Eating back calorie advice needed

mreeves261

Sounds like you are letting your mind tell you when you're hungry and not your body. Your mind will say "hey I have 150 calories left, that cookie is 150 calories, let's eat it!" Here's what I did to turn off my "brain" when it comes to my eating, maybe it will help you. Edit: oh and I forgot to say I don't deny myself anything, I just make myself eat less of it. No more whole cans of pringles, now it's just 5 chips!

1. Don't call it a DIET, makes me think of all the things I CAN'T have. Instead of dieting in the traditional sense I started by making a small change, usually on Monday morning, for the week. For example, I never used to eat breakfast, I got a box of cereal and a half gallon of milk and stashed it at work. Now I eat breakfast most every day, time permitting. I started adding fruit as a snack twice a day. Basically what I'm saying is if I try to do it all at once I generally fail, if I do it slowly I can make it lasting.

2. As far as eating back or not eating back you calories it's a huge debate. You will need to do what FEELS right for you, not what THINKS right. You have to start listening to your body and not your mind in regards to food intake.

3. I didn't want to go all out spending money on a HRM until I was sure I was making a life change and not a "for now" decision. I picked one a wrist band style (I know not as accurate as the chest strap versions) for $45 at Target. I would suggest when you are getting back on your feet, pick one up, even if it's a cheap one and get a real count on your burns.

Perhaps when you think you are hungry try sitting and meditating for about 5 minutes. Try to shut your mind out and see if you actually are hungry or if you mind says you are because you burned calories.

geekyjock76

It primarily depends on a few factors:
-how accurate you are at weighing everything you eat as well as reporting exercise calorie expenditure.
-your present RMR/TDEE compared to prediction formulas (which MFP uses to establish your dietary needs).

If a person: a) accurately reports both dietary intake and exercise and/or b) has a TDEE similar to prediction formulas, then you should eat back most if not all exercise calories to keep the deficit as planned.

However.

If a person: a) does not accurately report both dietary intake and exercise and/or b) has a lower "present" TDEE compared to prediction formulas, then you may eat a small amount of exercise calories if any at all.

DanaHerro

I don't always eat all my exercise calories back, it depends how I feel. If I feel hungry then I'll eat but keep in the limit. If not, I don't force myself to eat.
So some days I'll burn 500 calories and eat 1300 calories. Or I'll eat 1500. It just depends on how you feel, don't force yourself to eat if you're not hungry!

Yeah, this is how I want to be. Based on all the responses I don't think I really explained my problem well.

I have a very hard time with self-control. The diet itself has been very difficult for me. However, I have committed to putting everything in my mouth in the tracker, and I really don't want to see that red number there. So I can limit myself to my daily amount (difficult but not impossible). But when I add in the exercise, now I have xxx calories extra that are there. SO I eat them.

I guess my question really is 1) how do I improve my self control and/or 2) is there another way to log the exercise that doesn't show the calories. Because if I am really hungry I want to know how much I get to eat back if I want.

Also regarding the HRM...wish I could afford one. I am out of a job and just plopped $55 for a month pass to the only gym in my town. Hopefully will get enough together for next month (if I don't have a job by then). But anyway I really can't spend the extra money on that now.

I've been doing this almost 5 weeks now. I will tell you that after a bout 3 weeks, you SO SO SO won't be hungry anymore. You just gotta get through it. I actually have a REALLY hard time eating my 1600 calories per day now and I used to pig out and probably eat 2500-3000 DAILY before this. I get full SO easily on way less food. My body is just used to it now. I get to the 1600 because I know I need to but I do NOT eat my exercise calories back 95% of the time because I'm plain not hungry.
You will get through this - give yourself another week or so. Seriously

triciab79

If you decide to eat them back and are disciplined about exercising when you are suppose to and log them without padding then I would say average them across your week. If you eat more on the days you exercise only you will find you are hungrier on the days that you don't exercise because your body will complain that it was fed more the day before. Personally I do not eat them back but I didn't do a lot of strength training so I didn't really need them. If I was trying to build muscle though I would definitely eat them back.

amyw369

I follow the advice given on the www.fat2fit.com on BMR and how many calories I should eat every day and I don't track my exercise on mfp. I simply record the number of calories I burn from exercise in the text box at the bottom (for my own tracking purposes.)

amyw369

Sorry...I meant www.fat2fitradio.com.

