WHY DO PEOPLE EAT BACK THEIR EXERCISE CALS?!

Its "Eat right and move with a purpose!"
Yes eating right means less junk, and guess what healthy foods
aren't as high in calories as junk food. I just at a huge broiled
chicken breast, spinach, mashed potatoes and a salad and that is
just over 400 calories. Or I could eat a value meal at Mickey D's
for 1000 calories. I can't understand how those who swear by
eating back calories do it and eat right, because eliminating junk
food automatically cut my calories.

Its quit easy actually. I think people fall in,the trap that eating right is equal to eating low carb and low fat. And the do both. It was not a problem for me to consume 2300 calories a day on whole foods.

I do low carb because I have PCOS, but I am curious how you eat that many calories on whole foods. Maybe there is something I am missing

Whole eggs, nuts, nut, butters avacado, beef, salmon, chicken, cream, olive oil, sweet potatoes, plantains, fruit, cheeses, liver, etc...

Well I eat similar lots of eggs, cheese, poultry, olive oil, sweet potatoes are my fav and I use real butter. But maybe your calorie boost is coming from the nuts, nut butters and beef. I guess that's why I can't get that high calorie wise. I gave up beef 20 years ago and have nut allergies

Its "Eat right and move with a purpose!"
Yes eating right means less junk, and guess what healthy foods
aren't as high in calories as junk food. I just at a huge broiled
chicken breast, spinach, mashed potatoes and a salad and that is
just over 400 calories. Or I could eat a value meal at Mickey D's
for 1000 calories. I can't understand how those who swear by
eating back calories do it and eat right, because eliminating junk
food automatically cut my calories.

Its quit easy actually. I think people fall in,the trap that eating right is equal to eating low carb and low fat. And the do both. It was not a problem for me to consume 2300 calories a day on whole foods.

I do low carb because I have PCOS, but I am curious how you eat that many calories on whole foods. Maybe there is something I am missing

Whole eggs, nuts, nut, butters avacado, beef, salmon, chicken, cream, olive oil, sweet potatoes, plantains, fruit, cheeses, liver, etc...

Well I eat similar lots of eggs, cheese, poultry, olive oil, sweet potatoes are my fav and I use real butter. But maybe your calorie boost is coming from the nuts, nut butters and beef. I guess that's why I can't get that high calorie wise. I gave up beef 20 years ago and have nut allergies

But I probably eat way more food than you in generally. Im sure for breakfast you dont eat a bowl of oatmeal and 6 large eggs lol!

To be honest from my point of view for me, I have done both, exercising without eating back, crabby, weak, hungry, tired, not a good thing; exercising with eating them back, stronger, satisfied, balanced mood, awake and alert. Pretty big difference for me.

Ur gonna lose lots of weight not eating em back.. but ur still gonna be squishy and ur gonna be tired and ur gonna be hungry.

I eat before my workouts to fuel my workouts b/c they require fuel. I workout for fitness. I eat after my workouts because I just burned 1/2 of what i have consumed throughout the day and I'm hungry. Also, my muscle likes food. Interesting idea for you.. I lost weight by not eating, I've lost more body fat since eating. I like the less squishy 169 lb me.. way more than the squishy 169 lb me!

I don't eat back mine. I burn between 500-800 a day and eat 1200 calories. My nutritionist told me not to eat more than 1200 a day, so I try not to

u do know this means you are only eating like 400-700 calories a day right? how u have the energy to type is beyond me.

U r probably in reality only burning about 200 calories a day. check it with an hrm. fire your nutritionist.

Its no longer an "Eat less move more"

Its "Eat right and move with a purpose!"

Yes eating right means less junk, and guess what healthy foods aren't as high in calories as junk food. I just at a huge broiled chicken breast, spinach, mashed potatoes and a salad and that is just over 400 calories. Or I could eat a value meal at Mickey D's for 1000 calories. I can't understand how those who swear by eating back calories do it and eat right, because eliminating junk food automatically cut my calories.

