Eating back exercise cals does not wok for me

smalls9686

1. You eat more than you think
2. You burn less calories than you think

put 1 and 2 together and you got weight gain. stop lying to yourself when you log your food and exercise.

Gosh, I thought this was supposed to be a SUPPORT network =-S

smalls9686

Get a heart rate monitor so that you'll know how many calories you're burning.

1000% agree you can get a solid one for 50-60 bucks on Amazon make sure you get one with a chest strap!

HotrodsGirl0107

1. You eat more than you think
2. You burn less calories than you think

put 1 and 2 together and you got weight gain. stop lying to yourself when you log your food and exercise.

Gosh, I thought this was supposed to be a SUPPORT network =-S

Don't assume your veiw of what support means is the same as everyone elses.

deksgrl

Lol!!!! This is hilarious. Go visit the eat more group and honestly tell me that none of them are particularly fit. Sorry I stil can't stop laughing!

Are you talking about people who body build and lift weights or a 30s-50s aged woman who does primarily cardio and is looking to shed pounds?

I'm not familiar with the "Eat More Group" on this forum, but the idea that you need to eat more to break plateaus is prominent on another forum I visit and 80% of the members are pretty overweight.

What I said is a blanket statement, but 'eat more' works for a particular said of people. Unless you're doing some pretty vigorous, weight bearing exercises (not swimming and gardening, which is what the OP does), eating more is just going to make you gain weight.

It is simple math. The "eat more" is NOT eating more than your maintenance. It is eating at a REASONABLE calorie deficit so that you lose weight while not sacrificing Lean Body Mass (LBM). It is about losing FAT. Preserving LBM is important for many reasons. Muscle is more active and burns more calories. It helps preserve bone density which is very important for women. Eating LESS will mess up your metabolism and your hormones and your body will cannibalize your LBM.

I'm 50, and I'm losing weight and losing fat "eating more" than MFP sets for me.

wilsoje74

I've read the topics here on eating back exercise cals and had some comments that said I needed to eat more. But I'm here to say that eating back the cals is making me gain. I've put on five pounds and it's NOT muscle.

I'm going back to what was working, 1200-1400 cals a day and keeping my workout cals burned to boost my fat loss.

The theory sounds good, eat more and lose, but it's not happening for me.

I also think that MFP way inflates the cals earned during exercise.

In just looking at your past week of eating, I'd have to say that you are indulging a lot in what I'd consider really bad food. Those are the types of things I would say should be a treat like 1x per week or so not daily. Example: pizza hut, hot dogs, ben and jerry's ice cream, dairy queen. If I ate those things daily I would definately gain weight. I also think that you are maybe burning 500 cal max with the swimming etc, not 2000. I would try to eat cleaner most days (still have treats every so often if they fit in your calorie goal) and put in a more realistic exercise burn.

seif0068

1. You eat more than you think
2. You burn less calories than you think

put 1 and 2 together and you got weight gain. stop lying to yourself when you log your food and exercise.

Gosh, I thought this was supposed to be a SUPPORT network =-S

As someone else already said, support means different things to different people at different stages of the process. The biggest support someone can offer to me when I am struggling is a slap in the face to set me straight when I am kidding myself.

sweetpea03b

I just go by my TDEE and BMR..... 1600-1800 calories regardless of how much I exercise. I think this is a much better method to avoid all this "should I or shouldn't I (eat back the cals)" discussions.

Maris_Swan

For me, I didn't see a real movement on my scale after a long stall until I stopped eating back exercise calories.

Confuzzled4ever

I cant' eat TDEE minus 20% everyday it's too much.. I set my calorie range to 1408-1643 and just try to hit that everyday. Plus I get different TDEE numbers and BMR numbers depending what site i am looking at. Too complicated, confusing and frustrating. If this isn't simple I wont' stick to it (I didnt' say easy.. simple and easy are two different things) I arbritariitly picked a middle range and aim for that. Then I eat what I want and dont' worry too much if I miss by too much or too little occasionally. I feel great, I look great, i'm healthy and i'm losing weight. I usually exercise everyday.. (but ith the end of school year upon us I have not time, between parties, gradution (8th grade sniff sniff), concerts and other activities i'll be missing it most of this week.. It's killing me. lol) and I do log my calories, but I still try to aim for my range. so I don't have to worry about if MFP logs the calories burned right or not and I don't have to worry about eating back a certain percentage of calories or whatever. Then again.. my problem wasnt' over eating.. i was under eating..