Katetw

Stop listening to the people here who claim you absolutely have to eat back the calories. Of course you'll lose more weight if you don't eat them back.

If your problem is with self control, don't log the exercise. Or just put it in the notes if you want to keep track.

A great book that has helped me with self control is the Body Fat Solution by Venuto. It's the best $13 I ever spent.

thanks for the advice

Katetw

Sounds like you are letting your mind tell you when you're hungry and not your body. Your mind will say "hey I have 150 calories left, that cookie is 150 calories, let's eat it!" Here's what I did to turn off my "brain" when it comes to my eating, maybe it will help you. Edit: oh and I forgot to say I don't deny myself anything, I just make myself eat less of it. No more whole cans of pringles, now it's just 5 chips!

1. Don't call it a DIET, makes me think of all the things I CAN'T have. Instead of dieting in the traditional sense I started by making a small change, usually on Monday morning, for the week. For example, I never used to eat breakfast, I got a box of cereal and a half gallon of milk and stashed it at work. Now I eat breakfast most every day, time permitting. I started adding fruit as a snack twice a day. Basically what I'm saying is if I try to do it all at once I generally fail, if I do it slowly I can make it lasting.

2. As far as eating back or not eating back you calories it's a huge debate. You will need to do what FEELS right for you, not what THINKS right. You have to start listening to your body and not your mind in regards to food intake.

3. I didn't want to go all out spending money on a HRM until I was sure I was making a life change and not a "for now" decision. I picked one a wrist band style (I know not as accurate as the chest strap versions) for $45 at Target. I would suggest when you are getting back on your feet, pick one up, even if it's a cheap one and get a real count on your burns.

Perhaps when you think you are hungry try sitting and meditating for about 5 minutes. Try to shut your mind out and see if you actually are hungry or if you mind says you are because you burned calories.

thanks!

Katetw

as an update...somehow this thread came alive again so I figured I'd comment.
The first week I exercised I ate back all the calories the machine told me.
I have read since then however that the machines at the gym are known to be pretty off-base, so last week I only ate back half the calories that I supposedly earned. I felt a lot better and I lost weight, yay!
So that's what I'm doing now. I log the time accurately and just put in the cals (so if the machine said 400 I put 200) and then in the exercise notes I am putting what the machine actually said, so I can look back if this stops working.

Thank you all for your advice!

Also, I am noticing a few things some of you mentioned...I am less hungry overall, which is awesome. And on days I don't exercise and therefore don't eat back cals I find that I am hungrier bc I am used to more...I'm not sure quite how to fix that, but on those days I am trying to eat more low cal foods (celery, broccoli, spinach) and less high cal foods (cheese, pasta). We shall see!

NCchar130

I was quite stressed over this issue when I first got started - especially wondering how I could possibly know how many calories I was 'really' burning. Then I read some posts on here about how YOU MUST EAT BACK EXERCISE CALORIES, and found myself eating just to eat sometimes (not hungry) afraid that I'd stall out if I didn't eat, etc etc. Days I didn't exercise I'd often find it nearly impossible to stay within my limits. It all became very stressful :laugh: And I totally understand about the self-control issue because that's precisely how I got fat.

Anyway, I did like you said and tried to underestimate calories burned, for one thing. Second, if I just wasn't hungry, I didn't eat them back. So on Monday, maybe I'm under goal by 300 calories. On Tuesday though, maybe I'm extra hungry for whatever reason. Great, I 'banked' 300 calories on Monday and so I might go over by that amount roughly on Tuesday. In other words, I looked at the week, instead of each day. That also builds up sometimes where I could have some treat or eat out of whatever without feeling any guilt whatsoever. It's worked really well.

auteurfille22

You can eat back your exercise calories and still lose weight. Generally people say that weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. I've definitely found that to be true for me. If you filled out the questions about your activity level and stuff when you first signed up accurately, then the calorie intake MFP has set for you already programs in a deficit in calories. BUT, everyone is different and if that's how you feel this is my best advice - write down the exercise you've done throughout the day (or just record it some place other than MFP), but don't actually enter it until right before you are going to complete the diary for the day, and you're done eating. That way you can't see the extra calories throughout the day and only eat what you feel you should, and then you can add in the exercise calories afterwards.

