Do you eat your excercise calories back?

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Lauri524
Lauri524 Posts: 54 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all. I've put myself on a 1200 calorie per day regimen. I workout 5-6 days a week which includes 3 days at gym with usually 30 minutes uphill walk on treadmill burning approx. 300 calories then 30 minutes circuit training. The other days I either hike or walk for at least an hour. I've been at this for over about 2 months now and managed to take off a measly 2 pounds. I am wondering if this is because I am eating my calories back after burning them? I figure 1200 is pretty low for me to begin with but everyone keeps telling me I'm not eating enough. I am wondering what the right thing to do is. I've been trying to switch it up by adding more protein and less carbs to my daily intake but in the meantime, I'd love to hear what others are doing. :)
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Replies

  • seena511
    seena511 Posts: 685 Member
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    yes, you need to be eating them back. how long did it take you to lose 2 lbs and how much weight do you have to lose? what is your height and current weight?
  • iLoveMyAR15
    iLoveMyAR15 Posts: 122 Member
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    i use the TDEE -20% so yes, i do eat them back and LOVE every yummy calorie!
  • Squamation
    Squamation Posts: 522 Member
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    Everyone's body is different, you'll have to experiment with yours to see if you lose weight better eating back the exercise calories or not. Give it two weeks and see if there's significant improvement, if not then move on.

    Who cares about how many pounds you've lost? What about your size: have your measurements stayed the same or are you smaller? You could have lost fat and gained muscle leaving the scale to tell you there's little progress.
  • seena511
    seena511 Posts: 685 Member
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    i use the TDEE -20% so yes, i do eat them back and LOVE every yummy calorie!

    you're not supposed to eat them back using this method. your TDEE is supposed to include your excercise. that's why the T stands for TOTAL.
  • Lauramh31
    Lauramh31 Posts: 95 Member
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    I eat mine back to make sure I'm not eating below my BMR. My daily calories is set at my BMR (TDEE - 20% is lower than my BMR), so if I don't eat my calories back it's too low (my TDEE is low bc I have a desk job, no kids to chase, etc). That said, there are days I eat over my calories (yesterday 700 over...oops) and days when I am under (when I earn a lot from exercise) becuase I worked out in the evening and I'm just not hungry enough to eat them all back!

    As far as your problem I would (a) make sure you are eating at least your BMR so your body doesn't start holding on to things and (b) make sure your calorie burn is accurate - if you think you're burning more than you are and eat back all of your calories, you are eating more than your calorie limit.
  • montana_girl
    montana_girl Posts: 1,403 Member
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    ... i do eat them back and LOVE every yummy calorie!

    Oh, this is so me!! I eat back all my exercise calories and enjoy the fact I get to eat a bit more throughout the day.

    And I'm finally getting to the point that I use those calories on healthier choices (usually). :tongue:
  • hmkohio
    hmkohio Posts: 1
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    What is the TDEE? Thanks
  • iLoveMyAR15
    iLoveMyAR15 Posts: 122 Member
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    i use the TDEE -20% so yes, i do eat them back and LOVE every yummy calorie!

    you're not supposed to eat them back using this method. your TDEE is supposed to include your excercise. that's why the T stands for TOTAL.

    when you use the TDEE method, you eat the same every day regardless of exercise, so YES technically i DO eat them back. And i know what TDEE stands for, thanks though.
  • Lauramh31
    Lauramh31 Posts: 95 Member
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    ... i do eat them back and LOVE every yummy calorie!

    Oh, this is so me!! I eat back all my exercise calories and enjoy the fact I get to eat a bit more throughout the day.

    And I'm finally getting to the point that I use those calories on healthier choices (usually). :tongue:

    ^^Also this - I exercise so I can earn more calories to eat :)
  • MistressAella
    MistressAella Posts: 99 Member
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    Total Daily Energy Expenditure. :)
  • seena511
    seena511 Posts: 685 Member
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    i use the TDEE -20% so yes, i do eat them back and LOVE every yummy calorie!

    you're not supposed to eat them back using this method. your TDEE is supposed to include your excercise. that's why the T stands for TOTAL.

    when you use the TDEE method, you eat the same every day regardless of exercise, so YES technically i DO eat them back. And i know what TDEE stands for, thanks though.

    did you mean that you're eating back the calories just by eating to your goal? the way you worded it, it sounded to me like you were putting your calorie burn in MFP and then eating back those calories on top of the TDEE - 20%. my mistake.
  • Bigal5565
    Bigal5565 Posts: 12
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    if you use the following equation/link you cant go wrong. as long as you eat under the calories needed in order to maintain your current weight.