jen_zz

1. You eat more than you think
2. You burn less calories than you think

put 1 and 2 together and you got weight gain. stop lying to yourself when you log your food and exercise.

this

sweetpea03b

Just looked at your diary and I definately think part of your problem is eating crap food. Hot dogs and stuff from Dairy Queen isn't exactly on most people's plans to lose weight if they do it daily. Also.... how long are you swimming to supposedly burn 2000 cals?

I think you should re-evaluate your diet and try to eat a little cleaner.... your body needs fuel. You don't get a whole lot of that eating over-processed foods. Veggies, Fruits, Lean Meats and Complex Carbs should be where you get the fuel from.

EvgeniZyntx

I cant' eat TDEE minus 20% everyday it's too much.. I set my calorie range to 1408-1643 and just try to hit that everyday. Plus I get different TDEE numbers and BMR numbers depending what site i am looking at. Too complicated, confusing and frustrating. If this isn't simple I wont' stick to it (I didnt' say easy.. simple and easy are two different things) I arbritariitly picked a middle range and aim for that. Then I eat what I want and dont' worry too much if I miss by too much or too little occasionally. I feel great, I look great, i'm healthy and i'm losing weight. I usually exercise everyday.. (but ith the end of school year upon us I have not time, between parties, gradution (8th grade sniff sniff), concerts and other activities i'll be missing it most of this week.. It's killing me. lol) and I do log my calories, but I still try to aim for my range. so I don't have to worry about if MFP logs the calories burned right or not and I don't have to worry about eating back a certain percentage of calories or whatever. Then again.. my problem wasnt' over eating.. i was under eating..

If eating less that 80% of your actual total daily energy expenditure is "too much" then you are either not understanding real TDEE (versus calculated) or still under eating.

mazdauk

I eat back most of my exercise calories (sometimes all) - not necessarily the same day i earn them but over the week.

I am ultra careful about logging everyhting i take in - that's why you'll often see 6 cups of tea on my diary for the day:drinker: - and weighing things like pasta and cereal where its so easy for that "small/recommended" serving to get bigger.

I did up my calories slightly from what MFP set me because I was scared by the amount of calories the TDEE-20% gave me, and I knew if I didn't log the exercsie I would go back to lazy ways (whole list of fat girl non-exercise excuses available :blushing: )

Everyone is different, but its working for me. As others have said - politely and less so - double check you're logging accurately, both calories AND exercise. For example, my mother-in-law walks REALLY slowly, so her "walking moderately" would be about half my speed (or less) and therefore she wouldn't burn the same amount of calories, even though MFP might say we did. And I might go to a step class, but if I didn't put in much effort I shouldn't log the calories MFP would reckon I'd earned.

trogalicious

I cant' eat TDEE minus 20% everyday it's too much.. I set my calorie range to 1408-1643 and just try to hit that everyday. Plus I get different TDEE numbers and BMR numbers depending what site i am looking at. Too complicated, confusing and frustrating. If this isn't simple I wont' stick to it (I didnt' say easy.. simple and easy are two different things) I arbritariitly picked a middle range and aim for that. Then I eat what I want and dont' worry too much if I miss by too much or too little occasionally. I feel great, I look great, i'm healthy and i'm losing weight. I usually exercise everyday.. (but ith the end of school year upon us I have not time, between parties, gradution (8th grade sniff sniff), concerts and other activities i'll be missing it most of this week.. It's killing me. lol) and I do log my calories, but I still try to aim for my range. so I don't have to worry about if MFP logs the calories burned right or not and I don't have to worry about eating back a certain percentage of calories or whatever. Then again.. my problem wasnt' over eating.. i was under eating..