Cat_Lifts

I've always figured eating your exercise calories back is appropriate *IF* you are currently at a a caloric deficit, which in my case I am. My daily caloric needs to maintain my weight are 2300, and I'm currently consuming 1750 a day (550 deficit) to lose. I eat my calories back because I don't want to net less than 1750 by the end of the day. If I did, then I'd be netting probably 1250-1400 calories a day (my workouts typically burn anywhere from 350-500).

I also don't want to net below my bmr, which is about 1650ish. So by eating my calories back and netting that 1750, I've been told it's okay. Some people go half and half with exercise calories - say in my case, if I wanted to eat 2000 calories a day, then I'd burn 250 with exercise to net 1750. That way I'm only cutting 300 less from maintenance and the 250 off from exercising.

BobbieLee1959

If you plan to eat back exercise calories, make sure you are logging everything accurately and that you are using an HRM for your calorie burns rather than relying on MFP values or the machines at the gym. If you want to count those huge burns, only eat back half of your calories burned or you may find yourself at a stand still on weight loss (yes, this is what happened to me!) Now that I have my HRM, I am much more conservative on eating back my cals...

kdeaux1959

I generally eat back PART of them. When we are inaccurate (bound to happen) we TEND to overestimate exercise burn and UNDER estimate calories TAKEN IN.. Hence, if we eat back all our exercise calories, we tend to shoot ourselves in the foot... You are right about the fact that exercise is good for other things.. I often say.. we have 3 things in the physical exercise area we need to worry about -- strength (weights), flexibility (stretching/yoga), and endurance (aerobics)... Yes, you can not exercise and still lose weight but you are still not getting the maximum level of fitness benefit. While on calorie reduction, if I were hungry, I would eat back some of the calories (maybe half) -- 350 of the 700 burned... (assuming that you are hungry.. if not, don't worry too much about it though some would argue otherwise)... As for me since I am nearing maintenance, I eat back most of them and often even go over (still set my goal for a slow weight loss so on average, I am still losing some)... but if you are on weight reduction, I would opt for the eating back about half. Think of food as fuel for the activity you are doing.

Cat_Lifts

What I do is. if I burned 400 calories while excerising I try and make sure I have between 350-400 calories left at the end of the day. try not to eat back the calories you ate. you'd be ruining the workout you just had. this is a very common problem that a lot of people make. Try and and eat calories that will keep you full longer as well, so you won't get cravings. hope this helps!

350-400 calories below your maintenance level, right? Some people will eat "x maintain calories/x maintain calories" then go burn say, 300. Now it's x calories - 300 = caloric deficit. For those of us who are already at a deficit to begin with, meaning lower than our maintenance level, some usually tend to eat calories back to net our proper caloric goal. We can either a) further that deficit more or b) have extra calories to consume to our liking, whether it's for a treat, special occasion, an upcoming known splurge, etc.

autumnblade75

Your mind will say "hey I have 150 calories left, that cookie is 150 calories, let's eat it!"

Yeah? Ok. But *I* say, don't just EAT the cookie - ENJOY EVERY LAST DELICIOUS CALORIE of that cookie. And then calculate how many calories you actually burn in a day, and select a reasonable deficit from that number and forget about the 1200 that MFP selected for you. It's probably too low in the first place.

After I lost 10 pounds, the site offered to recalculate my calorie goal, based on my actual input. I told it to go ahead, thinking that if it told me a lower number, I'd ignore it, because 1700 was still working for me. It gave me 1840 instead. So I'm eating 1840, and eating most of my exercise calories back. And even going over my calories some days. And it's still working.

lucylousmummy

I don't always eat all my exercise calories back, it depends how I feel. If I feel hungry then I'll eat but keep in the limit. If not, I don't force myself to eat.