But knowing how food works in your system clearly shows that you can eat anything below TDEE and lose weight.
A carb is a carb.
Etc....
After detoxing and regulating hormones you can eat anything to lose weight.
We have proven that.

That is not true, a carb is not just a carb. You can't tell me our body handles a chocolate bar the same as a strawberry. I have suffered from hypoglycemic episodes for nearly ten years and I also have PCOS. In the past when I dieted I just ate in moderation, not changing any of my eating habits. I never ate raw vegetables and rarely ate fruit. I ate a lot of pasta and always fed my sweet tooth. I always said I couldn't do low carb because of the hypoglycemia but when I started relying on veggies and fruits for carbs and eating less sweets, guess what the cravings for sweets went away as did the hypoglycemia. Some of you may want to focus on the number of calories consumed, I find the quality of those calories much more important to my weight loss journey and overall health.

PCOS I understand but what are you doing on a daily basis to break the insulin resistance you have?

Simple ways to break insulin resistance are:

1) Lifting weights

2) Small cycles of fasting


So if you could eat at a slight deficit, lift weights 3x a week and skip breakfast to have the body you want....

Be careful with chronic carb cutting.
It could lead to bigger problems down the road.

As a person with PCOS your biggest enemy is hormones.
Second biggest enemy is insulin resistance.

Overcome both and youll be set.

Currently I'm doing Jillian Michaels 90 Day Body Revolution, which is 6 days a week, weights 4 out of the 6. The funny thing is my PCOS was best in check and I was a size 4 when I ran all the time and lifted no weights. I lift weights now because of my my body goals, not for the PCOS.

I try to net under 100 carbs a day. This still allows me to have bread and some potatoes some times, but forces me to restrict the processed stuff and sweets which usually the cause of my hypoglycemic episodes. I have not had one since I cut carbs. Some people complain about feeling hungry or cranky and I'm neither. I eat well over 100g of protein most days and I guess that's why I'm full and I give it all in my workouts. In general women with PCOS have to work harder for the same result, its not a calories in vs calories out for us. Online BMR calculators don't capture what's truly going on in our bodies and unless you have a HRM, exercise calories are estimates, I wouldn't dare eat back all of an estimated amount. But if that works for some keep doing what works for you

ok I set my fitness pal to lose 1.5 pounds a week, it tells me to eat 1280 calories a day with me agreeing to work out a certain amount thats why you have a daily exercise goal as well as calories, I think I am to do 240 minutes of exercise a day and a certain amount of calories to exercise a day. So under that guideline I only eat back calories if I'm hungry and I only eat back calories that are above what I was supposed to do for the day. IS THIS CORRECT??? :noway: :ohwell:

The amount of exercise you agreed to does not get figured in to your calorie allotment at all- it's purely for goal setting.

Its no longer an "Eat less move more"

Its "Eat right and move with a purpose!"

Yes eating right means less junk, and guess what healthy foods aren't as high in calories as junk food. I just at a huge broiled chicken breast, spinach, mashed potatoes and a salad and that is just over 400 calories. Or I could eat a value meal at Mickey D's for 1000 calories. I can't understand how those who swear by eating back calories do it and eat right, because eliminating junk food automatically cut my calories.

But knowing how food works in your system clearly shows that you can eat anything below TDEE and lose weight.
A carb is a carb.
Etc....
After detoxing and regulating hormones you can eat anything to lose weight.
We have proven that.

That is not true, a carb is not just a carb. You can't tell me our body handles a chocolate bar the same as a strawberry. I have suffered from hypoglycemic episodes for nearly ten years and I also have PCOS. In the past when I dieted I just ate in moderation, not changing any of my eating habits. I never ate raw vegetables and rarely ate fruit. I ate a lot of pasta and always fed my sweet tooth. I always said I couldn't do low carb because of the hypoglycemia but when I started relying on veggies and fruits for carbs and eating less sweets, guess what the cravings for sweets went away as did the hypoglycemia. Some of you may want to focus on the number of calories consumed, I find the quality of those calories much more important to my weight loss journey and overall health.

PCOS I understand but what are you doing on a daily basis to break the insulin resistance you have?

