Eating Back Calories

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thekcpiper
thekcpiper Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been stuck at 185 lbs for over a month now. I try to stay around 1900 calories per day, and usually end up within 10%. Over the course of a typical week, I'll burn around 2,500+ calories running. I'm not eating the calories back. In spite of this, I'm not losing any weight. Any ideas why? Thanks.

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  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
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    Because your deficit has become too large possibly? MFP has a built in weight loss deficit when you fill in your information. That's why the exercise calories are added back in...to keep your deficit from getting too big.
  • ChelleBalady
    ChelleBalady Posts: 204
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    I am in the same boat
  • sexymuffintop
    sexymuffintop Posts: 636
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    You are either not logging correctly or over estimating your calorie burn most likely.
  • thekcpiper
    thekcpiper Posts: 12
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    I scan the food, and do measure most of the time, so it's accurate as far as I'm aware. As for the exercise, I use the numbers my Nike+ watch provides. I also track it all on a spreadsheet and average about 15 kcal/min of running (pace between 8:00 - 11:00 mile).

    Should I at least eat back to my BMR if I go under? For example, last Saturday I logged 2100+ calories for a HM, even though I only ate 1900 calories for the day. Surprisingly, I don't feel hungry. My RHR is good. This just happened over the past 4 weeks. I dropped 35+ lbs before that from Jan - June. It's been since mid-May that I've racked up the miles as I'm training for the Kansas City Marathon in October.

    I don't seem to be getting any slower, and my pace is steadily improving even though my weight loss seems, at least temporarily, to have stopped.
  • sexymuffintop
    sexymuffintop Posts: 636
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    Are we talking fat loss or weight loss? Personally I think scales suck and dont relate that well to body recomp. And yes I would never eat below my BMR.
  • thekcpiper
    thekcpiper Posts: 12
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    Weight loss. My fat percetage is slowly going down, but it's my understanding that with a calorie deficit, it's very difficult to put on muscle. That's the only explanation I can think of though. I'm putting on enough muscle to replace, weight wise, what I'm losing in body fat. But at a calorie deficit, I've been told this isn't possible (or at least very unlikely). Unfortuately I'm not taking measurements in any place where I'd be gaining muscle (e.g. leg diameter) to have a basis of comparison.
  • Hummingbird82
    Hummingbird82 Posts: 79 Member
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    Try at least eating back to your NET BMR. It sounds like you are continuously eating under your BMR by how much you are exercising so your body is holding on to every once it gan get.
    IF you dont know your BMR check out
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    If you eat at leat 15% under your TDEE BUT eat at or above your BMR you will lose weight. Give it a try for a month and see what happens.
    Just a suggestion. :)
  • sexymuffintop
    sexymuffintop Posts: 636
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    Just ignore the scales then, they are pointless. If your clothes are getting looser and you can visibly see you are getting leaner why bother with scales?
  • thekcpiper
    thekcpiper Posts: 12
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    To make sure I understand NET BMR:

    If I'm supposed to eat 1900 cal per day according to MFP, I exercise 500 cal per day, and eat 2000 calories per day. Then my NET BMR for that day is 1500, which means I need to eat another 400 calories, for a total of 2400 eaten that day. Is that correct?
  • thekcpiper
    thekcpiper Posts: 12
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    I found a good explanation here:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/713460--eating-back-exercise-calories-simple-breakdown

    Short version: Eat the calories back. MFP builds the calorie deficit per week into the plan and assumes you eat it all back. I'm thinking of eating about 2/3 of it back to account for any overreporting of calories burned by my GPS watch and/or any mislabeling of caloric content in food (which I've found out that when you do the math, Carbs * 4 + Fat * 9 + Protein * 4 doesn't always equal what the per serving calorie label states)

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