for those who eat back exercise calories

carrietehbear
carrietehbear Posts: 384 Member
in Food and Nutrition
When did you decide it was time to start eating back your exercise calories? Have you done it from the start? Were you successful losing weight without eating back but then got to the point where you got stuck?

I've lost 55 lbs without really eating back my calories (eating 1200-1300 calories a day). I have roughly 19 more lbs to go before I get to my first goal weight (though I can lose about 25 more lbs and be okay). Recently, I started to increase the intensity of my workouts, started to gradual include more strength training and working with a personal trainer. The first couple weeks I dropped roughly 3 lbs per week eating 1200-1300 calories. This week i saw a 1/2 lbs increase. Now I'm starting to think it may be time to increase my calories but I'm so leery of doing it. (I also realize that the weight gain could be related to other things but I'd been thinking about the calorie increase for awhile.)
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Replies

  • themommie
    themommie Posts: 5,033 Member
    bump
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
    I really don'y give it much thought. I lost most of my weight without trackig food calories (from 248 to 190). Down to 177-180 by tracking but I generally have eaten back to within a few hundred of the target. Every once and a while I go over, but then there are days like to day where I have a net loss where the remaining calories are more than what i started with (and I ate normally for the day).

    It isn't a race once you get down to a few pounds within your target. It will move you quickly at the beginning but my expereince is that the body simply "runs out of energy" and begins to refuse to perform. Your mileage may vary, of course.
  • jawheb
    jawheb Posts: 295 Member
    Personally I ate them all back. Not sure how everyone else should do it. Depends on if you are trying to lose weight.
  • JosieRawr
    JosieRawr Posts: 788 Member
    I don't have much weight to lose, but I started working out before I got on MFP and I really felt like crap, I started getting the shakes after working out(not the good kind the all over bad kind) and nightly head aches and tired all the time, I came to mfp because I realized that I was UNDER eating.. like even if I hadn't been working out I was under eating.. add working out to that n it wasn't a good mix! So when I started this, I decided I'd play by their "rules" and see how it works for me, I've tweaked a few things, but eating my work out calories works for me! I feel more energetic n I feel like I'm doing more when I'm working out. I might be tired, but it's when I earned it and I don't feel like crap anymore, I feel better every day : )
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Why not try it? What's the worst that can happen- you'll still be in a deficit, so worst case scenario, your weight maintains and you're out a couple of weeks, while having more energy and getting to enjoy a bit more food. You're in this for the long haul right?

    Sidenote- the increase is probably intramuscular fluid retention from the increased intensity of your workouts. To be expected, and totally normal. It will go away on it's own after you get used to the new intensity.

    ETA: I have hypothyroid and a low BMR, so I eat all my exercise calories- they're the difference between me eating like a bird and eating like a normal person.
  • NatashaK29
    NatashaK29 Posts: 137
    The gain is probably just muscle or water weight. I personally eat my exercise calories back because thats what works for me. I try to net 1200- 1300 a day. I did stall when I got to about 15lbs from my goal but my doctor said that is to be expected. As you get fitter your body needs more nutrient. Talk it out with your trainer and doctor and see what they suggest and then just experiment a little til you find what works for you. Trial and error hun! Most important is to be patient when trying a new approach, it may take a few weeks for your body to adjust.
  • frhenderson
    frhenderson Posts: 32 Member
    I've pretty much always eaten back my exercise calories because I like to eat. :). When I used a similar program 8 years ago to get to my ideal weight, I ate back exercise calories and lost 60+ lbs in about 8 months. When I tried not eating back my exercise calories I found myself more likely to binge or give up.
    I give myself a bit of a buffer by using a heart rate monitor to determine my calorie burn (more accurate for a wider variety of activities) and I subtract out the number of calories I would have burned in the same amount of time sitting on the couch.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    I decided to start eating them back after I was happy with the number on the scale and started working on physique instead of weight loss. It's crucial for body recomposition I have found.
  • Dee_84
    Dee_84 Posts: 431 Member
    I eat almost all my exercise calories back and I am losing more than MFP estimates for me, so I guess it's working for me :)
  • Jenloma
    Jenloma Posts: 77 Member
    I started eating mine back when I decided that 1200 isn't enough for the day. I workout and eat what I need to get through the day. I have lost 12 pounds from being on this site...lost a total of 24 pounds total though :) Keep up the good work!
  • mgnmsn
    mgnmsn Posts: 133 Member
    If I am hungry, I eat them back. If I am not hungry, I do not eat them back. They are there, but I do not eat them back just for the sake of eating my exercise calories.
  • PoliticalRN
    PoliticalRN Posts: 112 Member
    I struggled losing the weight when I did not eat my calories back but now I do eat them back and started losing a pound to two pounds a week. Sometimes I'm not hungry so I don't eat them back but I try to at least give myself a healthy snack like almonds or almond butter that are high in protein and good fats densely packed since it doesn't require me to bee totally hungry to eat.
  • Bobbie_89
    Bobbie_89 Posts: 146

