Eating back exercise calories made me gain - so confused

pcastagner

Well, but math based on crappy data is pretty pointless, no? So yes, the simple additions and subtractions we do will pump out a result, but when the math doesn't get you the results you hope for, it might just be a a case of garbage in, bad results out.
You've got to be pretty rigorous about your measuring and portioning, but still almost plan on the fact that you're underestimating your calorie intake. (This is why many folks say to eat back only a portion of the exercise calories--to give you a buffer against bad data.) It absolutely slays me when a frustrated MFP'er who's gaining or plateaued asks for help, and the first thing that happens is a million folks come flying out of the woodwork screaming at them to eat more--without even mentioning the obvious and most likely possibility that the numbers they're logging are off, or they haven't adjusted their calorie target downward as they weigh less, etc. I've been struggling to lose my last 5 pounds, and I'm fairly sure it's because I've been careless about my logging.

My advice would be always to check on the quality of the numbers first, then move on to the less likely/more esoteric things like a slowed-down metabolism (unless the person is running with a very low calorie net on a consistent basis--that could be an issue).

On the whole, you put your faith more in the math, I put mine more in the data. Other than that, we're probably in violent agreement.

Well that would be a bit like a singer always singing sharp to avoid being out of tune!


If you set your goal to lose a pound a week, and yu only lose half a pound but consistently, that is a nice little piece of data! You can assume that whatever you are doing, it's creating a true deficit worth half a pound a week, and work from there. I feel this is a much better approach than always assuming you are underestimating calories, unless you truly eat the same items day after day and month after month.


I feel this is why consistency in measuring is super important, but I also agree with much of what you said so I tend to look for calorie counts in multiple places.

To counter your main point though, I went back to tracking because I tried to cut without it and wound up OVERestimating my calorie intake, which made me lose fast but not in a good way. My lean mass went down

KNarrainen

Here's a simple analogy for those people who think it's pointless to eat back your exercise calories.

You work out that your car journeys for the month require 100L of petrol ( or gas if your'e American ).

But then you start adding in extra journeys 2 or 3 times a week, to see friends and make some deliveries.

Would you add in more petrol? I guess not as what's the point, you've worked out how much you need already!

Well, shocker! The car is your body, the 100L is what your body needs to lose weight, and the 2 or 3 journeys are the exercise that you're doing.

I know it's not a perfect analogy, but the principal is the same.

pcastagner

Great analogy!

JDBLY11

I don't eat my exercise calories back either, or I gain weight too.. I think everyone is different, you have to find out what works for you... Good luck..

Me too, but even when I do exercise I am not netting below 1200 calories so it really is not a problem. You are probably similar.

pcastagner

I don't eat my exercise calories back either, or I gain weight too.. I think everyone is different, you have to find out what works for you... Good luck..

Me too, but even when I do exercise I am not netting below 1200 calories so it really is not a problem. You are probably similar.

Lol maybe this simple thought experiment can help.

Imagine you are a person who "gains from eating back exercise calories".

Now stop exercise and eat what you believe is maintenance level according to your current methods.. Will you gain?



The beauty of the net cals method, if you do it PROPERLY, is that you can make adjustments when your life changes. If you read enough stories of falling off the wagon and blowing up, you will quickly realize why this is so important and the key to long term success.

amy1612

Aaaaaaaagh the lack of sense is making my head hurt.

Go read 'in place of a road map', use something like fat2fitrado to calculate TDEE, BMR, etc. Set an appropriate deficit and eat at it. If you have a day which is particularly more active then what you've accounted for, dont panic if you eat a bit more.

Jesus people, your body needs fuel. End of. Bloody well feed it or suffer the consequences.

Phythisisa

1. Do not eat back the exercise calories. They are to help you lose weight faster.
2. Look again at the calories you are consuming. You have very little to lose, so you need to reduce your intake to the safe minimum level. You have reached a weight plateau. The temptation is to give up altogether. DON'T!!!
3. Make sure you accurately log EVERYTHING you eat ACCURATELY and try not to exceed the recommended calorie intake.
4. Carry on exercising.

onwarddownward

I didn't read all of the posts, but I believe the problem lies in the OPS eating. In the diary, very little protein, hardly any fiber and she's not tracking sodium. All that lunch meat is going to be high in sodium.

I'd move toward higher protein, more fiber and less bread and processed foods.

Good luck!

J

pcastagner

1. Do not eat back the exercise calories. They are to help you lose weight faster.
2. Look again at the calories you are consuming. You have very little to lose, so you need to reduce your intake to the safe minimum level. You have reached a weight plateau. The temptation is to give up altogether. DON'T!!!
3. Make sure you accurately log EVERYTHING you eat ACCURATELY and try not to exceed the recommended calorie intake.
4. Carry on exercising.

Lol

If your exercise calories are to make you lose weight faster, why not just set your deficit to a steeper level?

What is so magical about an exercise calorie vs. a calorie y don't eat?


This is ridiculous. You either picked the right deficit, or you didn't. If your deficit is too small, increase it. If its too great, decrease it.

No such thing as an exercise calorie in the sense you use it.

vstraughan

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*

^^^ What they said ^^^ Food = fuel. The more you do, the more fuel/food you need. The less you do, the less fuel/food you need.

Personal thought .... MFP tracker has set my daily allowance at 1200 calories, which is a fair bit below an a-typical diet. I log from 750-1000 exercise calories a day (which is pretty consistent whatever mode of tracking I use) and the intent is that you DO eat them back because you calorie allowance has already been shrunk based on your target weight loss. I do have a fairly healthy diet and don't scoff lots or junk on a regular basis. I couldn't possibly eat less and still put in the exercise I do.