Simple ways to break insulin resistance are:

1) Lifting weights

2) Small cycles of fasting


So if you could eat at a slight deficit, lift weights 3x a week and skip breakfast to have the body you want....

Be careful with chronic carb cutting.
It could lead to bigger problems down the road.

As a person with PCOS your biggest enemy is hormones.
Second biggest enemy is insulin resistance.

Overcome both and youll be set.

Currently I'm doing Jillian Michaels 90 Day Body Revolution, which is 6 days a week, weights 4 out of the 6. The funny thing is my PCOS was best in check and I was a size 4 when I ran all the time and lifted no weights. I lift weights now because of my my body goals, not for the PCOS.

I try to net under 100 carbs a day. This still allows me to have bread and some potatoes some times, but forces me to restrict the processed stuff and sweets which usually the cause of my hypoglycemic episodes. I have not had one since I cut carbs. Some people complain about feeling hungry or cranky and I'm neither. I eat well over 100g of protein most days and I guess that's why I'm full and I give it all in my workouts. In general women with PCOS have to work harder for the same result, its not a calories in vs calories out for us. Online BMR calculators don't capture what's truly going on in our bodies and unless you have a HRM, exercise calories are estimates, I wouldn't dare eat back all of an estimated amount. But if that works for some keep doing what works for you

Since you are eating at quite the deficit I'll challenge you to drop JM30DS down to 3x a week at your current caloric intake.
But eat back the calories.
I can guarantee a better weight loss than what you have now.

As for primal I believe Mark Sisson had a woman with Pcos who broke it with that lifestyle.

ok I set my fitness pal to lose 1.5 pounds a week, it tells me to eat 1280 calories a day with me agreeing to work out a certain amount thats why you have a daily exercise goal as well as calories, I think I am to do 240 minutes of exercise a week and a certain amount of calories to exercise a day. So under that guideline I only eat back calories if I'm hungry and I only eat back calories that are above what I was supposed to do for the day. IS THIS CORRECT??? :noway: :ohwell:

The amount of exercise you agreed to does not get figured in to your calorie allotment at all- it's purely for goal setting.

Oh I thought that they took everything into consideration. When I set it up it asked me how often I planned to work out a week and how many minutes I planned on working out each day, so that is NOT factored into my daily caloric allowance?

No, when it asks for your daily activity it asks for your activity BEFORE exercise. MFP figures out your daily calorie output based on your age, weight and activity level (a construction worker is going to have a higher caloric output than an office assistant). Any exercise you put in is just extra on top of that.

For me, eating my exercise calories back is like this: it costs my body X amount of calories to just sit on my bum all day. I eat my calories to 'pay' my body the needed energy, and in return, I survive. If I go to the gym and work out, I'm asking more of my body and the cost goes up and so I pay it extra--time and a half, if you will.

Saying how many days you want to work out and for how long is just so you can set goals and try to meet them.

I ate my calories back today because it was part of my BMR/TDEE plan. I still (according to the math) will lose 2 lbs within the next 7 days (if I continue as I did today, that is.)

Does anyone from mfp read theses forums? If so, please consider having people set their work out goals separately from the weight loss goal (ie how many calories people are going to eat). It really does seem to confuse people.

Honestly, what people need to be concerned with is net calories -- if you aren't netting 1,000-1,200 per day, you're probably doing something wrong -- unless your doctor tells you otherwise.

I just DO NOT get it!! You spend an hour in the gym working off burning 600 cal and then you just eat them back???
Why would you eat even a LITTLE back??

I thought the point was to burn these calories. WHY does MFP then add them to your food?!

those calories taste better than non-gym calories. true story.

Lol!!

I ate back not more than half my burned calories everyday. Never felt hungry, so it didn't make sense to me, to eat more than what my body wanted. Besides, estimated burned calories are often times OVER-estimated.

Now that I am maintaining, I eat close to 100% my burned calories, often more. I check the scale to make sure I don't gain or lose a pound. This has been working for me for about 5 maintaining weeks now.

