Do I or don't I eat back exercise calories?

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  • chrishgt4
    chrishgt4 Posts: 1,222 Member
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    If you are hungry EAT, if you are not DONT! Listen to your body, its smarter than the website.

    lol My thoughts exactly

    It's clearly not or you wouldn't be on here in the first place...
  • RetiredAndLovingIt
    RetiredAndLovingIt Posts: 1,394 Member
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    bump
  • hdjjones
    hdjjones Posts: 130 Member
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    Congratualations on your weight loss. You must be doing it right. I didn't see a doctor much when I was 38 either. I noticed as I got older (I'm 61) my doctor became an important resource for my health.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    If you are hungry EAT, if you are not DONT! Listen to your body, its smarter than the website.

    lol My thoughts exactly

    It's clearly not or you wouldn't be on here in the first place...

    ^^ This

    When I think my body is talking, it turns out to be the little devil on my shoulder doing an imitation of my body's voice: "Eat the chocolate....eat ALL the chocolate..." :devil:

    :laugh:
  • robin68562
    robin68562 Posts: 116 Member
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    I started my lifestyle change just after Mother's Day and I only just started really exercising three weeks ago. On the days I exercise I'm generally not as hungry and I never eat more than a couple hundred of the calories that mfp has said I had worked off and my weekly weight loss has gone down from two pounds per weeks to next to nothing. This week I only lost half a pound and I worked out three times this week, burning up at least 800 calories each time I worked out, sometimes more than 1000, depending on whether I swam laps or not! So frustrating!
  • shunggie
    shunggie Posts: 1,036 Member
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    This is a big question for me, and a new idea. I had never heard of "eating back" your calories. I'm on 1200 a day, it's the same calorie count I was on before when I lost weight. There are some days 1200 just isn't enough. So, I love the idea of eating back my calories. I'm still losing weight at about the same pace I was before (8-10 pounds a month) and now I never go to bed hungry. I also don't always eat my calories back, if I'm not hungry I don't force myself. I do try and get 1200 on days I haven't done anything and that can be hard- cause once you start a regular exercise program you body gets use to it. On an off day I'm just not as hungry.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,248 Member
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    If you are hungry EAT, if you are not DONT! Listen to your body, its smarter than the website.

    lol My thoughts exactly

    Mine's not. My body would be perfectly happy on a steady diet of Butterfingers and Mountain Dew.

    Eating when I was hungry and listening to my body got me down to a scary-skinny 103 pounds in my mid 20s (wasn't trying to lose... post breakup depression), and up to a semi-chunky 160 pounds after my parents died. My natural appetite isn't a good judge of hunger or nutrition.

    Luckily, my brain is smart enough to know it has to follow some nutritional guidelines that may go against my natural instincts for optimal health.

    I never, ever thought I would, could or should eat as much as I do now. I never, ever thought I'd look and feel like I do now, too. It's absolutely incredible what proper fuel and some exercise can do.
  • graceylou222
    graceylou222 Posts: 198 Member
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    you do!
  • strikerjb007
    strikerjb007 Posts: 443 Member
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    Starvation mode is mostly a myth. Yes, being on a calorie deficit will slow your metabolism down. I repeat, SLOW IT DOWN. This is far from "starvation mode." You have to go extreme for that.

    Here is what I do. I don't care how many calories I burn during exercise. It's mostly irrelevant. If you have a HRM, then use it. It will tell you if you are giving it 100% of if you are just chilling.

    I figure what my body does at what levels. Example, I know for a FACT that at 1900 calories, I will burn fat in no time. I don't care what I burn during exercise. At 2500, I will maintain my weight and at 3000+ I gain muscle with the right program. In other words, figure out what works for you. You can start by eating those calories the way the computer sets them, and then just use an average. I mean we are smarter than some generalized program.

    Someone on the thread pointed out that people should not try to lose weight. This is true. The scale number is IRRELEVANT! In fact, people pick a random number say 125 as their goal. That is the WRONG goal. Your goal should be to GET RID OF THE FAT. It should be everyone's goal. Your BF% will tell you if you are getting leaner or fatter.
  • AmberJo1984
    AmberJo1984 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    I don't. But, that's because the doctor has me on a 1500 calorie a day diet. I don't want to go over that period. I did eat back about 80 exercise calories yesterday, though.
  • strikerjb007
    strikerjb007 Posts: 443 Member
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    I never, ever thought I would, could or should eat as much as I do now. I never, ever thought I'd look and feel like I do now, too. It's absolutely incredible what proper fuel and some exercise can do.

    True. There is a huge difference between eating 3k calories of good stuff and 3k at McDonald's.
  • PayneAS
    PayneAS Posts: 669 Member
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    I am starting to get confused about this one.

    Do I need to eat them back or not?
    Did you use mfp to calculate your calorie goal?
    If so, yes, you should eat more on days when you exercise.

