Eating back your calories rant.
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I eat when I'm hungry, and my appetite varies from day to day. If I have a huge workout, I do tend to be a bit more hungry. But, if I eat any calories back it's only a small percentage. Good luck!0
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Thank you so much for posting your experience on here and what you found out from your trainer. Blanket statements on here about whether or not you should eat back calories are very confusing and potentially harmful to our weightloss efforts.
A 25 yr old bodybuilder/triathlete/etc that is near goal weight should definitely not have a severe calorie deficit, as it can cause them to lose muscle mass since they have very little fat reserves.
HOWEVER, most of the dieters on this site do not fall into that category.
A 300 pound, 50 yr old man or 200 pound woman who exercises at a light to moderate level, can safely lose 2 pounds or more a week. In order to lose 2 pounds, they must have a calorie deficit of 1000 cals per day. MFP factors in 500 calorie deficit in the calorie goal, therefore the other 500 calories must come from activity. If they eat back all of their exercise calories, and perhaps the exercise charts are wrong, and the portions are off slightly, etc, it is quite possible to gain weight Then after 2 months of not losing, they end up quitting and declaring that it is impossible to lose weight. And end up gaining more.
It is quite possible for SOME people to eat 900-1200 per day without lowering your metabolism, and without starving, if you eat adequate amounts of protein, and good fats, while limiting sugar and simple carbs and getting a moderate amount of activity. I have had MANY doctors tell me this, as well as nutritionists and trainers. Dont automatically tell someone that they are starving themselves and are not healthy if they are getting good results on this regimen. Just because it may not be right for you, doesn't make it wrong for someone else.
Find what works for you, and ignore any rude, pig-headed people that say you are wrong and they are right.
And to fellow posters- PLEASE quit assuming that you know what is best for someone else, when you have no idea what their situation is!
well they will "get results" but I guarantee they will lower their metabolic rate if they do it for any considerable amount of time.
been doing it since April and still going strong.
I have tons of energy, I exercise almost daily. Everything changes at some point and I don't expect mine to change for about 90 more lbs. You forget that a heavier person can get away with it more so than someone who only has few lbs to lose. But people seem to forget that and just judge on what they think they know. 0 -
Eating back your calories doesn't mean go eat a big mac after you burn your 800 calories at the gym people. It means incorporate some extra calories THROUGHOUT your day to ensure that your body is not starving, you are not depriving yourself, and you have enough fuel for your workout. If someone is only going to the gym and getting on the treadmill for 15 minutes and they think they should eat those back, that's a different story altogether. If you're an avid gym goer or live an active lifestyle, and you already have a deficit logged into MFP, you need to have more of a balance between calories burned and calories consumed. stop already with the starvation technique. It's a short term solution!
Who mentioned eating a Big Mac? Seriously! Ive just read through the whole comments and no-one mentioned eating a Big Mac only you, I guess your feeling hungry or something.
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Please don't assume that because I was eating all of my calories back I was stuffing my face with McDonalds, far from it. My body has never been starving thanks very much, in fact the past two months its been in overdrive due to miss-informed information given. I really don't think a bit of starvation will do me in any harm anyways considering how much I have to lose. Until you walk a day in someone' shoes don't judge them
Nope, not hungry. Because I make sure I EAT enough to fuel my body. Alot of people think by eating your exercise calories back it's a free ticket to eat what you want. If you don't want anyone's opinion, why even post a question. I didn't say you did eat McDonald's, it was just a figurative of speech. And my OPINION. Which is what everyone gives when they comment on a post.0 -
Eating back your calories doesn't mean go eat a big mac after you burn your 800 calories at the gym people. It means incorporate some extra calories THROUGHOUT your day to ensure that your body is not starving, you are not depriving yourself, and you have enough fuel for your workout. If someone is only going to the gym and getting on the treadmill for 15 minutes and they think they should eat those back, that's a different story altogether. If you're an avid gym goer or live an active lifestyle, and you already have a deficit logged into MFP, you need to have more of a balance between calories burned and calories consumed. stop already with the starvation technique. It's a short term solution!
