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should I eat my exercise calories back?

georgesanchez7737
georgesanchez7737 Posts: 61 Member
edited February 5 in Health and Weight Loss
I initially lost 12 lbs in 3 weeks with MFP, then for the last 2 I put on 3 and finally today I am almost at the same weight as 2 weeks ago.

I suspect the following:

1- started lifting again and rode my bike for 2 hours to 3 hours every day on the last month. my muscles are torn and I am retaining water.

2- at the beginning I used to have a cheat meal on the days I burned 2,000-3000 calories. my body is starving and not burning fat because I do not eat them back. I was eating back 80% of the exercise calories.

since I did not ride my bike for 2 days and just walked I went back down in weight, leading me to believe that my body is healing and letting go of the fluids. also I am not as sore and can get off chairs a lot easier.

any tips are welcome.

Replies

  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Yah I would say fluid...I had the same thing...almost in the exact same amounts.

    Started lifting...gained 2.5lbs
    2 weeks later it was gone
    3 weeks later 2lbs were gone
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Probably should just reduce the amount of cardio. Multiple hours/day can lead to huge misses in calorie estimates.

    If you're training for some sort of distance cycling, it seems way too aggressive of a starting training schedule. If not, it's just kinda nutty to work so hard.
  • georgesanchez7737
    georgesanchez7737 Posts: 61 Member
    Jajaja, probably Nutty indeed, I was doing 28 miles on road and 20 off road! plus 30-60 minutes of cardio at gym. plus weights for 4x a week.

    It is hard to do less, I am always competing with yesterday.

    I will back off and stick to 1 hour a day of cardio for a couple of weeks.

    should I eat back the calories?
  • georgesanchez7737
    georgesanchez7737 Posts: 61 Member
    Yah I would say fluid...I had the same thing...almost in the exact same amounts.

    Started lifting...gained 2.5lbs
    2 weeks later it was gone
    3 weeks later 2lbs were gone

    sounds like it! thanks, I will keep at it, and lower my cardio.
  • joshdann
    joshdann Posts: 618 Member
    2- at the beginning I used to have a cheat meal on the days I burned 2,000-3000 calories. my body is starving and not burning fat because I do not eat them back. I was eating back 80% of the exercise calories.
    so... what was your body burning, then?
  • jaycbrf4
    jaycbrf4 Posts: 36
    If you are working out like a beast, remember muscle weighs a lot more than fat. You are increasing muscle, no?
  • georgesanchez7737
    georgesanchez7737 Posts: 61 Member
    2- at the beginning I used to have a cheat meal on the days I burned 2,000-3000 calories. my body is starving and not burning fat because I do not eat them back. I was eating back 80% of the exercise calories.
    so... what was your body burning, then?

    HAHA, got me, calories, meaning my fat stores, I hope and not my muscles!
  • georgesanchez7737
    georgesanchez7737 Posts: 61 Member
    If you are working out like a beast, remember muscle weighs a lot more than fat. You are increasing muscle, no?

    I assume some of that, but how much muscle do we really put on? maybe 1/2 a lb, not 2-3 lbs in 2 weeks. probably more like liquid retention to heal muscles.
  • silken555
    silken555 Posts: 478 Member
    Putting on muscle while at a deficit is rather difficult. The lifting only allows you to keep as much lbm as possible.

    Muscle doesn't weigh more than fat. It's merely denser and occupies less space.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Jajaja, probably Nutty indeed, I was doing 28 miles on road and 20 off road! plus 30-60 minutes of cardio at gym. plus weights for 4x a week.

    It is hard to do less, I am always competing with yesterday.

    I will back off and stick to 1 hour a day of cardio for a couple of weeks.

    should I eat back the calories?

    Yeah, if you're doing a reasonable schedule it's pretty simple to eat back calories and be close to target even if your burn calcs are slightly off.

    Unless you just really like cardio, a few days/week is a fine amount for health. Doing cardio every day and lifting is pretty rough on the body.