    If you used another system to calculate your calories, then probably not.

    http://www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/index1.html
  • meeka472
    meeka472 Posts: 283 Member
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    Someone on the thread pointed out that people should not try to lose weight. This is true. The scale number is IRRELEVANT! In fact, people pick a random number say 125 as their goal. That is the WRONG goal. Your goal should be to GET RID OF THE FAT. It should be everyone's goal. Your BF% will tell you if you are getting leaner or fatter.

    THIS!
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
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    -sobs- I am starting to feel stupid now it is just going over my head.

    It shouldn't be confusing at all. MFP does all the calculations for you. AS long as you log everything you eat and your exercise under cardiovascular and stay at or under your calorie goal you are good to go. If you aren't hungry enough to eat all of your calories back then don't. MFP telling you that you aren't eating enough isn't going to make your body shut down or anything, it's just a computer program.
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
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    EVerybody does it different. I saw a few who do similar to what I do.

    I always try to eat within about 50 of the recommended 1200. I use my exercise calories to create more deficit. So I net around 850 a day after my exercise calories come off my eating calories.

    My recommended calories to maintain my current weight is 1800 and a net of 850 gives me a 7000 calorie deficit per week (which equals 2 lbs of weight loss). This is perfectly safe and actually recommended per my doctor if you are doing moderate exercise and always EAT at least the recommended minimum of 1200 calories a day.

    Also on rest days I eat 1200 barely any deficit and thats that. When I am feeling extra hungry or tempted I eat back my exercise calories with no guilt. :)

    Hopefully this makes more sense then the tdee and brm stuff that I never understood. 3500 calories equals a lb of weight loss. 2 lbs a week is a healthy goal. Just figure out your maintenance calories and multiply by 7 days in a week subtract 7000 for a 2lb loss and divide by 7 for your daily net. That should be your net calories at the end of the day but always eat at least 1200 (for a woman).
  • charkane
    charkane Posts: 26 Member
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    I was told no don't eat the extra calories because it defeats the purpose of the diet and exercising..Just saying..
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
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    You are not supposed to eat back your exercise calories. You will lose more if you don't. If you are going to eat back your calories, get a high calorie burn on a day you know you are going out to eat that way you can eat what you want to.

    Your first sentence is 100% absolutely false. If you are going by MFP you ARE supposed to eat back your exercise cals, that is why it gives you the additional calories when you log exercise, it doesn't just pop up there to confuse people.
  • moosegt35
    moosegt35 Posts: 1,296 Member
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    I can't believe there are so many people here who don't know what they are talking about but yet sound so authoritative saying it.
    Food is fuel.
    If you use more fuel, you need to refill the tank.
    Not refilling at all will put your body into starvation mode. This is an automatic response where your body will not let go ofthe calories you take in because it is protecting your organ functions. You may lose weight quickly at first but it will not be sustainable. You will gain the weight back or you will lose muscle mass.
    Fast weight loss can be sustained if you eat back 2/3 to 3/4 of the calories burned. But you need to eat it back within 12 -24 hours. No binges on a Saturday for a Wednesday workout.
    High quality complex carbs before workout, quality protein after for recovery and muscle growth. Plenty of water all day.
    Very Simple.
    Fuel your activity.

    BS. starvation mode is what happened at Auschwitz. a person who is 45lbs overweight will not go into starvation mode if they eat under 1200 calories for 3 days in a row or 5 days in a row or however soon you think it will happen.

    you don't understand what you think you understand.

    also, who said anything about NOT refilling the tank? who said go on a ZERO calorie diet? all we said was that a calorie deficit leads to burning stored fat and thus, weight loss. whether that's a 10% or 20% or 30% deficit, that's hardly "not refilling the tank".

    your body is DESIGNED to save energy (calories) during times when food is plenty, to use later when it needs it when food is scarce. that's why we store fat. when you ingest fewer calories than your body needs, it turns to this stored fat to make up the difference. this is a fact. you will not go anywhere near starvation mode until most of that stored fat is gone.

    now if you want to speak about poor nutrition due to low calorie diets, that's a different topic. or if you want to talk about slowing down your metabolism a little bit as a result of poor diet or poor health or whatever, that's also a different topic. but the notion that you MUST eat your back your exercise calories or face the imminent threat of starvation mode is preposterous.

    This ^^^ Starvation mode doesn't just happen from a small calorie deficit, or not eating back a couple hundred exercise cals.

    What works for me is not logging my exercise at all and trying to stick to my cal goal. Then if I am hungry go over a little bit some days I don't worry about it because I am already running a good deficit to begin with and know that I have those exercise cals anyway that aren't logged. Just don't go way overboard.
  • Melaniec78
    Melaniec78 Posts: 259 Member
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    As long as you eat 1200 at least (as a woman) you don't have to eat them back unless you are exercising heavy.
  • baptiste565
    baptiste565 Posts: 590 Member
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    if u r exercising to burn calories y would u add calories by eating them back. doesnt make sense to me. if u r exercising to burn calories so that u can eat more then ur diet is doomed for failure. because u will never have learned to control the amount of food you eat to achieve ur desired body weight. you control it thru calorie expense. so the minute u stop exercising ur weight will balloon up. its better to exercise for the health benefits and calories eaten to achieve weight loss. just my opinion,

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