Eating back exercise calories made me gain - so confused

goodtimezzzz

I never eat my exercise calories back. I think it's counterintuitive.

goodtimezzzz

you would be correct!

misssiri

To all you people that think eating back exercise calories is stupid and counter intuitive, not to worry, the OP isn't eating hers. Also, you are doing it wrong. And yes, there is such thing as a slow metabolism. If you tell me you aren't hungry after eating 1000 calories per day, your metabolism is slow.

i don't know why people don't want to eat the food. There's nothing wrong with fueling your body. Don't tell me 1000-1200 calories per day is enough for an adult that exercises.

OP, you aren't eating yours. You are netting about 600 calories every day from what I saw in your diary. You probably do need to eat more.

AmyRhubarb

Looking over your diary, I would say you need to eat more! I'm seeing net calories below 1000, some days below 500. Food is fuel - eat too little for too long & you give the body a reason to store fat rather than burn it.

Speaking from my own experience - eating more calories changed everything for me. I calculated my BMR and my TDEE and eat in between those two numbers, and have lost more fat, keeping my lean body mass in the process, since eating this way over the past year. Best success I've had has been since making the switch.

Great info here, give it a read: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974889-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

Julettashane

i never understood the eat back you exercise calories thing......you just worked your butt off to get those calories off then you eat them back. i feel like you would be undoing what you did. you might need to redo your calorie needs or work out harder if your not doing much. not sure how youre eating. maybe less carb more protein. i know thats my problem

donnacervelli11

I do not follow that silly idea. Why would you eat back what you worked so hard to burn?

Because MFP has you at a deficit already with your daily calorie goal - meaning you could eat to goal, do zero exercise, and you're at a deficit and will lose weight. Exercising and burning more calories creates an even larger deficit, which can lead to problems - that's why they add those burned calories back into your daily goal - you are supposed to eat them back.

Now this is assuming you entered all your info correctly when you set up MFP, going for a reasonable weight loss goal (as in, not 2lbs a week unless you've got 100+ pounds to lose, etc), and that all the food consumed is measured and accounted for correctly - the system works.

OP - as for the six pound gain - how long has it been since to switched to eating back exercise cals? Do you also take measurements and progress photos? Do you lift heavy? And how often do you weight - the body can easily fluctuate 6lbs in a week due to a new or harder workout, too much sodium & water retention, hormones, time of the month, etc.

Hard to offer more advice without more info - if you could make your diary public that might help. Hang in there - with only 17 pounds to lose, it's a pretty slow process anyway, and hard to be patient!

My current settings are to lose 1lb a week. I have myself set to 'sedentary' since I work a desk job.

I do lift, and it's pretty heavy for me. Normal weight session would be deadlifts 60lbs, squats 90lbs, power cleans 45lbs. I also do kettlebells and generally use the 25 - 35lb weights.

I run 3x a week now, since I'm training for a half. At this point it's 3.5 miles 2x a week and then a long run (6miles this week, 7. this upcoming).

I weigh in about once a week. Although now that I'm now obsessing about it, I've started weighing in every day. I thought it might be water retention, but a few weeks ago I posted about gaining 6lbs of water weight in a short period of time. Apparently, that's never gone away..:(

Maybe it's water retention? I don't really know anymore.

bumblebums

Are you weighing your food or eyeballing it? I would guess that you are not tracking accurately. Even measuring by volume can result in errors that add up.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

seif0068

I never eat my exercise calories back. I think it's counterintuitive.

It's only counterintuitive if you view exercise as purely a means of weight loss. The average person without other health/metabolism issues can lose weight without exercise purely by eating at a calorie deficit. Exercise is to improve your cardiovascular health, prevent you from losing lean muscle when you are losing weight, etc. Ask any personal trainer and they will tell you that people who don't have their diet under control and exercise to "lose weight" will not be successful.

I don't understand the raging debate over this. It is simple:

MFP asks for an activity level. Either you set it to sedentary and then log your exercise and "eat back" your calories (meaning you eat however many calories puts you at 0 calories left at the end of the day); or, if you exercise very consistently, you set your activity level to what your activity level actually is and then you DON'T log your exercise and you eat whatever amount of calories has you reach 0 calories left at the end of the day. Voila.

kennie2

id say cut down on the sugar youre eating like the cooking and chocolates, i think cutting these out or having one as a treat like once a week or 2 weeks would really help. I would even recommend eating a little more than what MFP set you as youre quite tall. Also i would try and eat more real and wholesome food instead of pre packaged. maybe switch to wholegrain instead of white. And not eating your exercise calories back and netting so low would not be a good idea AT ALL!!