I had this confusion too even though I was aware that sometimes you can get carried away with exercise and not meet your nutritional needs which are in fact the goals set to lose weight. In reality, exercise is quite optional but highly beneficial to provide the body a threshold to build endurance, strength, and at times it provides mental focus.

Its no longer an "Eat less move more"

Its "Eat right and move with a purpose!"

Yes eating right means less junk, and guess what healthy foods aren't as high in calories as junk food. I just at a huge broiled chicken breast, spinach, mashed potatoes and a salad and that is just over 400 calories. Or I could eat a value meal at Mickey D's for 1000 calories. I can't understand how those who swear by eating back calories do it and eat right, because eliminating junk food automatically cut my calories.

But knowing how food works in your system clearly shows that you can eat anything below TDEE and lose weight.
A carb is a carb.
Etc....
After detoxing and regulating hormones you can eat anything to lose weight.
We have proven that.

That is not true, a carb is not just a carb. You can't tell me our body handles a chocolate bar the same as a strawberry. I have suffered from hypoglycemic episodes for nearly ten years and I also have PCOS. In the past when I dieted I just ate in moderation, not changing any of my eating habits. I never ate raw vegetables and rarely ate fruit. I ate a lot of pasta and always fed my sweet tooth. I always said I couldn't do low carb because of the hypoglycemia but when I started relying on veggies and fruits for carbs and eating less sweets, guess what the cravings for sweets went away as did the hypoglycemia. Some of you may want to focus on the number of calories consumed, I find the quality of those calories much more important to my weight loss journey and overall health.

PCOS I understand but what are you doing on a daily basis to break the insulin resistance you have?

Simple ways to break insulin resistance are:

1) Lifting weights

2) Small cycles of fasting


So if you could eat at a slight deficit, lift weights 3x a week and skip breakfast to have the body you want....

Be careful with chronic carb cutting.
It could lead to bigger problems down the road.

As a person with PCOS your biggest enemy is hormones.
Second biggest enemy is insulin resistance.

Overcome both and youll be set.

Currently I'm doing Jillian Michaels 90 Day Body Revolution, which is 6 days a week, weights 4 out of the 6. The funny thing is my PCOS was best in check and I was a size 4 when I ran all the time and lifted no weights. I lift weights now because of my my body goals, not for the PCOS.

I try to net under 100 carbs a day. This still allows me to have bread and some potatoes some times, but forces me to restrict the processed stuff and sweets which usually the cause of my hypoglycemic episodes. I have not had one since I cut carbs. Some people complain about feeling hungry or cranky and I'm neither. I eat well over 100g of protein most days and I guess that's why I'm full and I give it all in my workouts. In general women with PCOS have to work harder for the same result, its not a calories in vs calories out for us. Online BMR calculators don't capture what's truly going on in our bodies and unless you have a HRM, exercise calories are estimates, I wouldn't dare eat back all of an estimated amount. But if that works for some keep doing what works for you

Since you are eating at quite the deficit I'll challenge you to drop JM30DS down to 3x a week at your current caloric intake.
But eat back the calories.
I can guarantee a better weight loss than what you have now.

As for primal I believe Mark Sisson had a woman with Pcos who broke it with that lifestyle.

Don't say you can guarantee results, because you can't guarantee anything to someone with PCOS unless you are doing hormonal/blood work. I will pass on your challenge. I am not doing 30 Day Shred, but her 90 day Body Revolution, which makes 30DS look like a walk in the park. I am finishing up week 6 and I'm running 3 times a week. Working out makes me feel good. As for eating back calories, if I'm hungry I will do it, if I'm not I won't. I listen to my body, not some calculator. I am applying the self-discipline that I should have applied two years ago when I my 4s and 6s started turning into 10s and 12s. I will have to pass on Primal too, I actually hate meat, I force myself to eat chicken and fish as it is. And free range organic would cost me a small fortune here in Toronto. Hell I can barely afford regular. Meat and dairy prices are almost double what they are back home in the States. If my program fails me, I will switch it up, but until then I'm going to keep pushing forward.