    Sidenote- the increase is probably intramuscular fluid retention from the increased intensity of your workouts. To be expected, and totally normal. It will go away on it's own after you get used to the new intensity.

    Thats makes a lot of sense to me now! Within a week I gained 4lbs and didn't understand and when I read this I realized its my workouts, I'm doing more then I usually do.
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
    I eat mine back, but I'm also a lot bigger and do more excercise than most(and that's not including strength training which I don't log). I have a lot more muscle mass than what the calculators think a 235 lb person does, and I know my calories needs are more than MFP sets for me as a default. I'm still burning fat pretty fast averaging like 3000 total calories/day.
  • Shell_7609
    Shell_7609 Posts: 786 Member
    The 5 days before my last weigh-in I was on a "reset" of sorts, trying to get off my plateau, so I set my calories to maintain current weight, and I ended up losing 2.8 pounds. This week, I'm going with a pound a week setting, and I'll find out tuesday how that did. I seem to do better when I eat at least some back, maybe all depending on different things. I just make sure I net over 1250 for the day, normally I net around 1500
  • Shell_7609
    Shell_7609 Posts: 786 Member
    I eat mine back, but I'm also a lot bigger and do more excercise than most(and that's not including strength training which I don't log). I have a lot more muscle mass than what the calculators think a 235 lb person does, and I know my calories needs are more than MFP sets for me as a default. I'm still burning fat pretty fast averaging like 3000 total calories/day.

    Have you thought of looking at the calculators on fat2fitradio.com & check out your body fat percentage & then go off their bmr settings for calories?
  • marywilsoncline
    marywilsoncline Posts: 301 Member
    I eat some of mine back, but never all them. I like to have a "calorie cushion" if you will at the end of the day.:happy:
  • wolfpack77
    wolfpack77 Posts: 655
    Anybody who is eating below their BMR is dangerously underfeeding. If you dont know what that is, or why its important, better look it up. I cannot stress this enough.

    OP - Losing 3lbs a week is not healthy, and there's a good chance you're losing muscle mass. I dont know how tall you are or what your body composition is, but 1200 - 1300kcal a day is way underfeeding for most people especially if you are exercising regularly.

    A medium frame woman who is 5' 9'' and 155lbs has a BMR of ~1480 calories. If she is moderately active, she needs AT LEAST 1750 a day, and her maintenance is something like 2100 - 2200.

    You may be approaching your goal quickly, but I urge you to re-evaluate your strategy befor you end up looking skinny and malnourished when you reach your goal because you burned off a bunch of muscle from improper dieting.

    Your muscle mass is your most important asset when it comes to keeping weight off. Muscle has metabolism, therefore the more of it you have, the higher your metabolism will be.

