Do you eat all your calories??

SPNLuver83

yes, you need to eat them back. ESPECIALLY if you are at a goal of 1200 and are burning that many calories. you need to fuel your body enough if you want it to be a fire!!!! if not your health will pay the price. yes, you will lose weight, but you will also be flabby and unhealthy if you don't eat enough.

Most people lose at the same rate when they eat their calories back anyway. So why starve yourself if it makes no difference but a negative one?

trelm249

typically yes. I need the fuel for recovery. If i don't i start hurting and get tired. that is self defeating.
my recovery calories are mostly proteins and some organic fats.

sarahg148

I was just wondering this, too, over the last few days. I have my calories set at about 1860 to lose .5 lb/wk. But I figure if I workout and DON'T eat back the calories, then I should lose 1.5-2lbs/wk. HOWEVER, I don't want to be hungry. So I am thinking about eating maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of my exercise calories. I guess we all have to just play around with what calculations work best for each of us and then also see what we can live with. My TDEE is about 2500 doing exercise 4x/wk. So I'm actually going to be eating around 1900-2100cal/day. Going to stay off scale for a few days and see what happens. I know I'm still retaining a bit of water weight from a not so great week...so the scale should be more accurate after my body gets back to normal.

AmyRhubarb

As others have said, if you're set to 1200 calories a day and you're not eating back your exercise cals, you are netting a very low amount each day. That's putting a pretty big demand on your body to perform daily functions AND exercise with very little fuel. It may work for awhile, you'll see progress on the scale, but eventually you hit the wall, weight loss stalls, you're tired, grouchy, and have little energy for workouts.

A good plan is to know your BMR and your TDEE and eat in between those numbers. You can find info and the tools to figure these things out in this amazing topic that has helped bunches of MFP members: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Personally, through that topic, I have learned to never net below my BMR (around 1430 cals) - if my body burns that many calories in a comatose state, then I should certainly be feeding it more if I'm awake and mobile and exercising as well. Food is fuel! Long term with low calories gives the body a reason to store fat - certainly the last thing you want! We want to burn the fat, keep the lean muscle and likely build a little (or a lot, depending on your goals) more!

Check out that topic (there's a group and a brand new facebook page for it too!) - great info in there.

snappled

I eat ALL my exercise calories back because I want to lose fat and NOT muscle. As a previous poster stated ... she takes a multivitamin ... that won't help you keep existing muscle mass when your body needs fuel.

Be careful - I use a heart rate monitor to calculate calorie burns ... other sources of info can be exaggerated. This is why many people eat only a portion of their calories back.

Also, I set my activity level to sedentary. This is really a range .... if your activity level is too high ... and you eat your exercise calories ... this can be too much.

so if i want to keep my muscle i must eat back my exercise cals., even though i bench press everyday?

scarlettesong

typically yes. I need the fuel for recovery. If i don't i start hurting and get tired. that is self defeating.
my recovery calories are mostly proteins and some organic fats.

^^This!

Yes, I eat back my calories. I must because my limit is already near 1200 with my sedentary job. But as others have said, if I don't, I feel tired and cranky. Post-workout, sometimes I'll even go over a little on calories as long as I'm getting that protein I need. If I don't get the protein, I don't rebuild the muscle and I will hurt for DAYS! The fats definitely help too.

As another post said, if I need those extra calories, but it's getting late, almonds are my quick and easy fix.

JesterMFP

I always eat all my calories. Not always on the same day; sometimes I spread them out over the week. People often look at them as a special "bonus" to dip into only if it's an emergency, but MFP was designed to work with you eating back your exercise calories. Otherwise, it would give you a higher calorie goal to begin with. Now that I've started running, I'm acutely aware of when my body hasn't got enough fuel, so there's no way I'm skimping on cals now! Plus, I really want to minimise muscle loss as much as possible, so a small deficit is the way forward for me.

christimw

Alright so I'm curious do you all eat your earned calories? I've planned my daily meals around my 1200 daily amt & after I log my food it goes down to 200 but when I log my exercise it jumps up to 1200-1600 depending on the day/workout. Do you have to eat your workout calories back? I'm sure I read somewhere that your body will think it's starving itself if you don't but I'm thinking that's not true.

most of the time no. when i was eating bread and pasta and stuff i easily could eat twice my 1200 limit. but now that i cut it out and only eat meat, veggies, and fruit, i get fuller for longer. someone suggested i eat back calories i burn off, but i tried that and started gaining weight back. my body definitely isn't starving. i get plenty of good nutritious food and fats, but i don't worry about my calorie number.

eleonorawander

I'm trying to eat all my calories, but sometimes when I try to eat all of them I end up eating unhealthy food, so usually I don't eat all of them. My bmr is very low, so I'm not worried about that.

Miss_james1990

I can't help but eat them back! I'm always alot hungrier on days I work out hard! I just figured that's my bodies way of saying it needs more fuel!