AmyRhubarb

I do not follow that silly idea. Why would you eat back what you worked so hard to burn?

Because MFP has you at a deficit already with your daily calorie goal - meaning you could eat to goal, do zero exercise, and you're at a deficit and will lose weight. Exercising and burning more calories creates an even larger deficit, which can lead to problems - that's why they add those burned calories back into your daily goal - you are supposed to eat them back.

Now this is assuming you entered all your info correctly when you set up MFP, going for a reasonable weight loss goal (as in, not 2lbs a week unless you've got 100+ pounds to lose, etc), and that all the food consumed is measured and accounted for correctly - the system works.

OP - as for the six pound gain - how long has it been since to switched to eating back exercise cals? Do you also take measurements and progress photos? Do you lift heavy? And how often do you weight - the body can easily fluctuate 6lbs in a week due to a new or harder workout, too much sodium & water retention, hormones, time of the month, etc.

Hard to offer more advice without more info - if you could make your diary public that might help. Hang in there - with only 17 pounds to lose, it's a pretty slow process anyway, and hard to be patient!

My current settings are to lose 1lb a week. I have myself set to 'sedentary' since I work a desk job.

I do lift, and it's pretty heavy for me. Normal weight session would be deadlifts 60lbs, squats 90lbs, power cleans 45lbs. I also do kettlebells and generally use the 25 - 35lb weights.

I run 3x a week now, since I'm training for a half. At this point it's 3.5 miles 2x a week and then a long run (6miles this week, 7. this upcoming).

I weigh in about once a week. Although now that I'm now obsessing about it, I've started weighing in every day. I thought it might be water retention, but a few weeks ago I posted about gaining 6lbs of water weight in a short period of time. Apparently, that's never gone away..:(

Maybe it's water retention? I don't really know anymore.

Yeah, with that workout schedule, I would definitely say you need to be eating more. Food is fuel! Especially with the lifting you want to be getting good fuel and plenty of protein. Have a look at the link I posted - great info and links to tools to calculate your numbers & see how much you should be eating. I dropped my last 10lbs after following those guidelines.

bumblebums

Ah, I see. From your diary, it looks like you are eyeballing or going by volume.

If you don't have a digital kitchen scale, buy one. If you have one, start using it. You'd be surprised how inaccurate your logging is without it.

Sunnyjb

I do not follow that silly idea. Why would you eat back what you worked so hard to burn?

Because MFP has you at a deficit already with your daily calorie goal - meaning you could eat to goal, do zero exercise, and you're at a deficit and will lose weight. Exercising and burning more calories creates an even larger deficit, which can lead to problems - that's why they add those burned calories back into your daily goal - you are supposed to eat them back.

Now this is assuming you entered all your info correctly when you set up MFP, going for a reasonable weight loss goal (as in, not 2lbs a week unless you've got 100+ pounds to lose, etc), and that all the food consumed is measured and accounted for correctly - the system works.

OP - as for the six pound gain - how long has it been since to switched to eating back exercise cals? Do you also take measurements and progress photos? Do you lift heavy? And how often do you weight - the body can easily fluctuate 6lbs in a week due to a new or harder workout, too much sodium & water retention, hormones, time of the month, etc.

Hard to offer more advice without more info - if you could make your diary public that might help. Hang in there - with only 17 pounds to lose, it's a pretty slow process anyway, and hard to be patient!

My current settings are to lose 1lb a week. I have myself set to 'sedentary' since I work a desk job.

I do lift, and it's pretty heavy for me. Normal weight session would be deadlifts 60lbs, squats 90lbs, power cleans 45lbs. I also do kettlebells and generally use the 25 - 35lb weights.

I run 3x a week now, since I'm training for a half. At this point it's 3.5 miles 2x a week and then a long run (6miles this week, 7. this upcoming).

I weigh in about once a week. Although now that I'm now obsessing about it, I've started weighing in every day. I thought it might be water retention, but a few weeks ago I posted about gaining 6lbs of water weight in a short period of time. Apparently, that's never gone away..:(

Maybe it's water retention? I don't really know anymore.

MFP's numbers are so ridiculously flawed. I follow a nutritionist for my numbers....

donnacervelli11

To all you people that think eating back exercise calories is stupid and counter intuitive, not to worry, the OP isn't eating hers. Also, you are doing it wrong. And yes, there is such thing as a slow metabolism. If you tell me you aren't hungry after eating 1000 calories per day, your metabolism is slow.

i don't know why people don't want to eat the food. There's nothing wrong with fueling your body. Don't tell me 1000-1200 calories per day is enough for an adult that exercises.

