Eating back your exercise calories..

atakins

This afternoon I went out and walked the Capital Crescent Trail from Bethesda, MD to the National Mall in DC. That's about 9 miles. MFP says I burned 1500 calories (whoo hoo!) ...and now says I should eat them all back...

I'm eating ~1000 calories a day post RNY. I generally burn between 500 and 700 on the treadmill each day, and according to the calculators, my BMR would be ~3000. That puts my daily calorie deficit at ~2500.

Do I need to eat more on days when I really kill off calories, like today? Or is it safe to stay with my 1000 calorie plan? Anyone?

Laura8603

If you are hungry, you could eat back some of them. Do not eat them all. Do you have one of those fitbit or bodybug things that measure your calories burned? Online calculators are usually way off. You could also get your RMR checked. My surgeon has one of those machines you breathe into to measure your RMR. Most of us have really screwed up metabolisms from years of dieting.

atakins

I was starving after the walk, and ate just enough to make that go away (~100 calories of Guacamole & baked tortilla chips).

A Fitbit is on my list of to-do's. I just moved, so I'm tight on cash this month. I'll pick one up next month

I've suspected that the calculation for BMR is totally off for me - it says 3100, and I'd go back to a blimp if I ate like that.

I'd never heard of RMR, so now I have to find out if any of my doctors can help with that, because that's very helpful.

rumplesnat

I eat most of mine back most days. I had about 1,200 total banked this week from extra workouts because I knew this weekend we'd be eating pizza and heading to our favorite footlong hotdog place, plus I'm tearing up my Easter basket candy on Sunday, so I saved the calories to consume this weekend and not feel guilty. I'm at the point now (12 months post-op RNY) that I am not usually satisfied with eating only 1,200 calories, but I burn enough daily to eat upwards of 1,800 and still be within my calorie goal with exercise.

grim_traveller

You should really ask your surgeon and nutritionist. Mine say to stick with 1200 calories a day, period. In the seven months since surgery, I have averaged 1,040 calories a day. Since I started, my BMR has dropped by 1,100 calories a day, just from the lost weight, and there are still days that I supposedly burn 4,000 a day, but I take that with a grain of salt. Calorie burn estimations are always high, and eating back calories can be disastrous.

Again, ask your doc and nut, but I was anxious to take advantage of this honeymoon period, and keep calories low and exercise as much as possible.

I have a Fitbit, and love it. It's a great way to keep track of your daily activity, and move more if you notice the numbers slipping.

Laura8603

I would not worry about the fitbit right now. You can pretty much do anything and still lose the first year. After that is when you have to be more careful. By the 2-3 year mark is when a lot of people struggle with regain. Just know things will change along the way and be ready to change when needed. I figured out how many calories I need to maintain by trial and error. And what worked at the two year mark did not work at the three year mark (I had to cut back a lot).