Exactly... I would probably gag trying to eat any more on some days. If I am not hungry,, I am not going to force it.

agree with both of these plus without a hrm i dont trust the calories burned that mfp sets, so when i do rarely eat my exercise calories back i only have half at the most

GymBeast2

My exercise calories are my cushion. So if I worked out for 500 and MFP has me eating 1700, I have a slight cushion to eat over 1700. Some days I do and some I don't.


It all depends on your body's need and learning to read them.

haymancm

or you can set you MFP to slightly active or moderately (depending on how much you work out) then just eat that amount and dont log excercise

I like this method. After upping my activity, it puts me about where I've been since I've started MFP, going from 1390 to 1540 lightly active to active. I would only eat back 1/3 or less of the calories I ate anyways with the lowered activity with the extra exercise. But, I still plan to move around more & be more active to ensure the weight loss & toning.

ElizMurphy69

I let the chips fall where they may (not like potato chips...trying to give them up..LOL). I go by how I feel. If I am hungry, I eat...if I'm not, I don't. If I am hungry I eat them back. If I am not, I don't. If I work out 800 calories worth, I may eat a couple hundred back to get some extra protein and leave the rest.

Katetw

If you plan to eat back exercise calories, make sure you are logging everything accurately and that you are using an HRM for your calorie burns rather than relying on MFP values or the machines at the gym. If you want to count those huge burns, only eat back half of your calories burned or you may find yourself at a stand still on weight loss (yes, this is what happened to me!) Now that I have my HRM, I am much more conservative on eating back my cals...

I can't afford a HRM and therefore have been relying on the machines at the gym. Since I cut the calorie count in half, I seem to be doing better. Seems it is true that those machines give crazy high numbers (even though, yes, I put in my age and weight).

Unknown

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anjsdav

It's a will power, mind power thing. Eating back the calories may work if you are very disciplined logging and have a monitor to tell you exactly what your body is burning during the workouts (which I do not). I have a petite frame so I am use to normal not applying to me and don't trust it. Aiming lower than I should as a mental goal (achieved by changing my settings to sedentary which I am not) and praise myself when I actually hit my goal seems to be working for me. So I usually don't have calories to eat back . This may work for you too. It may not be the best since I am not getting my desired 1-2 lbs a week weight loss. At this moment not going back up is great!

foleyshirley

you're supposed to eat back your exercise calories Problem solved. Nothing to feel bad about!

If you eat back your exercise calories then you don't lose that weight. The whole reason I'm exercising is to lose weight! So I don't want to go waste all that time spent working out.

It's more a mental issue, of I see I'm allowed this much and therefore I feel the need to use it up.

When you tell MFP how much you want to lose, it creates your deficit. If you don't eat back at least some of the calories, you create an even larger deficit, which can lead to problems. You should be eating back at least some of them. You should be netting your calorie goal if you are using the MFP method.

Edited to add that you do need to make sure your calories burned estimates are fairly accurate.

pteryndactyl

You can go into the "My Foods" tab and create a dummy food, i.e. "Negate Exercise Calories" and have it at 1 serving = 1 calorie. Next time you add your exercise on MFP, add the "dummy food" with the # of servings = # of calories burned. That way at the end of the day you're still hitting your target, but you don't have "X calories remaining" in your face tempting you. But, you'll still have them around if you're super hungry and need them.

averytds

I can't afford a HRM and therefore have been relying on the machines at the gym. Since I cut the calorie count in half, I seem to be doing better. Seems it is true that those machines give crazy high numbers (even though, yes, I put in my age and weight).

Maybe useful or not, but when I had a gym membership many, many years ago and became pregnant, I was told wearing a HRM was required. It was a little box on a chest strap with a watch that wirelessly synced. It was also free to use from the service desk. I would hand over something....my license maybe....don't remember, but at the end of my workout I would just turn it back in. Maybe your gym has something similar. I never knew mine did until they told me.


I rarely eat my exercise calories back. I have enough trouble trying to reach my regular allotment and almost never do. Switching to good food has left me fuller with a lot less calories. I struggled for a bit and will force some food in the morning (was not a breakfast eater), but won't force myself to eat later in the day if I'm not hungry whether I have the calories or not.