Wakey wakey.

Harping on about accuracy ... pah. These tools are great for adjusting your dietary and excercise habits. I'd encourage anyone/everyone not to get obsessive about it as we're all built differently - frames, muscle, metabolism etc etc. Unless you've forked out a bucket load of cash for a dietician and PT, let the trackers guide you, not rule you

*SIGH*

donnacervelli11

Thank you everyone for the input, and some really good advice.

I got out my digital food scale for the first time last night and I weighed out all of my portions. Now that I know what 8oz of food looks like, I think this may be a little easier (fact: 8oz of chicken is smaller than I thought it would be. Whoops).

I'm going to give this TDEE thing a shot to see where it gets me. AND I'm going to make it a point to be stricter with my logging - and use a food scale. I hope this works! Thanks everyone!

ndj1979

also there no "starvation mode" or slow metabolism! jeeeeeez

amen - starvation mode is a myth, so you can jettison that thought. You would have to eat nothing for 72 hours to go into true starvation mode and even then it is minor...

like everyone else said ..log everything and definitely keep using that food scale...

You might want to lift three times a week and do cardio three times a week ...what kind of lifts do you do?

donnacervelli11

also there no "starvation mode" or slow metabolism! jeeeeeez

amen - starvation mode is a myth, so you can jettison that thought. You would have to eat nothing for 72 hours to go into true starvation mode and even then it is minor...

like everyone else said ..log everything and definitely keep using that food scale...

You might want to lift three times a week and do cardio three times a week ...what kind of lifts do you do?

Usually deadlifts, squats, cleans & power cleans. I'm working up my weights, but I think it's getting heavy - I do 2 sets of 25 each of deadlifts (60), squats (90), cleans & power cleans (45). I'll do that 2x a week with a kettlebell class thrown in if I'm feeling strong. For that it's also high reps - usually 1 min swings or lunges with a 25 - 35lb bell, depending on the exercise.

Normally I run 2x a week and then get my cardio from kickboxing or HIIT. But I'm training for a half marathon at the end of May so I've been running 3x a week (3.5 - 4 miles 2x a week, 1x long run - this week it's 7miles).

Isakizza

Ok so this was happening to me and I just (10 mins ago) found out why I wasn't losing, lol. If you use TDEE, DO NOT eat back your workout calories! You also might wanna check to see that the number you get when calculating is correct.

waldo56

So many people talking about the accuracy of this and that.

Estimating 101:
As you as you try to be right, accuracy of individual items doesn't matter all that much. Its more important to count everyting and try to be right. Increasing individual item accuracy CAN be a huge time sink.

A normal error distribution will cancel almost all error.

Spot check yourself with actual measurements to keep your eyes sharp.

Fix all issues with goals. Losing too slow? Reduce your goals. Losing too fast? Increase your goals. You should be gaining/losing at the rate you expect to gain/lose. If not find a big error you commonly make or change your goals.

Estimating "safe" is just as bad of an error as overestimating.

If you always estimate the same way (easiest way to do this is to always try to be right), estimate everything, an adjust goals to match results, you should be able to gain/lose with freakish accuracy. To within fractions of a pound over the course of months.

pcastagner

So many people talking about the accuracy of this and that.

Estimating 101:
As you as you try to be right, accuracy of individual items doesn't matter all that much. Its more important to count everyting and try to be right. Increasing individual item accuracy CAN be a huge time sink.

A normal error distribution will cancel almost all error.

Spot check yourself with actual measurements to keep your eyes sharp.

Fix all issues with goals. Losing too slow? Reduce your goals. Losing too fast? Increase your goals. You should be gaining/losing at the rate you expect to gain/lose. If not find a big error you commonly make or change your goals.

Estimating "safe" is just as bad of an error as overestimating.

If you always estimate the same way (easiest way to do this is to always try to be right), estimate everything, an adjust goals to match results, you should be able to gain/lose with freakish accuracy. To within fractions of a pound over the course of months.

Well said!

silvercanoe

,

ndj1979

also there no "starvation mode" or slow metabolism! jeeeeeez

amen - starvation mode is a myth, so you can jettison that thought. You would have to eat nothing for 72 hours to go into true starvation mode and even then it is minor...

like everyone else said ..log everything and definitely keep using that food scale...

You might want to lift three times a week and do cardio three times a week ...what kind of lifts do you do?

Usually deadlifts, squats, cleans & power cleans. I'm working up my weights, but I think it's getting heavy - I do 2 sets of 25 each of deadlifts (60), squats (90), cleans & power cleans (45). I'll do that 2x a week with a kettlebell class thrown in if I'm feeling strong. For that it's also high reps - usually 1 min swings or lunges with a 25 - 35lb bell, depending on the exercise.

Normally I run 2x a week and then get my cardio from kickboxing or HIIT. But I'm training for a half marathon at the end of May so I've been running 3x a week (3.5 - 4 miles 2x a week, 1x long run - this week it's 7miles).

you are doing 2 sets of 25 reps on Deads?

You could probably double the weight and do 2 sets of 10 reps 3 sets of 10 or something like that ..

It sounds like you need to up your weights and decrease number or reps..

or am I misreading what you are saying?

craigmandu

you are doing 2 sets of 25 reps on Deads?

You could probably double the weight and do 2 sets of 10 reps 3 sets of 10 or something like that ..

It sounds like you need to up your weights and decrease number or reps..

or am I misreading what you are saying?

I read it the same way....I've never done a routine that only incorporates 2 sets...

Diamond05

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