Eating back exercise calories.

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sourmash1973
sourmash1973 Posts: 149 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I see so many people saying to eat them back. WRONG! I used to do this and it was so counter productive. Set your calorie goal, eat those calories and just track exercise for the fun of it. People tend to under estimate what they eat and over estimate what they burn and then wonder why they aren't losing weight. Trust me, I've been there, Once I stopped this way of thinking, fat started melting off and still is. No plateaus either.
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Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I'm glad that you found a method that works for you. I found the complete opposite to be true. Eating MFP's recommended 1200-1400 calories a day while exercising caused my weight loss to stall out for over two months. Adding my exercise calories back in, increasing my calories, and eventually moving to the TDEE -20% method have all done wonders for me.
  • sourmash1973
    sourmash1973 Posts: 149 Member
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    I'm glad that you found a method that works for you. I found the complete opposite to be true. Eating MFP's recommended 1200-1400 calories a day while exercising caused my weight loss to stall out for over two months. Adding my exercise calories back in, increasing my calories, and eventually moving to the TDEE -20% method have all done wonders for me.

    Yeah, I should have rephrased it before I posted it. It won't work for everyone. I just get tired of some people complaining that they aren't losing weight but when you ask them about their calories in vs. calories out, they say they don't weigh any foods and think they are burning 500 calories doing 10 minutes of cardio.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I'm glad that you found a method that works for you. I found the complete opposite to be true. Eating MFP's recommended 1200-1400 calories a day while exercising caused my weight loss to stall out for over two months. Adding my exercise calories back in, increasing my calories, and eventually moving to the TDEE -20% method have all done wonders for me.

    Yeah, I should have rephrased it before I posted it. It won't work for everyone. I just get tired of some people complaining that they aren't losing weight but when you ask them about their calories in vs. calories out, they say they don't weigh any foods and think they are burning 500 calories doing 10 minutes of cardio.

    I see what you're saying, but on the flip side there are way too many people on these boards who are eating 1200 calories and burning 800 calories. Or worse, those who are eating 800 calories and trying to burn off 1000. The blanket statement that everyone needs to stop eating their exercise calories is just wrong.
  • Bigjuicyhog
    Bigjuicyhog Posts: 61 Member
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    I see so many people saying to eat them back. WRONG! I used to do this and it was so counter productive. Set your calorie goal, eat those calories and just track exercise for the fun of it. People tend to under estimate what they eat and over estimate what they burn and then wonder why they aren't losing weight. Trust me, I've been there, Once I stopped this way of thinking, fat started melting off and still is. No plateaus either.

    I agree completely. I just track the exercise to know what I have done more than anything.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    I'm glad that you found a method that works for you. I found the complete opposite to be true. Eating MFP's recommended 1200-1400 calories a day while exercising caused my weight loss to stall out for over two months. Adding my exercise calories back in, increasing my calories, and eventually moving to the TDEE -20% method have all done wonders for me.

    Yeah, I should have rephrased it before I posted it. It won't work for everyone. I just get tired of some people complaining that they aren't losing weight but when you ask them about their calories in vs. calories out, they say they don't weigh any foods and think they are burning 500 calories doing 10 minutes of cardio.

    Those people are the minority though. The majority of people DO need to be eating their exercise calories back. People come on here, eat 1200 calories a day, burn 600 at the gym, then see posts like this and think they shouldn't eat those calories back. Now their net calories for the day are 600, when their maintenance amount is 2500. Then they wonder why they don't see results or why they start having awful side effects like hair falling out or lightheadedness.

    Basically, please don't post things like this :flowerforyou:
  • LizaDK914
    LizaDK914 Posts: 54 Member
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    I read - and it seems to be working for me so far - that you should eat back 1/2 of what you exercise.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Yay... more absolutes. This HAS to be right.
  • StephanieE3456
    StephanieE3456 Posts: 80 Member
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    I see so many people saying to eat them back. WRONG! I used to do this and it was so counter productive. Set your calorie goal, eat those calories and just track exercise for the fun of it. People tend to under estimate what they eat and over estimate what they burn and then wonder why they aren't losing weight. Trust me, I've been there, Once I stopped this way of thinking, fat started melting off and still is. No plateaus either.

    I do the same. I don't eat my calories back and it works for me. I've been at this for a year and hope to be at goal by the end of the summer. I'm not changing anything at this point.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    I'm glad that you found a method that works for you. I found the complete opposite to be true. Eating MFP's recommended 1200-1400 calories a day while exercising caused my weight loss to stall out for over two months. Adding my exercise calories back in, increasing my calories, and eventually moving to the TDEE -20% method have all done wonders for me.

    Yeah, I should have rephrased it before I posted it. It won't work for everyone. I just get tired of some people complaining that they aren't losing weight but when you ask them about their calories in vs. calories out, they say they don't weigh any foods and think they are burning 500 calories doing 10 minutes of cardio.

