if my food calories are underestimated I'm still cool.

I'm trying to consume my BMR but still maintain my NET so I exercise every day. The last day I wasn't going to exercise and only consumed 1100 odd calories I was out of sorts and annoyed.

So there you go..

marie_cressman

I eat between my BMR and TDEE yet I don't always hit 1200 net calories. My BMR is 1624 according to my height, weight, exercise, etc. I eat 1800 calories a day regardless of if I workout that day. Sunday is my off day and I still aim for 1800. The rest of the week I workout hard for at least an hour. I still log my exercise burned even though I'm not technically eating it back since I have my calories set so high. I do go over sometimes to about 1900 or 2000 calories, but I generally aim for 1800. I do this under the supervision of a dietician I see at the hospital. We go over my diary together every 2 weeks now (I started seeing her about a month ago). She suggested I up my calories to 1800 for a while because I had hit a plateau for literally 6 months while eating 1600 calories doing the same exercises I'm doing now.

kiachu

I did. That is what prompted this. Is this defect in MFPs tracking system? Most food trackers have you set a general activity level first to be included with your other stats and then use that to recommend a calorie deficit or they give you some sort of range.

kiachu

need to hit "quote" practice practice

msmith2020

I don't think that everyone should get their panties in a wad b/c someone re-post this topic. MAYBE some people are still curious about it. I don't know, but you don't need to be so argumentative about new people needing to "search" for this topic- and leave them on their own~ way to be supportive and motivational... Not.. Maybe they don't even know there is a problem/argumentative issue about it.

But either way, eat them back, don't eat them back. Try and wrap your mind around everyone saying something different. Everyone thinks they are right and someone else is wrong. Just try to understand it for yourself, find what works for you and when you get to a healthy weight increase your calories to your BMR and TDEE etc, eat maintenance. Trust me there is something sensible about all of this. I just don't quite know what it is yet.

♥

nowakkk

Thank you! This is what I was looking for!

This has been me for the last 6 months I was steadily losing the weight about 1 lb per week eating the minimum of 1,200 calories and burning about 500 calories per day through exercise. Like I said, it worked for the first 25 lbs, but now, I've seen a huge plateau the last month-2 months. Even though I'm eating clean and exercising daily.

I'm trying to find the right way to add back my exercise calories while still maintaining a NET of 1,200 and also upping my protein intake. I've got the mind set though that the scale will start to rise by eating 1,600 calories now versus the normal 1,200 - even though I'm continuing to burn 500-700 calories in the gym. (Working on this way of thinking).

Could anybody share their experience of adding back exercise calories? Since I've been in a extreme deficit for so long is my metabolism too screwed up to shed those last 15 lbs? Will I see a rise in the scale?

Thanks.

I've been upping my calories for the last 2 weeks because my body hit a plateau for 5weeks. They are now set to 1520 and the weight has started to come back off. I was netting around 800 for most of my 42lb loss and now aim for at least 1200.

First week I did gain 2lbs but that may have been water weight. I was convinced it was going to completely undo all my hard work but that hasn't happened yet. In fact my energy is higher and I'm less stressed.

My next step is to up it even further until I'm ultimately netting 1500 cal a day on non workout days and 1800 on workout days. I'm only 5'2 and it seems like a huge amount but if I can do that and still lose then it would be crazy to go back to eating so little.

kiachu

I'm new here but I've seen thread after thread regarding this and would like to understand why its such a hotbed topic.

I'm working off some assumptions here because I don't use MFP to track my food because its not flexible enough for me. But if I'm getting the gist of it MFP creates a caloric deficit based on goals set by the user (it seems to be 1200 for a lot of folks). This deficit is to lose weight though diet excluding physical activity. MFP then recommends you eat back you exercise calories because they've already set in your deficit via foods.

This seems logical to me. Is there confusion because MFP doesn't not explain the rationale behind this system? Again assuming, but if someone is eating 1200 and they are burning 400 calories a day they would only have 800 calories readily available to function on.


This is an extreme example, but this type of behavior in competitions circles, mostly amongst women, seems to have lead to a rash of women dealing with extreme exhaustion, hair loss, depression, hormonal imbalances, huge rebounds (weight gain), cycles of binging, and metabolic damage. From what I understand stored fat is the last thing your body wants to access and simple carbohydrates is the first, so if your stressing it via physical demands and not meeting its need nutritionally your cortisol (stress hormone) levels will increase and cause your body hold tight to fat storage and even try to store more (because it thinks there is some sort of trouble coming and get into survival mode), but also start eating into the muscle.

kiachu,, you look like you know how to minimize body fat and build muscle. What would happen to your muscle on a net calorie intake of 800?

I know what would happen. I wouldn't get out of bed for that. Why don't other people understand it? I see people post threads about WHY are people eating back their calories. Is MFP not being clear enough regarding this?