Eat your exercise calories/Dont eat your exercise calories?

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  • calamity71
    calamity71 Posts: 207 Member
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    I started MFP a long time ago and didn't friend anyone or go to the community. I ate my 1200 calories only. I didn't lose weight. Sometimes I would exercise, sometimes I wouldn't. (I have health issues and at the time wasn't feeling up to the exercise). I quit logging because it did not work for me. So mentally I said Weight Watchers worked for me...I needed to do that again. I did...counted points...hungry all the time. I also wasn't losing weight with that. OK..so that was my life...then in September I came back to MFP and decided to friend people, and participate and see what I could do different. ....I started choosing healthier foods and I started to eat my calories back....

    I would exercise so I could have wine or whatever...I started losing weight! I eat back my calories and I am losing weight. :-) very exciting for me. So...I stepped up my exercise. I still don't lose as fast as I want...but am happy with my progress. If I burn 400 calories in a day and have 100 calories left over I am happy...if not, that is okay. It is all progress.
  • nejaustin
    nejaustin Posts: 76 Member
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    I've been trying to stay under 3/4 of the calories I exercise over the entire week. I created a worksheet to track this. This has also helped me know feel quite so guilty when I eat more for a couple of days before a really long run or race.
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 762 Member
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    I exercise so I can eat more. I like to eat or would not have needed this place.
  • Bobtheangrytomato
    Bobtheangrytomato Posts: 251 Member
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    I probably eat about half back
  • WildflowerAL
    WildflowerAL Posts: 41 Member
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    Depends--if my run is 4 miles, I probably don't eat anything additional. If I run 24 miles I eat some of that back. I work at balancing losing weight with giving my body what it needs for training (currently training for a 50 mile run).
  • Sjenny5891
    Sjenny5891 Posts: 717 Member
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    I did most of the time. I set mine to no activity because my job fluxuates and I know I'm burning more calories doing things like cleaning or playing with the kids for 15 minutes that I don't always log.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,122 Member
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    I always did when losing, and still do at maintenance.
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 762 Member
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    Here is the deal, looking at this controversial subject.

    Have you ever seen anyone post on the forum that they are eating back all their exercise calories and not losing? In three years, I have never seen it once. I see about 2 post a day of people who are stuck and not eating them back.

    There, done, over.
  • _namaste_
    _namaste_ Posts: 246
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    Here is the deal, looking at this controversial subject.

    Have you ever seen anyone post on the forum that they are eating back all their exercise calories and not losing? In three years, I have never seen it once. I see about 2 post a day of people who are stuck and not eating them back.

    There, done, over.

    This is so right.

    I eat every single exercise calorie back for the most part and am losing steadily, even only a couple of pounds from my goal weight! :)

    If you're netting under your BMR you are doing your body a serious injustice. Food is good for us when we eat the right things and eat in moderation. I loooooooove me some good food. <3
  • stewythere
    stewythere Posts: 5
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    I am going to try not eating the earned calories. Not sure why but I rationalize that it will help lose weight.....we'll see
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 762 Member
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    I am going to try not eating the earned calories. Not sure why but I rationalize that it will help lose weight.....we'll see

    It won't work and if it does, you losing muscle not fat. You will come back here complaining of a plateau. There is nothing wrong with eating the proper amount of food and eating back your calories. Calories are not the enemy, overindulgence is. If you do not follow the plan, you will sabotage yourself and start over.
  • albertine58
    albertine58 Posts: 267 Member
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    I rarely eat ALL of them, but I make sure my net cals is at least 1500, and I eat more if I'm truly hungry or haven't met my protein goal for the day. My BMI is about 1500 (23 yr old 5' 4" female) Good rule of thumb is never have your net cals below your BMI, or you'll lose too much lean muscle.
    (When I say my BMI is about 1500, I mean the "sedentary" BMI. I'm definitely not sedentary, but since I track my exercise calories, I use 1500 as a rule of thumb as the lowest # of calories I should eat, on average. I roughly aim for an average of 1500-1650.)

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