Who mentioned eating a Big Mac? Seriously! Ive just read through the whole comments and no-one mentioned eating a Big Mac only you, I guess your feeling hungry or something.
Nope, not hungry. Because I make sure I EAT enough to fuel my body. Alot of people think by eating your exercise calories back it's a free ticket to eat what you want. If you don't want anyone's opinion, why even post a question. I didn't say you did eat McDonald's, it was just a figurative of speech. And my OPINION. Which is what everyone gives when they comment on a post.
Please don't assume that because I was eating all of my calories back I was stuffing my face with McDonalds, far from it. My body has never been starving thanks very much, in fact the past two months its been in overdrive due to miss-informed information given. I really don't think a bit of starvation will do me in any harm anyways considering how much I have to lose. Until you walk a day in someone' shoes don't judge them
Why generalized people though? Seriously if you don't eat a Big Mac why assume that others do. Don't tar everyone in the same boat just because you assume it. I personally did not eat a McDonalds when finishing exercises, have you not seen how many calories is even in a Big Mac? Thats worth a 90min workout! No thanks!0 -
It's quite possible that your stall was as much due to inaccurate tracking of calories in as much as calories burned. It's been shown that most people tend to under estimate intake by 20% if they're not weighing their food.
I was anal and weighed everything I ate as well as used a HRM. I still lost an average of 1-2 pounds per week eating my exercise calories back.
I have done everything by the book and rules of MFP, weighed my food, done loads of exercises, and eat back calories. Results no loss, no gain. Thats it in a nutshell0 -
MFP overestimates the burn from exercise.
LOL. I love this untrue generalization. For me, MFP is so right on that it's scary. Please don't talk in absolutes because it simply is not true.
A lot of people seem to miss the fact that the OP is a female over 300lbs. Yes, she's going to burn more calories than a lot of people. Overestimation of calories burned is probably not the problem.
That is not a true statement, the primary factor to calories burned is Lean mass using the fuel. If most of your mass is not lean you will not be burning calories with the fat portion. You will burn more calories by moving the extra fat but it is not enough as the burn from Lean so they useually burn less calories than the equation states. BUT AGAIN this also is not an absolute.0 -
This might come off as rude but....
If you weigh over 300 pounds, you should lose weight whether you eat 1500 calories or 2500 calories (by overeating exercise calories). I am guessing you are not tracking properly.0 -
This might come off as rude but....
If you weigh over 300 pounds, you should lose weight whether you eat 1500 calories or 2500 calories (by overeating exercise calories). I am guessing you are not tracking properly.
Tracking everything that goes into my mouth but really at 2500 calories a day was the reason I got to 300lbs in the first place not by scratching my head!0 -
This might come off as rude but....
If you weigh over 300 pounds, you should lose weight whether you eat 1500 calories or 2500 calories (by overeating exercise calories). I am guessing you are not tracking properly.
Tracking everything that goes into my mouth but really at 2500 calories a day was the reason I got to 300lbs in the first place not by scratching my head!
That would mean you have an exceptionally slow metabolism.0 -
Have you had your thyroid levels checked? The thought just came to me. I have thyroid problems and insulin resistance, which caused me to gain a great deal of weight before I started being treated for it.0
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You're supposed to "eat back" your exercise calories. The fact that your exercise was being over estimated by the application is unfortunate but not all that uncommon. Two people with the same weight but different body composition (think one muscular and lean, the other not so much) will burn different amounts of calories in a given exercise. MFP wouldn't be able to give you an accurate measurement of calories burned without a lot of additional information.
So, if your caloric deficit is set to 500 kcal/day and your exercise was overestimated by 500 kcal, then you would be at maintenance level and lose no weight (although your body composition should still be changing from the exercise).
So yes if you're not losing any weight then you need to look at your intake and realize it's being overestimated somewhere (usually in the exercise column). Or it could be that you're not accurately logging your intake, but that doesn't appear to be your problem.
Also, I know it's tempting to tell people "this worked for me so you should do it to" but isn't that how you got into trouble in the first place?
And seriously... people are freakin' rude on MFP. Everyone thinks they're god's gift to calorie counting.