If eating less that 80% of your actual total daily energy expenditure is "too much" then you are either not understanding real TDEE (versus calculated) or still under eating.

bingo.

amy1612

I cant' eat TDEE minus 20% everyday it's too much.. I set my calorie range to 1408-1643 and just try to hit that everyday. Plus I get different TDEE numbers and BMR numbers depending what site i am looking at. Too complicated, confusing and frustrating. If this isn't simple I wont' stick to it (I didnt' say easy.. simple and easy are two different things) I arbritariitly picked a middle range and aim for that. Then I eat what I want and dont' worry too much if I miss by too much or too little occasionally. I feel great, I look great, i'm healthy and i'm losing weight. I usually exercise everyday.. (but ith the end of school year upon us I have not time, between parties, gradution (8th grade sniff sniff), concerts and other activities i'll be missing it most of this week.. It's killing me. lol) and I do log my calories, but I still try to aim for my range. so I don't have to worry about if MFP logs the calories burned right or not and I don't have to worry about eating back a certain percentage of calories or whatever. Then again.. my problem wasnt' over eating.. i was under eating..

If eating less that 80% of your actual total daily energy expenditure is "too much" then you are either not understanding real TDEE (versus calculated) or still under eating.

bingo.

This. What are you going to do when you have reached your goal if eating at TDEE is 'too much'?

RachelSRoach1

2. I'm glad you realize you didn't gain 5 pounds of muscle.

LOL

Capt_Apollo

thanks for this!!! i was wondering what to make for dinner, but you gave me the idea of making stir fry with my wok!!

edack72

MFP calories burned are way off for me I know that because I wear a HR monitor that calculates calories I agree with you completely I was in the same boat eating back my exercise calories didn't work at all for me either I am more careful not to do that any more unless I do a killer workout where I burn 1000+ then I definately have to eat some back. Hang in there!!!!

deksgrl

Your spleen called, it wants a peanut butter sammich and a glass of milk.

Confuzzled4ever

I cant' eat TDEE minus 20% everyday it's too much.. I set my calorie range to 1408-1643 and just try to hit that everyday. Plus I get different TDEE numbers and BMR numbers depending what site i am looking at. Too complicated, confusing and frustrating. If this isn't simple I wont' stick to it (I didnt' say easy.. simple and easy are two different things) I arbritariitly picked a middle range and aim for that. Then I eat what I want and dont' worry too much if I miss by too much or too little occasionally. I feel great, I look great, i'm healthy and i'm losing weight. I usually exercise everyday.. (but ith the end of school year upon us I have not time, between parties, gradution (8th grade sniff sniff), concerts and other activities i'll be missing it most of this week.. It's killing me. lol) and I do log my calories, but I still try to aim for my range. so I don't have to worry about if MFP logs the calories burned right or not and I don't have to worry about eating back a certain percentage of calories or whatever. Then again.. my problem wasnt' over eating.. i was under eating..

If eating less that 80% of your actual total daily energy expenditure is "too much" then you are either not understanding real TDEE (versus calculated) or still under eating.

bingo.

well since I get an answer of 2200 or more on most of those TDEE calculators.. minus 20% means I should be eating around 2,000 calories.. give or take.. the *only* time I can eat that much is when I have a cold (cause i'm starving non stop when I have a cold) or when I eat really unhealthy food. I use lightly active or moderately active settings.. since I have a desk job, but I work out 60-90 minutes most days [sometimes more] and don't sit much outside of work. i'm 5'9" or 5'10' depending what state i'm in (literally jersey says i'm taller then colorado says I am weird) CW is 197 and i'm considered "big boned" if that makes a difference. Currently I am never hungry. I eat enough to keep myself satisfied, but not stuffed. If I want a snack I get one. But i'm not gonna just go eat ice cream or peanut butter toast after dinner because I have calories left over. unless i am hungry, then I will.. I used to over eat.. then I flipped unintentionally and was undereating for months.. then I got control of it and now I find it very hard to over eat. 2,000 calories is a lot of food. I added granola into my yogurt for snack today and yesterday. That will fill me until my late lunch (like it did yesterday.. actually wasnt' hungry for lunch yesterday, but made myself eat it), which means I will probably not eat my snack.. I will probably take my son out to dinner to celebrate, I will probably stil not hit 2,000 calories.

This. What are you going to do when you have reached your goal if eating at TDEE is 'too much'?

i'll probalby die or something right?