    Learn to diet properly or you could do serious damage to your metabolism, among other things.
  • QuiltySami
    QuiltySami Posts: 1
    Members of my family have been doing this for a while and they eat back all but about 200 or 300 of their calories. I just started today and am amazed at how easy it is! I can plan my food for the entire day every morning, then exercise accordingly. I plan to eat back most of my calories, otherwise I'd not be eating very much at all, and I do like eating!
  • McBully4
    McBully4 Posts: 1,270 Member
    I eat back and have eaten back every calorie from day 1. it's working for me.
  • MrsBully4
    MrsBully4 Posts: 304 Member
    I eat mine back. The muscle under this fat was hard-earned through many years of lugging my fat *kitten* around. I REFUSE TO LOSE IT.
  • whatsonmymind88
    whatsonmymind88 Posts: 15 Member
    Listen to your body or even go see a doctor and talk about it. I personally DON'T eat all mine back. If I have a good day at the gym, burned 500 cals or more then I may eat maybe 200 back if my body is telling me to.
    When I first joined I felt like I was eating way to much because I was trying to eat it back and it seemed kind of foolish to me (again foolish for ME NOT EVERYONE IS THE SAME) so I asked what my mom thought because she had joined weight watchers and she also agreed I shouldn't. Even with weight watchers they don't give you the same amount of points that would equal your burn off, just half. So again listen to your body and if you want to increase ... maybe just increase slowly to see what feels right to you!
  • healthyliving_girl
    healthyliving_girl Posts: 290 Member
    I have eaten my calories back since day one.

    I consistently lost weight.
  • megleo818
    megleo818 Posts: 595 Member
    I have eaten back all of my exercise calories from day one. Sometimes I have to "share them around" over the course of a few days -- like last night I had a dinner party and a few glasses of wine and went 300 over, even with my exercise allotment. So today I kept roughly that same amount under to balance out the overage. I try not to do that very often, but sometimes life happens!

    I absolutely would not have been as successful as I have been if I weren't eating back my calories. This practice allows me to enjoy my life -- 1200 calories is just too little for me to avoid feeling deprived. Plus, I do tend to work out pretty hard, so if I don't eat enough (or well) I get lethargic and generally icky-feeling.

    HTH! :happy:
  • IndigoFlowers
    IndigoFlowers Posts: 221 Member
    I've always eaten almost all of my exercise calories... if I didn't, I would be starving!!! But my burns typically range from 150 to a max of 600, so I am not one of those people who burn over a thousand calories per workout.
  • meeka472
    meeka472 Posts: 283 Member
    I have never eaten back all of my exercise calories because MFP grossly overestimates them. I do however use the exercise calories as a buffer to go up to 100 calories over my preset calorie limit. This has worked for me and I had no problem losing my weight or going into "starvation mode".
  • Jenilyn30
    Jenilyn30 Posts: 3
    Increasing your intensity level of your work outs, especially when working out with a trainer definitely burns more calories. Which I am sure you know this already. I def would talk with your trainer about increasing your calories, which I think would be a good idea. Little by little adding some really nutrient dense foods to increase your calories and by doing this, you can figure out how much you need to increase to continue on your amazing weight loss. As you work out and build muscle you most likely will either stay the same weight or increase a little, know that this is okay for a bit. Muscle truly burns more calories than fat does and it is a dense fiber, where fat is not. People with lots of muscle sink where as people with lots of fat float. When increasing your work outs either duration, intensity or both, you may require more calories. The body could go into starvation mode where is it holding onto every calorie available. This is not conducive to losing weight, rather stressing your body out. I hope this helps and keep up the amazing work!! It is motivating to read that you have lost 55 lbs!!!!
  • rcthale
    rcthale Posts: 141
    I set my goal based on my BMR, because my TDEE just isn't consistent from day to day. So, exercise calories are like a bonus to my daily budget, and it's a pleasure to eat them because it doesn't affect my goal.
  • LaNena01
    LaNena01 Posts: 61 Member
    bump
  • super_monty
    super_monty Posts: 419 Member
    I burn up to 1444 cals a day when I go the gym, no way can I eat that back.

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