Do you eat your exercise calories?

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spinningmango
spinningmango Posts: 197 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
If so, are you still losing weight? much weight? :smile:
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  • geicko
    geicko Posts: 151
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    You bet I do ! :drinker:
    ... and I'm frequently over by 100-200 calories :blushing:
    I enjoy food too much to live on a 1200 diet...

    I'm not losing a lot, but I'm on week 4 of this "let's try to lose these last few pounds by watching and cutting calories" and I went from 120 to 117.5. I have an average daily deficit of 300 so I'm happy with that. I'm not craving and can have that glass of wine with a good dinner :wink:
  • Brant
    Brant Posts: 4 Member
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    No way. That obviously will slow down your weight loss.
  • chgudnitz
    chgudnitz Posts: 4,079
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    Eat em. I did, every single one every single day....
  • cwvanek
    cwvanek Posts: 111
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    No way. That obviously will slow down your weight loss.

    It will actually aid your weight loss. MFP puts you on a calorie deficit when you join. When you exercise you're creating more of a deficit. If you don't eat back at least most of your exercise calories your body could go into starvation mode,which could slow your weight loss or stop it all together.
  • TheMaidOfAstolat
    TheMaidOfAstolat Posts: 3,222 Member
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    You do realize that MPF puts you in a deficit (1200 a day is not normal-2000-2500 is normal). You need to eat at least 1/2 of the calories you burn or you'll put your body into starvation mode and will not loose any more weight. Your body will hold onto everything you put into it because you're starving it.
  • havingitall
    havingitall Posts: 3,728 Member
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    I eat most of them and it works for me
  • CasperO
    CasperO Posts: 2,913 Member
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    I eat most of mine, for sure. Heck, that's why I started exercising - to "earn" more food! I was starving (which is the point I guess). And yes, I still lost weight while eating my exercise calories, and I'm still losing bodyfat to this day.

    So what's the tally here,,,
    Nitz has lost 80 pounds, eating his exercise calories
    Vicky has lost 79 pounds, eating her exercise calories
    Casper has lost 60 pounds, eating his exercise calories
    So... what'cha think?

    Of course, this will depend on ton o'stuff. How accurate was MFP's calculation of your BMR? How accurate is your eating? How accurate is MFP's calculation of your exercise? How "hard" are you working?

    This is going to be different for every person, so we have to pay attention to our programs and our bodies and see what works for us. And it'll change... So try it for a month and see what happens. If it doesn't work for you, try something else.

    Me - I exercise like a demon and eat most of my exercise calories and bias the intake toward more protein and less white carbs. I'm maintaining weight but losing bodyfat and gaining muscle mass and definition.
  • XFitMojoMom
    XFitMojoMom Posts: 3,255 Member
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    I did, but gained 13 pounds!:noway: :grumble:
    So now, no way.
  • rogers8702
    rogers8702 Posts: 533 Member
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    i think being honest with yourself is important.

    -how hard are you working out? walking at 2mph and 4mph are a big defference in calories burned
    -did you really eat 3oz of chicken or was it more like 4-6oz?

    i eat most of my exercise calories and i lost 40+ pounds, when i went off the healthy lifestyle for about 4 months i gained 10 back. so i think casper said it correctly

    eat right, exercise hard and love life!! you will see results
  • stef_e_b
    stef_e_b Posts: 593
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    I'm going to stop eating mine. Hopefully... I usually end up working out to break even. lol
  • kcfva122
    kcfva122 Posts: 40
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    I always eat mine. I've only lost 7 pounds but it has been in 4 weeks.

    I'm going out for an extra walk right now so I can have a sugar cookie.

    If I didn't eat them I would feel deprived and I know where that sends me. Better to eat them than to get so hungry that I raid the cupboard for whatever I can find.
  • XFitMojoMom
    XFitMojoMom Posts: 3,255 Member
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    i think being honest with yourself is important.