OP, you aren't eating yours. You are netting about 600 calories every day from what I saw in your diary. You probably do need to eat more.

Maybe the slow metabolism is one of the problems. I'm not starving, surprisingly.

Bettyeditor

Honestly, the silly statements on this thread make my head hurt and are going to require a third cup of coffee.

So, eating back exercise calories is useless, counterintuitive, there is no such thing as slow metabolism or starvation mode?

Hmmm... I am sensing a lot of people on here with MAGIC bodies that don't require fuel to operate. Apparently for them, the same meal that can fuel sitting on your *kitten* watching TV can also fuel running a marathon. Well in that case, since there is no relationship between the energy your body expends and fuel you eat, then why eat at all? Just give up food altogether! After all, there is no "starvation mode," right? Why bother with silly food at all? :indifferent:

Come on people, use some common sense! If you eat exactly what you burn, you will keep your weight the same, if you eat more you will gain, if you eat less you will lose. How much you exercise affects how much you burn and THEREFORE how much you need to eat. And if there was no way to "slow" your metabolism, then you need to go and correct a bunch of scientific and scholarly research studies and scientists who have published papers because you apparently know better that all the PhDs out there *rolls eyes*

1223345

To all you people that think eating back exercise calories is stupid and counter intuitive, not to worry, the OP isn't eating hers. Also, you are doing it wrong. And yes, there is such thing as a slow metabolism. If you tell me you aren't hungry after eating 1000 calories per day, your metabolism is slow.

i don't know why people don't want to eat the food. There's nothing wrong with fueling your body. Don't tell me 1000-1200 calories per day is enough for an adult that exercises.

OP, you aren't eating yours. You are netting about 600 calories every day from what I saw in your diary. You probably do need to eat more.

Maybe the slow metabolism is one of the problems. I'm not starving, surprisingly.

If someone has hypothyroidism, they may eat very little, and never be hungry, and gain a whole lot of weight.

donnacervelli11

Are you weighing your food or eyeballing it? I would guess that you are not tracking accurately. Even measuring by volume can result in errors that add up.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

I'm defintely eyeballing it. I do have a digital food scale, so I should probably start breaking that out. I wonder if that's the problem.

I've also found that many of the things I tend to eat aren't in MFP, so I'll either input it myself or find something on MFP that looks close enough. Hmm.

sijomial

You really have to start fresh, log everything and hit your goal - at the moment you are all over the place.
Until you get some consistency there's no way you will be able to tell what is, or isn't, working. You certainly aren't eating back your exercise calories by the way so wouldn't be blaming that for your gain.

What does seem consistent is that you are high in sugar and low in protein very often. You might want to review what you are eating but really the priority (for weight loss anyway) is to get your calories close to your goal the majority of the time. Only then will you be able to tell what your maintenance/weight loss calories will be.

AmyRhubarb

Honestly, the silly statements on this thread make my head hurt and are going to require a third cup of coffee.

So, eating back exercise calories is useless, counterintuitive, there is no such thing as slow metabolism or starvation mode?

Hmmm... I am sensing a lot of people on here with MAGIC bodies that don't require fuel to operate. Apparently for them, the same meal that can fuel sitting on your *kitten* watching TV can also fuel running a marathon. Well in that case, since there is no relationship between the energy your body expends and fuel you eat, then why eat at all? Just give up food altogether! After all, there is no "starvation mode," right? Why bother with silly food at all? :indifferent:

Come on people, use some common sense! If you eat exactly what you burn, you will keep your weight the same, if you eat more you will gain, if you eat less you will lose. How much you exercise affects how much you burn and THEREFORE how much you need to eat. And if there was no way to "slow" your metabolism, then you need to go and correct a bunch of scientific and scholarly research studies and scientists who have published papers because you apparently know better that all the PhDs out there *rolls eyes*

crazybookworm

nobody ever wants to hear this, but based on what you are saying, I am pretty certain you are either over-estimating your activity level or under estimating our food or both.

You have to be meticulous in logging your food - especially you women that don't have that much to lose because you guys have such a small window of opportunity between your bmr and tdee. I'd recommend getting a digital food scale and measure EVERYTHING you eat for a couple of weeks and see if it makes a difference.

A little game you can play during that 2 weeks is to try to estimate the portion first, then weigh it and see how close you are. This will help you get better at estimating at restaurants and stuff since you really can't take your scale with you everywhere!

GauchoMark has got it going on! Nailed it!