Eating back Excercise Calories

I dont eat them back.To my way of thinking,if I workout two hours a day to burn calories why on earth would i want to eat them back?Whats the point in that?Some people think you have to eat every calorie this site gives you,I dont agree with this theory.Good luck in your journey.

My personal opinion, if you're not hungry, and you're losing weight at a rate that seems reasonable to you, you shouldn't feel obligated to eat more. You're body will generally let you know if it's not happy with what you are giving it.

Eat after 7. There's no reason not too.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html

Eat when you're hungry but make sure to eat 'healthy", eg. Brown rice, chicken, veggies...

my dietician told me not to eat past 6. Your body retains that as fat. The only exception is for diabetics, They need to because of blood sugar levels

I have been trying to decide rather or not to eat back the calories because i haven't been losing. However several on here have lost a lot more when they did eat back the exercise calories. Most days i want to eat them bc 1200 is so very hard to stick to. Im leaning towards that its best not to eat them back at least not all. That being said if you are having trouble fitting them all in maybe see how you do without eating back all the exercise calories.

I think it just depends on the person - I have heard that you can eat your cals back too ....my bmr is 1550 the cals they have me set at is 1200...I tried eating just the 1200 the first week and lost 3 lbs.....the next week I tried eating between my BMR and TDEE (2200) and exercising -didnt lose anything. lol I think sometimes the more we worry and fret the less this will all work as stress about anything causes a raise in cortisol which causes fat stores to rise.....

I don't eat or drink after 6:30 because I have horrible dreams if I do and I have to get up in the wee hours to go to the bathroom...which I hate.
I don't eat back my exercise calories because I put the exercise in at the very end of the day and then I don't have to get confused or do subtraction. But, I am still in the losing stage and will have to re-evaluate when I get to goal.

I'd agree with others that say that eating after 7 won't hurt your weight loss progress. It gets lumped into the same category as needing to eat breakfast to lose weight. Those are personal preferences and the key is to do what works for you.

However, if you really don't want to eat after 7, then you can add higher calorie clean foods into your diet. Peanut butter is a great one that won't make you feel like you're eating more, but will add calories. Avocado, nuts, cheese... not too filling, but will add calories. My favorite way to use up my leftover calories is a bowl of ice cream before bed! :happy: LOL

Eating back exercise calories is a good idea because it keeps your metabolism boosted and helps you to prepare for maintenance. That's not to say that you can't lose weight if you don't eat them back, but (IMO, and I think others as well) you're conditioning your body to function on a smaller amount of calories, regardless of your activity level.

I guess it all boils down to... do whatever works for you which will allow you to live optimally and maintain your progress when you reach your goal! Good luck!:flowerforyou:

my dietician told me not to eat past 6. Your body retains that as fat. The only exception is for diabetics, They need to because of blood sugar levels

Not true!!!!!

I work late, so I try to eat my "dinner" at work before I leave. Then, after my workout, I often make myself some eggs (protein) after I get home. By this time, it's near 10 p.m. It works for me.

I think the bottom line is to find what works best for you. Everyone is different...so focus on YOU and get there through some trial and error. Good luck to you! :happy:

I set my daily calories to include my proposed exercise so I don't have to think about eating back anything

I used scooby's calculator (google it)

I have been trying to decide rather or not to eat back the calories because i haven't been losing. However several on here have lost a lot more when they did eat back the exercise calories. Most days i want to eat them bc 1200 is so very hard to stick to. Im leaning towards that its best not to eat them back at least not all. That being said if you are having trouble fitting them all in maybe see how you do without eating back all the exercise calories.

I eat at least half my exercise calories back, especially if I am hungry, sometimes more. I use a HRM so I have a better of idea of what I am actually burning. This is a lifestyle change, therefore, I am eating like I want to be able to eat the rest of my life. That being said, I eat around 1550 calories without exercise calories. I have never been on 1200 calories, I would not be able to handle it!!!

my dietician told me not to eat past 6. Your body retains that as fat. The only exception is for diabetics, They need to because of blood sugar levels

This is not true. Your dietician needs to check their facts.

And what is YOUR education to be able to say this... Something you read on the internet? sigh... if I even LOOK at food in the evening I gain... I am a firm believer in not eating after 7pm...

Common sense. Experience. Over 140lbs of it. Where's your info from, hmmm? Magazines and other crapola that tell you not to eat in the evening? That where you get that lovely attitude as well? Your body doesn't dictate the time of day. It doesn't suddenly go "ermahgerd, it's after 7, that food is going straight to your thighs" or whatever. That's not how the human body works. Science fail.
More than likely, people eat extraneous foods and stuff with crappy nutritional content in the evening. And overindulge. Hence the gain. If you're within a decent calorie allowance and at a good macro ratio, you can eat whenever you bloody well please. I do, and it's worked for me for years. If you personally gain by eating anything late at night regardless of nutrition, you're either a medical marvel or dishonest about what you eat.

Then I suppose you can categorize me under medical marvel. I dont know if I am sensitive to everything under the sun after years of yoyo dieting, but the other day I ate one bag of edamame...140 calories at 9pm before bed and Ive weighed 2lbs more ever since. I know it makes no sense, but it happens to me all.the.time. If I want to lose this last 20lbs, I have to go to bed hungry...

One bag of edamame at 140 calories will not make you gain 2 lbs. You need 7000 calories over your maintenance calories in order to gain 2 lbs.

If you are holding on to an extra 2lbs it is likely water weight.

Okay your scale weight might be up for whatever reason, but it is not actual weight that you have gained....at least not from your edamame after 7:00. It's physically impossible to gain an actual 2 lbs from 140 calories.

I think the underlying issue isn't when or even what you eat necessarily (although some foods do cause us to retain water temporarily or affect our hormones negatively).

I think the issue is that your body is responding to a change in your normal routine.

Many people see a big jump in weight after a weekend. Generally, it's not because they actually eat thousands of calories that causes the body to store pounds of fat, but because we tend to eat differently and have a different activity level on the weekend. After they go back to their normal cycle, the numbers on the scale go back to where they belong.

If you were to eat edamame every night, you wouldn't see a 2 lb. gain every morning afterwards. Eventually, your body would adjust to the new habit and your weight would level out, provided you're still eating the correct amount of calories.

But, honestly, it's not really an issue either way. If not eating in the evening is what you feel works for you and helps you live optimally, then go for it!

Edited to fix typo!