Lastly, to people who said "you should still be losing weight at 2500 cal per day," go look up a BMR calculator and realize that you're wrong (and rude as f**k).0 -
It's quite possible that your stall was as much due to inaccurate tracking of calories in as much as calories burned. It's been shown that most people tend to under estimate intake by 20% if they're not weighing their food.
I was anal and weighed everything I ate as well as used a HRM. I still lost an average of 1-2 pounds per week eating my exercise calories back.
I have done everything by the book and rules of MFP, weighed my food, done loads of exercises, and eat back calories. Results no loss, no gain. Thats it in a nutshell
Well it sucks it didn't work for you and caused so much frustration. I'm very glad the HRM coupled with a trainer is working though.
Just remember everyone's different and just because eating the cals back didn't work for you doesn't mean it's not a good approach for most people. It's the way this site was designed to be used and there have been countless people who have succeeded, myself included, doing just that.
Persevere. Don't be afraid to change things up as you go just as you did, but most of all persevere, and you will reach your goals. Best of luck.0 -
I too have been gaining weight since I started. I just started eating my calories back and this is the fifth day doing that. No loss yet, and I have been frustrated and slowly losing hope. I just want to know if the heart rate monitor is easy to understand because I am gadget challenged. Maybe that is what I need to do. I never ever asked for help because I have read some comments from not-so-very-nice-people, so I understand where you are comng from. Feel free to friend me. I promise I would never be so insensitive and ignorant. Good luck!0
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Have you had your thyroid levels checked? The thought just came to me. I have thyroid problems and insulin resistance, which caused me to gain a great deal of weight before I started being treated for it.
Yep I have diabetes 2 and an underactive thyroid which i was told that I should lose allot more weight now when I am on tablets for both. In fairness I was only diagnose with the thyroid problem about 2 weeks ago so maybe the tablets haven't kicked it yet.0 -
Different strokes for different folks. Simple as that.
.... side note - love my HRM , it doesnt lie to me.0 -
You're supposed to "eat back" your exercise calories. The fact that your exercise was being over estimated by the application is unfortunate but not all that uncommon. Two people with the same weight but different body composition (think one muscular and lean, the other not so much) will burn different amounts of calories in a given exercise. MFP wouldn't be able to give you an accurate measurement of calories burned without a lot of additional information.
So, if your caloric deficit is set to 500 kcal/day and your exercise was overestimated by 500 kcal, then you would be at maintenance level and lose no weight (although your body composition should still be changing from the exercise).
So yes if you're not losing any weight then you need to look at your intake and realize it's being overestimated somewhere (usually in the exercise column). Or it could be that you're not accurately logging your intake, but that doesn't appear to be your problem.
Also, I know it's tempting to tell people "this worked for me so you should do it to" but isn't that how you got into trouble in the first place?
And seriously... people are freakin' rude on MFP. Everyone thinks they're god's gift to calorie counting.
Lastly, to people who said "you should still be losing weight at 2500 cal per day," go look up a BMR calculator and realize that you're wrong (and rude as f**k).
Lol thats the only thing that has made me laugh all night 'Everyone thinks they are god's gift to calorie counting', thanks for cheering me up.
I will have to revise my eating calories as the personal trainer thinks that sitting at 1200 should be fine rather than eating 1550 I just think I will be starving though if I bring it down to 1200 but I guess this week will tell. Its just really frustrating that nothing has worked. I eat right, log everything from a spoonful of sugar to a watermelon but the scales weren't moving. I am hoping paying this chap £25 an hour is going to be worth the effort and finally getting things to move in the right direction.0 -
It's quite possible that your stall was as much due to inaccurate tracking of calories in as much as calories burned. It's been shown that most people tend to under estimate intake by 20% if they're not weighing their food.
I was anal and weighed everything I ate as well as used a HRM. I still lost an average of 1-2 pounds per week eating my exercise calories back.
I have done everything by the book and rules of MFP, weighed my food, done loads of exercises, and eat back calories. Results no loss, no gain. Thats it in a nutshell
Well it sucks it didn't work for you and caused so much frustration. I'm very glad the HRM coupled with a trainer is working though.
Just remember everyone's different and just because eating the cals back didn't work for you doesn't mean it's not a good approach for most people. It's the way this site was designed to be used and there have been countless people who have succeeded, myself included, doing just that.