    -how hard are you working out? walking at 2mph and 4mph are a big defference in calories burned
    -did you really eat 3oz of chicken or was it more like 4-6oz?

    i eat most of my exercise calories and i lost 40+ pounds, when i went off the healthy lifestyle for about 4 months i gained 10 back. so i think casper said it correctly

    eat right, exercise hard and love life!! you will see results

    I have a PT and I work out between 75-90% of my hearts capacity, 5 days a week, between 30-60 minutes.
    I had blood work done to rule out thyroid disorder/diabetes
    I went to a nutritionist and they felt I needed to jolt my metabolism and recommended I eat 1500 cals instead of 1200.
    I weigh all my food using a digital scale
    I tried to eat my 'exercise calories' - even half of them.
    July I weighed 190 when I visited my physician
    Today I weigh 202
    I gained back 13 of my 25 pounds lost.

    I'm beyond frustrated. So much so I slipped back into my "ana/mia" thinking from 20 years ago.
  • Georg
    Georg Posts: 1,728 Member
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    Last summer I was eating my exercise calories (& drinking them!) :drinker:
    And my weight loss stalled for a couple of months. :huh:
    When I took an honest look at my food diary & read all the posts here about exercise calories, I found that I was adding junk for those extra calories. I was adding margarine & sour cream to my potato for instance & it really slowed me down.
    Now I'm being much more careful about exactly what those calories are & it's working much better for me. I'm also staying under by 200-400 calories several days a week to account for any discrepancies in recipes.
  • Tamishumate
    Tamishumate Posts: 1,171 Member
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    Add me to the eating them list! I always do. Maybe not all of them but most!
  • TNTPete
    TNTPete Posts: 701 Member
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    I have a PT and I work out between 75-90% of my hearts capacity, 5 days a week, between 30-60 minutes.
    I had blood work done to rule out thyroid disorder/diabetes
    I went to a nutritionist and they felt I needed to jolt my metabolism and recommended I eat 1500 cals instead of 1200.
    I weigh all my food using a digital scale
    I tried to eat my 'exercise calories' - even half of them.
    July I weighed 190 when I visited my physician
    Today I weigh 202
    I gained back 13 of my 25 pounds lost.

    I'm beyond frustrated. So much so I slipped back into my "ana/mia" thinking from 20 years ago.

    Okay... so you're working hard and not seeing the results -- get it! I have done that myself... a couple of times. Have you done your tape measurements because you're probably losing fat but not really seeing a change. Also, if you were terribly under your calorie intake you're going to gain for a bit before your body realizes you're not starving it -- you should prob listen to your trainer and expect to gain for the first couple months, then you're body will switch gears.

    So -- were you eating very little just a bit ago say... 1100/1200 or less? Do a little research on this on the web and you should find an article about this issue you're having. (or many). So sorry you're frustrated but you have to fuel your body for it to function properly. You'll get there.. stay positive and on track.

    Oh and I eat my calories -- yum!
  • itsmenatalie
    itsmenatalie Posts: 190 Member
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    I eat most of mine - if I do not I'm way too tired the next day. Gotta fuel the machine!
  • twilight1542
    twilight1542 Posts: 403
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    If so, are you still losing weight? much weight? :smile:

    I'm on 1200 cals per day and eat 50-100% of my exercise cals depending on how hungry I am since I workout in the evenings. I use a HRM so I'm pretty confident in eating all of them if I'm hungry. I've been consistently losing 2 lbs per week since June
  • loren
    loren Posts: 111
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    No way. That obviously will slow down your weight loss.

    It will actually aid your weight loss. MFP puts you on a calorie deficit when you join. When you exercise you're creating more of a deficit. If you don't eat back at least most of your exercise calories your body could go into starvation mode,which could slow your weight loss or stop it all together.

    I disagree with this. It is proven that the only way you will lose weight is if you burn more calories than you eat so it will ultimately slow down your weight loss. You will still lose but I don't believe it aids your weight loss.
  • loren
    loren Posts: 111
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    I try to burn my calories when I over eat but if I can help it I definitely DO NOT eat them back. For instance today I ate 1450 so I went to the gym and did the elliptical until I burned 250.
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
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    No way. That obviously will slow down your weight loss.

    It will actually aid your weight loss. MFP puts you on a calorie deficit when you join. When you exercise you're creating more of a deficit. If you don't eat back at least most of your exercise calories your body could go into starvation mode,which could slow your weight loss or stop it all together.

    I disagree with this. It is proven that the only way you will lose weight is if you burn more calories than you eat so it will ultimately slow down your weight loss. You will still lose but I don't believe it aids your weight loss.

    Did you see the amount of weight lost by the people above who do eat their exercise calories?

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