for those who eat back exercise calories

MrsBully4

I eat mine back. The muscle under this fat was hard-earned through many years of lugging my fat *kitten* around. I REFUSE TO LOSE IT.

whatsonmymind88

Listen to your body or even go see a doctor and talk about it. I personally DON'T eat all mine back. If I have a good day at the gym, burned 500 cals or more then I may eat maybe 200 back if my body is telling me to.
When I first joined I felt like I was eating way to much because I was trying to eat it back and it seemed kind of foolish to me (again foolish for ME NOT EVERYONE IS THE SAME) so I asked what my mom thought because she had joined weight watchers and she also agreed I shouldn't. Even with weight watchers they don't give you the same amount of points that would equal your burn off, just half. So again listen to your body and if you want to increase ... maybe just increase slowly to see what feels right to you!

healthyliving_girl

I have eaten my calories back since day one.

I consistently lost weight.

megleo818

I have eaten back all of my exercise calories from day one. Sometimes I have to "share them around" over the course of a few days -- like last night I had a dinner party and a few glasses of wine and went 300 over, even with my exercise allotment. So today I kept roughly that same amount under to balance out the overage. I try not to do that very often, but sometimes life happens!

I absolutely would not have been as successful as I have been if I weren't eating back my calories. This practice allows me to enjoy my life -- 1200 calories is just too little for me to avoid feeling deprived. Plus, I do tend to work out pretty hard, so if I don't eat enough (or well) I get lethargic and generally icky-feeling.

HTH! :happy:

IndigoFlowers

I've always eaten almost all of my exercise calories... if I didn't, I would be starving!!! But my burns typically range from 150 to a max of 600, so I am not one of those people who burn over a thousand calories per workout.

meeka472

I have never eaten back all of my exercise calories because MFP grossly overestimates them. I do however use the exercise calories as a buffer to go up to 100 calories over my preset calorie limit. This has worked for me and I had no problem losing my weight or going into "starvation mode".

Jenilyn30

Increasing your intensity level of your work outs, especially when working out with a trainer definitely burns more calories. Which I am sure you know this already. I def would talk with your trainer about increasing your calories, which I think would be a good idea. Little by little adding some really nutrient dense foods to increase your calories and by doing this, you can figure out how much you need to increase to continue on your amazing weight loss. As you work out and build muscle you most likely will either stay the same weight or increase a little, know that this is okay for a bit. Muscle truly burns more calories than fat does and it is a dense fiber, where fat is not. People with lots of muscle sink where as people with lots of fat float. When increasing your work outs either duration, intensity or both, you may require more calories. The body could go into starvation mode where is it holding onto every calorie available. This is not conducive to losing weight, rather stressing your body out. I hope this helps and keep up the amazing work!! It is motivating to read that you have lost 55 lbs!!!!

rcthale

I set my goal based on my BMR, because my TDEE just isn't consistent from day to day. So, exercise calories are like a bonus to my daily budget, and it's a pleasure to eat them because it doesn't affect my goal.

LaNena01

bump

super_monty

I burn up to 1444 cals a day when I go the gym, no way can I eat that back.

gayje

The muscle under this fat was hard-earned through many years of lugging my fat *kitten* around. I REFUSE TO LOSE IT.

:laugh:

You deserve a :drinker: for being willing to just say it like it is! I am going to remember this and use it the next time I have a chance to.

BTW, I eat at 30% below TDEE and haven't lost anything in the month I've been doing it. I'm not ready to make a change yet but not seeing the scale move is getting OLD fast.

MoreBean13

The muscle under this fat was hard-earned through many years of lugging my fat *kitten* around. I REFUSE TO LOSE IT.

:laugh:

You deserve a :drinker: for being willing to just say it like it is! I am going to remember this and use it the next time I have a chance to.

BTW, I eat at 30% below TDEE and haven't lost anything in the month I've been doing it. I'm not ready to make a change yet but not seeing the scale move is getting OLD fast.

That's a pretty big deficit! You're doing that and not eating exercise cals back- or you are eating them?

tammyr112

If I am hungry, I eat them back. If I am not hungry, I do not eat them back. They are there, but I do not eat them back just for the sake of eating my exercise calories.

this ^^^^^^

carrietehbear

Anybody who is eating below their BMR is dangerously underfeeding. If you dont know what that is, or why its important, better look it up. I cannot stress this enough.

OP - Losing 3lbs a week is not healthy, and there's a good chance you're losing muscle mass. I dont know how tall you are or what your body composition is, but 1200 - 1300kcal a day is way underfeeding for most people especially if you are exercising regularly.

A medium frame woman who is 5' 9'' and 155lbs has a BMR of ~1480 calories. If she is moderately active, she needs AT LEAST 1750 a day, and her maintenance is something like 2100 - 2200.

You may be approaching your goal quickly, but I urge you to re-evaluate your strategy befor you end up looking skinny and malnourished when you reach your goal because you burned off a bunch of muscle from improper dieting.

Your muscle mass is your most important asset when it comes to keeping weight off. Muscle has metabolism, therefore the more of it you have, the higher your metabolism will be.

Learn to diet properly or you could do serious damage to your metabolism, among other things.

I'm really short. I'm barely over 5 ft. I've been working on my goal since Christmas so I don't think 55 lbs in 9 months is too quickly. Until a couple weeks ago, the most I lost in a week was 1.8 lbs. And then I had this gain.... which is why I am re-evaluating my caloric intake. I recognize that losing 3 lbs a week at this point in the journey isn't normal but I chalked it up to the change in my workouts.

LorinaLynn

I ate most of mine back from the beginning. I really had zero faith this would work because every other weight loss attempt in my life was an abysmal failure, but I was more focused on being healthier than losing pounds.

I was surprised this worked. And really happy that exercise calories made it painless.

I made the switch to more than 1200 calories when I realized that it wasn't possible for me to lose more than one pound a week anyway, so why bother with eating the minimum if eating more than that would work just as well?

KAR1959

I eat some but not all. It keeps me from feeling hungry and overeating. I'm losing so I guess it's working.

FionaAnne22

I eat most of mine, I personally would struggle to only eat 1200 a day, and this motivates me to exercise, so that I can eat more! I usually have 100 - 200 left over, in case I'm a bit hungry later on, and to compensate for the high calories burned MFP seems to log!

katrinaorchid

I believe that you could safely increase your intake. However I keep finding that the minute I start eating back exercise calories straight away, I stop losing the weight. Perhaps increase it slowly over time to give your body some time to get used to.

carrietehbear

My BMR is 1391 so I'm going to increase my daily intake to at least 1400 a day. Until I get a chance to see a doctor (I recently moved to a new state), I'm going to listen to my body when it comes to eating more. I certainly don't want to lose the muscle that I'm working hard to get. (My trainer has done a good job of drilling into my head that it's not really about weight loss but body fat loss.... )

birdieaz

I dont because my calories are set to include exercise. My BMR is 1280 and I eat betwen 1550-1750, you could definitely up your calories and continue to lose.