Eating back calorie advice needed

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).

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.