Persevere. Don't be afraid to change things up as you go just as you did, but most of all persevere, and you will reach your goals. Best of luck.
Right now I feel like crying because I am so angry and upset that for the past two months I have been doing everything wrong but thanks for cheering me up. I am hoping that things will start to move in the right direction next week0 -
Have you had your thyroid levels checked? The thought just came to me. I have thyroid problems and insulin resistance, which caused me to gain a great deal of weight before I started being treated for it.
Yep I have diabetes 2 and an underactive thyroid which i was told that I should lose allot more weight now when I am on tablets for both. In fairness I was only diagnose with the thyroid problem about 2 weeks ago so maybe the tablets haven't kicked it yet.
Oh, okay. Yeah, I didn't see or feel results for 3-4 weeks after I started on them. Hope everything works out :flowerforyou:0 -
...to allow for margin of error in both the HRM and natural food variances since both are really just calculated estimatesIm not sure what HRM you are using but in general even they are an estimation because from what I have read in fitness articles the measurements are normally computed using data gathered from University studies. These studies are conducted within the sports department on individuals who's muscle to fat ratio is far greater than the average joe. What this means is that they will burn far more calories than you while maintaining the same HR. So if I were to run at a rate of 6 mph my HR would be at about 155, while a trained athlete might only be at 135. That same athlete's heart might be at 155 while runing at a rate of 8mph. So even though I am only running at a 6mph pace the average HRM will think I am running at a 8.0 MPH pace.
Not sure if the above is very clear, so I am sorry if it is not. The only way to verify your calorie burn is by having your VO2 Max tested.
You just validated that I said that the heart rate monitor is a calculated estimation. 0 -
bump0
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bump to read later0
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We all need to do what works for us personally and the rest be damned!
I agree. Everyone's body reacts differently.
1. I have hypothyroid. I can't go by BMR and TDEE to get my numbers
2. calorie counts on MFP aren't always 100% correct
3. calories burned on MFP aren't 100%
^^^via this information, my calories may look low, but I have to underestimate what I'm given as it could very well be that I'm eating more than I think. And it's been working fine for me 0 -
I like having the exercise calories as a buffer. Some days I eat some of them back, but some days I'm not hungry enough. I eat around 1600 calories a day and it's nice having the option to go over that amount when I exercise, but it's not something I do religiously. I eat them if I'm hungry.0
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Have you had your thyroid levels checked? The thought just came to me. I have thyroid problems and insulin resistance, which caused me to gain a great deal of weight before I started being treated for it.
Yep I have diabetes 2 and an underactive thyroid which i was told that I should lose allot more weight now when I am on tablets for both. In fairness I was only diagnose with the thyroid problem about 2 weeks ago so maybe the tablets haven't kicked it yet.
Oh, okay. Yeah, I didn't see or feel results for 3-4 weeks after I started on them. Hope everything works out :flowerforyou:
Thanks for the help and advice xx0 -
I think MFP might be high on the calories burned, you have done the absolute best thing in getting a HRM and working with a trainer to customize for you, sometimes we just need professional guidance. Everyone is different and what my trainer tells me is worth 1000x what someone who doesn't know me says. May you next week be good 0
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BUMP just cause I FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE fatgurl2thin!! Love ya and I am so proud of you and hope to be as strong as you in every sense of the word! Keep kickin' some fluffy tail doll!0
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That is what my trainer said as well and it seems to be working!0
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You overestimated your calorie burn, then ate more, and you yell at people who advised eating back calories? Generally it's a decent practice to eat back at least 1/2 calories.
The responsibility always lies with you.0 -
I got me an HRM thingy, too!0
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I like having the exercise calories as a buffer. Some days I eat some of them back, but some days I'm not hungry enough. I eat around 1600 calories a day and it's nice having the option to go over that amount when I exercise, but it's not something I do religiously. I eat them if I'm hungry.
snap you're the same as me. Exercise a buffer that allows me to eat a bit more if I'm hungry but certainly not all of it unless I'm going out somewhere.
Key is also to eat GOOD calories not any calories0
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