Eating back exercise calories made me gain - so confused

OspreyVista

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

Because for some people like me, end up stalling out and not losing anything. I have noticed that when I don't eat my exercise calories back I end up not having a loss, but when I do eat them back, I lose.

fufi04

I think everyone is different & you should just listen to your body. No one truly knows what we, as humans, should & shouldn't do. There's many different methods that work. For example, I eat an average of about 1250 calories ( should be eating ~2000 ), never eat exercise calories back, on my second round of Insanity, & have been losing 2-3 lbs/ week. I've lost >50 with no plateau & don't feel weak or tired. Maybe I'm right maybe I'm wrong, but its working for me. And I know I've also been gaining muscle in the process. So when I do hit a plateau, I'll reevaluate. (:

---The Fitness Non-Expert

pcastagner

I think everyone is different & you should just listen to your body. No one truly knows what we, as humans, should & shouldn't do. There's many different methods that work. For example, I eat an average of about 1250 calories ( should be eating ~2000 ), never eat exercise calories back, on my second round of Insanity, & have been losing 2-3 lbs/ week. I've lost >50 with no plateau & don't feel weak or tired. Maybe I'm right maybe I'm wrong, but its working for me. And I know I've also been gaining muscle in the process. So when I do hit a plateau, I'll reevaluate. (:

---The Fitness Non-Expert

The thing is, as much as we love to feel like unique individuals, we are basically all extremely similar. What differs is generally measuring habits, perception, and truth telling.

There is no known way to make something out of nothing, but there are a million ways to be mistaken about how much you are eating. Yet we are more likely to believe someone is actually maintaining or gaining weight on a steep caloric deficit than we are to believe energy and matter can not be created or destroyed.

kakaiie

I was also annoyed with that whilst going to gym and eating healthy made me gain more lbs maybe cos of my hypothyroidism. anyway i've been using this supplement lately and it has suppressed my appetite. i lost 7kg in 3 months.

Delicate

Go with the TDEE = X% and let us know how it works!

Im curious with all the people who dont eat back some food while exercising, if their will be threads about 'i lost so much weight but still look fat cause i didnt fuel my muscles and they disappeared because my body used them for fuel.'

cwolfman13

LMFAO at the idiots who don't bother to research how to use a specific tool like MFP and don't know that MFP is a NEAT method calculator...thus you would eat back exercise calories per the NEAT method of weight loss. Don't people read instructions anymore or research what the hell they are doing? Idiots.

Also get a dictionary and look up the word goal....that's the word right next to your calorie GOAL. Does everyone really think MFP is just trying to trick them into eating more by upping their calorie GOAL when they exercise? Again...idiots.

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).

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?

Sorry, I was pretty unclear. I do my weight circuit twice so I'll do: 2 sets of 25 each of deadlifts (60), squats (90), cleans & power cleans (45) do take a breather and then do it again. I'm working with a trainer so he has me on a regimen that incrementally ups the weight while I'm training for my half. He also throws in some pull-ups and burpees occasionally between sets. I haven't decided whether it's to torture me, or to get my heart rate up. Probably the latter.

craigmandu

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?

Sorry, I was pretty unclear. I do my weight circuit twice so I'll do: 2 sets of 25 each of deadlifts (60), squats (90), cleans & power cleans (45) do take a breather and then do it again. I'm working with a trainer so he has me on a regimen that incrementally ups the weight while I'm training for my half. He also throws in some pull-ups and burpees occasionally between sets. I haven't decided whether it's to torture me, or to get my heart rate up. Probably the latter.

This makes much more sense...sorry it just seemed like a strange schedule until you specified it was a circuit you did twice.

Personally, I would up the weight if it were me and lower the reps....but do what works for you. People usually get better strength results on higher weight/lower reps. How long have you been doing it this way? Did your trainer indicate he was keeping it lighter weight/longer reps for a reason, like to ensure your muscles aren't too stressed while you are preparing for your half? Did he indicate you would move to a higher weight/smaller reps after your marathon?

Mrsmorman

After looking at your food diary back to May 1st, I only saw calorie deficits and large ones. Are you logging all your food or are you reading your calories correctly, you have a lot left at the end of the day. Also I don't see much fruit and vegs at all. Maybe you could replace some of the cookies and twizzlers with fruit. Also each lunch and dinner could use a veg and you might want to have more for breakfast than just coffee,your body needs that fuel. Watch some of the shakes with the high calorie counts. Overall try to choose more healthy natural foods that will give you more nutrition and fiber for the calories. You can check out the food pyramid for how many servings should be eaten daily as far as fruit and vegs and all other foods.The right or wrong combinations of foods can make a difference in gains and losses. Also do use your food scale, it is a very helpful tool and I use mine all the time. Hope this helps and good luck.

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).

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?

Sorry, I was pretty unclear. I do my weight circuit twice so I'll do: 2 sets of 25 each of deadlifts (60), squats (90), cleans & power cleans (45) do take a breather and then do it again. I'm working with a trainer so he has me on a regimen that incrementally ups the weight while I'm training for my half. He also throws in some pull-ups and burpees occasionally between sets. I haven't decided whether it's to torture me, or to get my heart rate up. Probably the latter.

This makes much more sense...sorry it just seemed like a strange schedule until you specified it was a circuit you did twice.

Personally, I would up the weight if it were me and lower the reps....but do what works for you. People usually get better strength results on higher weight/lower reps. How long have you been doing it this way? Did your trainer indicate he was keeping it lighter weight/longer reps for a reason, like to ensure your muscles aren't too stressed while you are preparing for your half? Did he indicate you would move to a higher weight/smaller reps after your marathon?

Yes, we'd probably move to higher weights, slightly lower reps (15 - 20 instead of 25) after the half. He said we're trying to build/maintain muscle strength while not fatiguing them too much since it's my first half and I'm building up my running distance. The overall goal is to not tempt injury before the big day.

I've been doing it this way for about two months. Before that I was doing weight bearing exercises like TRX or kettlebells with 20 - 25lb weights (Not sure if kettlebells count as traditional lifiting. Probably not I'm guessing).

pcastagner

After looking at your food diary back to May 1st, I only saw calorie deficits and large ones. Are you logging all your food or are you reading your calories correctly, you have a lot left at the end of the day. Also I don't see much fruit and vegs at all. Maybe you could replace some of the cookies and twizzlers with fruit. Also each lunch and dinner could use a veg and you might want to have more for breakfast than just coffee,your body needs that fuel. Watch some of the shakes with the high calorie counts. Overall try to choose more healthy natural foods that will give you more nutrition and fiber for the calories. You can check out the food pyramid for how many servings should be eaten daily as far as fruit and vegs and all other foods.The right or wrong combinations of foods can make a difference in gains and losses. Also do use your food scale, it is a very helpful tool and I use mine all the time. Hope this helps and good luck.

No she was not running huge deficits. She just wasnt using the food scale.