    What does that have to do wtih eating back exercise cals?
  • sourmash1973
    sourmash1973 Posts: 149 Member
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    I'm glad that you found a method that works for you. I found the complete opposite to be true. Eating MFP's recommended 1200-1400 calories a day while exercising caused my weight loss to stall out for over two months. Adding my exercise calories back in, increasing my calories, and eventually moving to the TDEE -20% method have all done wonders for me.

    Yeah, I should have rephrased it before I posted it. It won't work for everyone. I just get tired of some people complaining that they aren't losing weight but when you ask them about their calories in vs. calories out, they say they don't weigh any foods and think they are burning 500 calories doing 10 minutes of cardio.

    What does that have to do wtih eating back exercise cals?

    Well, they think they're burning 500 calories but only really burn 200. They eat all those 500 calories back, they have eaten 300 calories over their goal that day. I admit, I posted this with the wrong tone. I was trying to help and it backfired. Ifr someone has the authority to delete, go ahead. I posted a more helpful thread of what "I" do that helps "me". Sorry for this post.
  • babyj0
    babyj0 Posts: 531 Member
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    Posts like this gets me confused. Eat them back or not? Waaaah.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    I'm glad that you found a method that works for you. I found the complete opposite to be true. Eating MFP's recommended 1200-1400 calories a day while exercising caused my weight loss to stall out for over two months. Adding my exercise calories back in, increasing my calories, and eventually moving to the TDEE -20% method have all done wonders for me.

    Yeah, I should have rephrased it before I posted it. It won't work for everyone. I just get tired of some people complaining that they aren't losing weight but when you ask them about their calories in vs. calories out, they say they don't weigh any foods and think they are burning 500 calories doing 10 minutes of cardio.

    I think that is the problem, not eating back exercise calories. If one is being as honest and accurate as possible, it works just fine. I agree that the TDEE method is just easier, but my 1 Lb per week MFP net goal of 1,850 always ended up grossing around 2100-2200 depending on workout. With TDEE - 20% I gross around 2150, so it's really 6 of 1. But I've always measured my food and ingredients to the gram...I rarely eat out at all, I rarely eat packaged food (which can be off by as much as 20%) and I always knocked off about 30% of what my HRM told me I burned for exercise to account for estimation error as well as BMR calories. I lost about 35 Lbs eating back exercise calories.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    Well, they think they're burning 500 calories but only really burn 200. They eat all those 500 calories back, they have eaten 300 calories over their goal that day. I admit, I posted this with the wrong tone. I was trying to help and it backfired. Ifr someone has the authority to delete, go ahead. I posted a more helpful thread of what "I" do that helps "me". Sorry for this post.

    I definitely understand where you're coming from. Thanks for the clarification. Didn't meant to sound harsh before - it's just that a lot of new people come on these forums very confused about whether or not to eat their calories back. You're right that overestimating can be a problem, though.
  • amberlykay1014
    amberlykay1014 Posts: 608 Member
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    I think what you mean to say is that you should not eat back your exercise calories only IF you are already considering your TDEE. This is a really important part that you skipped, OP.

    Not everyone here calculates their calories that way and posts like this are confusing to people who follow MFP's structure.
  • Lrdoflamancha
    Lrdoflamancha Posts: 1,280 Member
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    I think a bigger problem here is with calorie burn. Everyone realizes the food data base is suspect. But the estimates of calories burned is very suspect. Net is we are eating too much and exercising too little. My plan says I track calories burned then only eat back calories burned over 700. My goal is 1900 so if I burn off 700, I never go below 1200. Plus I rarely burn off 700. So far this is working for me.
  • sourmash1973
    sourmash1973 Posts: 149 Member
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    Posts like this gets me confused. Eat them back or not? Waaaah.

    Ugh, someone please delete this post. It's making me look like an *kitten* and I'm really not. I just don't know how to say what I'm trying to say at times.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    Posts like this gets me confused. Eat them back or not? Waaaah.

    Assuming you set up MFP correctly, and assuming you're not overestimating the amount you burn, eat them back. OP was talking about situations where people wayy overestimate how much they burn, or underestimate how much they eat (which does happen). Just be accurate with your logging and you should be fine to eat your calories back.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    Didn't you say on another post that you were doing the TDEE -20% method and eating back exercise calories? In which case, you were combing two methods, and counting your exercise calories twice. That doesn't make eating back exercise calories the wrong thing for people who are following MFP as it was designed.

    Also, if people are over-estimating burn or under-estimating intake, that's a whole other issue from eating back exercise calories.
  • kellijauch
    kellijauch Posts: 379 Member
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    I don't eat mine back, and I have lost 36 pounds since March.
  • 2fat4knees
    2fat4knees Posts: 25 Member
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    I agree that we usually underestimate our calories eaten and overestimate our exercise calories burned so I just considered those "extra" calories as a bonus toward your weight loss goal. On the rare days when I do eat all my calories, including the ones earned with exercise, I don't stress over it but I do get greater satisfaction out of "banking" them toward greater and faster weight loss.

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