    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/
  • gimpygramma
    gimpygramma Posts: 383 Member
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    I am a little old lady with a very low BMR. On a 1200 calorie diet I was to lose .2 lbs a week. Hard to maintain motivation at that rate. So when I was wanting to lose weight, I used my exercise calories to create a bigger deficit...might have eaten back a few but not most. Now that I am on maintenance, I try to eat them all back.
  • olDave
    olDave Posts: 557 Member
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    Most days I do eat them back.
  • Angelsrose12
    Angelsrose12 Posts: 37 Member
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    Over the summer I did almost exactly what you did. I lost a little at first, then stayed the same or gained after that. When I upped my calories and ate back my exercise I did much better. Right now I am trying TDEE and it seems to be working well.
  • TomTomato
    TomTomato Posts: 223
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    A couple weeks ago I saw a post that made me realize something. The exercise calories are replacing calories we would be burning doing something else. For instance, if you burn 2,400 Cals/day being sedentary, that equates to burning 100 Cals/hour doing little. So if you burn 600 Cals in a one-hour workout, you really only added 500 Cals to what you expended. If you calculated your TDEE including your workout activity, it won't make a difference. I chose to calculate mine as "sedentary" so I can add my exercise activity manually and it won't be double counted.
  • iLoveMyAR15
    iLoveMyAR15 Posts: 122 Member
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    i use the TDEE -20% so yes, i do eat them back and LOVE every yummy calorie!

    you're not supposed to eat them back using this method. your TDEE is supposed to include your excercise. that's why the T stands for TOTAL.

    when you use the TDEE method, you eat the same every day regardless of exercise, so YES technically i DO eat them back. And i know what TDEE stands for, thanks though.

    did you mean that you're eating back the calories just by eating to your goal? the way you worded it, it sounded to me like you were putting your calorie burn in MFP and then eating back those calories on top of the TDEE - 20%. my mistake.

    Sorry, I prob should have worded it differently....I noticed that after i posted. I eat the same amount every day, just seems easier to me than entering my exercise and eating those calories back.
  • Lauramh31
    Lauramh31 Posts: 95 Member
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    i use the TDEE -20% so yes, i do eat them back and LOVE every yummy calorie!

    you're not supposed to eat them back using this method. your TDEE is supposed to include your excercise. that's why the T stands for TOTAL.

    when you use the TDEE method, you eat the same every day regardless of exercise, so YES technically i DO eat them back. And i know what TDEE stands for, thanks though.

    did you mean that you're eating back the calories just by eating to your goal? the way you worded it, it sounded to me like you were putting your calorie burn in MFP and then eating back those calories on top of the TDEE - 20%. my mistake.

    You can also calculate your TDEE so that it DOES NOT include your exercise. This is how I do it since I don't do the same exercise from day to day or week to week. So I calculate TDEE w/o exercise to make sure it doesn't over/under calculate when I add/skip exercise. Then I log my exercise in MFP as I earn it (type in the calories as per my heart rate monitor) and eat those calories back (mostly).
  • RonandDi
    RonandDi Posts: 120 Member
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    I have found that if I eat as much as MFP tells me I can, I don't lose. So, I had to play around with how much I eat. I have been averaging a little over a pound a week, but according to MFP, I would be losing more than 2 pounds per week.

    Don't be surprised if you don't lose by following their guidlines...IMHO, there is way to much room for error, either in your entries or just differences in body make up.
  • bjmarsh14
    bjmarsh14 Posts: 16
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    I don't eat mine back. I eat so much filling stuff throughout the day though that I don't have room for them. I have also noticed that I don't get the same results eating them back as when I don't. It's different for everyone though.

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