    Remember, it's not really the effort that loses weight - it's the calorie deficit. Nail that down and the weight comes off. Still a great idea to train for health and retention of muscle mass. Good luck.
  • georgesanchez7737
    georgesanchez7737 Posts: 61 Member
    I found that I was logging my exercises and had already specified an active lifestyle. I was allowed 2000 cals, now I set it to sedentary and will log my exercises. I am now allowed 1600 cals a day to loose 1.5 lbs a week. I will onlu eat 1/2 my exercise cals back, since I think sports tracker and the cardio machines at gym exaggerate.

    any comments?
  • AdrianBry
    AdrianBry Posts: 138 Member
    there is no need to eat your calories back unless you want to eat more without feeling guilty. eating your calories back is like...

    1. going on a diet ALONE making exercise pointless
    2. imagine eating a pizza or drinking a soda while working your butt off on a treadmill
  • mebob1978
    mebob1978 Posts: 1 Member
    Firstly fat and muscle are two different things. You do not convert fat into muscle, fat is an energy store that your body uses when you are exercising (and dont have any carbs left) then, after the exercise, your body uses protein to build/repair your muscle tissue.

    As far as which weighs more? This is the physics (assuming the term mass is the same as weight to keep things simple):

    density = mass divided by volume (eg. 1kg of feathers occupies a much larger volume than 1kg of lead)
    therefore, when we rearrange the equation:
    mass = density x volume

    the lady correctly identified muscle as being more dense than fat, so 1cm^3 muscle does have more mass than 1cm^3 fat. The thing is though, the muscle you put on takes up less space than the fat you loose so you might weigh the same but you are in fact slimmer. This is why a lot of the time they suggest you take your neck/waist/hip measurements rather than just relying on your weight.
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
    there is no need to eat your calories back unless you want to eat more without feeling guilty. eating your calories back is like...

    1. going on a diet ALONE making exercise pointless
    2. imagine eating a pizza or drinking a soda while working your butt off on a treadmill

    It is not :flowerforyou: the same thing!

    Going on a diet alone will make you lose weight, exercise will help with your all around heath.
    Eating pizza or drinking a soda while working your butt off on a treadmill? :laugh:

    I am already in a deficit, and I assure you when I eat back my 200-300 calories burned riding my bike it is healthy chicken or nuts. Why assume I am scarfing down a slice of pizza just because I worked out?

    MFP has already set him up at a reduction to lose x amount of weight a week. If he is working out at such a high intensity, and he doesn't replace that energy, he will burn out.

    Either that or end up in the ER like me on IV, or get so tired of being tired he will stop all together.

    I have no idea why you push your agenda on MFP to not do what it is set up to do. What it has HELPED THOUSANDS TO ACCOMPLISH.

    Losing weight, and keeping it off! I have many friends here who have followed the MFP method and lost up to 157 pounds and KEPT it off for years now. Running marathons, and best of all feeling healthy.

    This is not a short term goal. It is about health forever!

    Do you also go to the Weight Watchers site and argue their point system?? Or the Atkins site and argue you should eat all the carbs you want? Honestly:ohwell:
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
    I found that I was logging my exercises and had already specified an active lifestyle. I was allowed 2000 cals, now I set it to sedentary and will log my exercises. I am now allowed 1600 cals a day to loose 1.5 lbs a week. I will onlu eat 1/2 my exercise cals back, since I think sports tracker and the cardio machines at gym exaggerate.

    any comments?

    That sounds good! Looks like your looking in the right direction. :drinker:
  • georgesanchez7737
    georgesanchez7737 Posts: 61 Member
    good info, I am starting it today, since yesterday i celebrated my nday and indulged on a lot of meat, brazillian buffet and up till 5 am drinking remy and diet. had not drank for 6 months, and am 47 lbs down already. I wil not exercise till tueday and plan to not eat back my exercise cal but also only exercise for 1-2 hours per day total, either weights, bike or mtbk, or cardio machines, all on lower intensity just inside my fat burn hb zone.
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