Gaining weight back

I never eat back my workout calories. I kind of feel like that defeats the purpose.

I never eat back my workout calories. I kind of feel like that defeats the purpose.

You don't have to eat back your calories if your calorie intake already includes being active. Her daily goal is only 1200, which is the minimum end and does not include activity, therefore, she should be eating her exercise calories back. If you are being accurate with your food and you are being accurate with your exercise calories, you are not gaining fat back. More than likely you are retaining water. Also, it would be a good idea to take your measurements to see changes of body composition. There are times when the scale won't move, but because muscle is more dense than fat, your body fat percentage may still be going down.

I never eat back my workout calories. I kind of feel like that defeats the purpose.

You don't have to eat back your calories if your calorie intake already includes being active. Her daily goal is only 1200, which is the minimum end and does not include activity, therefore, she should be eating her exercise calories back. If you are being accurate with your food and you are being accurate with your exercise calories, you are not gaining fat back. More than likely you are retaining water. Also, it would be a good idea to take your measurements to see changes of body composition. There are times when the scale won't move, but because muscle is more dense than fat, your body fat percentage may still be going down.

This is very helpful. Thank you.

1200 calories is low even for a 5'0 tall 100b woman. 1200 calories is simply way too low if you ask anyone. (I'm just using 5'0 100lbs as an example of someone that should be eating 1200 to lose weight. )

I would assume that it is water weight gain, which isn't too much to worry about and easy to lose again. I wouldn't worry too much right now, unless it keeps occurring. If it does keep happening then I would change something. Hope things get better for ya.

So I just realized last week that I was supposed to be eating back my calories that I exercise off. So I have been doing just that, okay not completely. I usually have like 28 calories or so still under my net of 1200 but that isn't too many under. The thing I have noticed is that since I started eating back my calories from exercise I am also gaining back the weight I lost the previous 2 weeks . I don't know what to do. I don't want to gain back the weight I already worked off because I am doing things the right way. So frustrated right now and I am afraid of what the scale is going to say tomorrow morning on my official weigh in day.

I would suggest you take a look at your numbers. While I recognize we don't know "exactly" how many calories we consume, or 'exactly' how many calories we expend, these estimates are here to help us reach our goals in a healthy way.

If based on your specifics, MFP has suggested 1200 calories per day. You are eating roughly 1200 calories per day, and burning say, 300 calories from exercise, your net for the day is 900. So essentially, your body has 900 calories for the day to fuel its normal activities. This is NOT what has been recommended for you to reach your goals in the time you've specified you'd like to do so. While it may be tempting to "net" less than suggested, please keep in mind that less, is not necessarily better.

Weight fluctuations are normal and will continue to happen. Try not to stress about sudden changes on the scale, when you know there have been recent changes in what you've consumed.

Also, I eat back my exercise calories. I try to stick to within 100 calories of my recommended amount. Haven't had any issues with gaining.

You mentioned yesterday that you are tired all the time. So was I, so I went to the doctor and had blood work done. I have a thyroid problem. This relates to this post because I exercise a lot and with the thyroid problem, I cannot eat back my calories if I want to lose weight. If I do eat my calories back, then I stall or gain. When I'm 200-400 under, I lose.

When you add more grams of food you are increasing the amount of waste storage in your bowels (we can hold up to 9lbs of waste).
You will also naturally be consuming more sodium, which will in turn cause you to gain some water weight, you are not gaining fat, be patient and the weight on the scale will go back down.

I don't eat any of my calories back after exercise. Its sort of a mind over matter thing for me, if I log my exercise calories I think that I can pig out so most of the time I don't even log exercise.

This post isn't for OP, it's for the other people who don't understand what they're doing to themselves.

Example 1: I maintain my current weight at 1900 calories a day.

If I ate 1900 calories everyday and exercised at the gym burning off 500 calories, my NET calories would be 1400 and I'd have a 500 calorie deficit. Thus I'd lose 1lb a week. In this scenario I would not eat back my exercise calories because the only way I'm creating my deficit is through exercise.

Example 2: I maintain my current weight at 1900 calories a day

If I ate 1400 calories a day I would be creating a 500 calorie deficit daily and would lose 1 lb a week. Next month I decide to start exercising at the gym and burn off 400 calories. If I don't eat back those calories, I will have 1400-400=1000 NET calorie intake, not enough calories for my body to run and a 900 calorie deficit, which is too high considering I don't much weight to lose.

If you are already creating a deficit by eating less calories than you need to maintain your weight, you NEED to eat back your exercise calories, or you will end up losing a lot of lean muscle mass.