eating back calories results and expreiences

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  • plkbplkb
    plkbplkb Posts: 12
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    Some days I eat them, some days I do not. Some days I am starving (usually after chest/back or leg lifting days) and some days I could go the whole day without eating at all (I still eat, since I know that I must). Listen to your body. As previous posters mentioned, MFP builds your deficit into your plan. Just make certain that you do not overestimate your calorie burn for your workouts.
  • jallforme3
    jallforme3 Posts: 38 Member
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    Yes I eat them back, look at your net calories consumed, not the gross!
  • belgd
    belgd Posts: 26 Member
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    I eat them back. Hell, most of the reason I work out is so I can eat more. And in the process I end up looking and feeling better anyway.

    Yes. I love to eat so that's one of the main reasons I work out (As bad as it sounds)
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    I eat 100% of my calories expended through weight loss. I have a proven, over time (2 years), system of weighs/measures that have yielded predictable (as much as possible) resutls.

    Logging/Consistency/Adherence. How do I know my system works? I'm able to eat thousands of calories weekly in "exercise calories", over the last couple years, that otherwise should have made me fat.
  • 4daluvof_candice
    4daluvof_candice Posts: 483 Member
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    I eat between my BMR and my TDEE-20% and dont eat them back becasue its already calculated but if I was doing MFP calculations, most definitely.

    I want to eat the way I plan on eating the rest of my life once I reach my goal and 38+ lbs later obviosuly it working. I refuse to eat 1200 calories now and then have to readjust/palteau or whatever issues may happen:huh: once that day comes.
  • suz155
    suz155 Posts: 326 Member
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    Again, depends on the person. I'm 58 with slower metabolism and I'm on a beta blocker for my heart, which slows my metabolism , even more. I, occasionally, eat back, not always and I'm not starving. And, I use a heart rate monitor and don't go by the caloric figures that MFP provides. My HRM may show 150 cals burned and MFP shows 595. Early on, before my HRM, I ate back what MFP gave me for calories and I gained 2 lbs, 1st week, 3 lbs the second week. Again, it just depends on the people.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    The reason there is debate is because people A) don't understand why they should or shouldn't eat them back and/or B) can't estimate/measure correctly.

    Figure out those 2 things and it all becomes incredibly easy.
  • doctorsookie
    doctorsookie Posts: 1,084 Member
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    Its gonna be tough to know if someone is losing more or less weight due eating back or not eating back calories because everybody's metabolism is different. The best way to find out which one works beat for you is a test. Eat back your calories for two weeks and see how much you lose and then don't eat them back for two weeks and check your weight again. I would also recommend checking your measurements too. Make sure you are doing the same kind of activities because this will be crucial and make a big difference. You can't not eat the calories back and workout there more days a week or vice versa. Also try and eat the same number of calories each day (at least 1200 calories). Now make a plan, stick to it, and get your results.
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
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    I don't eat them back-don't see the point in burning them off if you do

    lost 1lb per week,
  • comrade_questions
    comrade_questions Posts: 103 Member
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    I lost 21 pounds eating back at least 80% of my calories.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    The reason there is debate is because people A) don't understand why they should or shouldn't eat them back and/or B) can't estimate/measure correctly.

    Figure out those 2 things and it all becomes incredibly easy.

    ^ This is a fair view of most of the problem.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    i know this has been asked ALOT. It seems 50% of people eat them back and 50% dont.

    so i was wondering... do you eat them back? and do you still lose weight?

    or if you dont eat them back, do you lose more weight than those who do?

    I do the TDEE method. I calculate my weekly intake needs based on my weekly exercise and non-exercise calorie burn, divide by 7, and that sets my daily goals. My TDEE calculations are based on averaging 500 calories a day of dedicated exercise. Most days, I exceed that. On days I exceed that, I do NOT eat back all the exercise calories, I only eat back those in excess of 500 calories a day. IE, if I run for 500 calories, I eat at my goal. If I run at 800 calories, I eat 300 extra calories (800 - 500).

    My principle calorie burns are from running, cycling and swimming. For those, there are solid calculations for calorie burn based on distance and weight, so while I use an HRM for monitoring my training, I do NOT use it for calorie burn. I also do SS/SL 2x a week, I assume a relatively conservative value of around 200-300 calories for a full round of lifting.

    From what I've seen of the MFP community, the second most common cause of problems like stalling is following the blanket advice to eat back calories. The reason is most people have an even harder time getting a handle on their actual exercise burn than they do on their food intake (and for good reason, it *is* harder!). Given that most people here are doing relatively low amounts of exercise, the better advice would be to add 100 calories to the daily target and NOT eat back exercise calories.
  • Miss_Mabee
    Miss_Mabee Posts: 119 Member
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    Youre supposed to eat them back, after exercising, look at the NET calorie section on MFP... when you exercise, youre burning and using calories youve already eaten.. if you have MFP set to put you at a deficit ALREADY.. then you eat LESS and BURN some of those you ate... YES you need to eat MORE to make up for it. If you have eaten 800 calories before dinner... and worked out for an hour and burned 400 calories... youve only given your body 400 calories to RUN OFF OF and live... if you eat a dinner thats 500 calories, youre still only at 900 calories for the day...

    if youre BMR is 1300 calories... that means you would need at LEAST 1300 calories to live if you were in a COMA... asleep all day and not moving.. just breathing and keeping your body alive takes 1300 calories a day... even if you have a desk job, you need WAY more than 1300 calories to keep your body and brain running at capacity all day... if youre working out, you need MUCH more than that... starvation mode isnt just detrimental to your body... youll mess up your brain functionality too... memory goes, youll feel tired and irritated all the time.

    EAT BACK YOUR CALORIES...if you have MFP set at a deficit, make sure your NET calories at the end of the sat, meets that deficit goal! Sometimes its hard.. esp if youre working out HARD, to eat MORE... i have a hard time eating enough on some days... its a daily grind for sure! haha
    I follow this reasoning as well. I am down 36lbs and have always eaten my calories back. Well at least some of them. I don't push it if im not hungry. I try to give my body the bare minimum of 1200 for my brain and organs to run properly. I rarely ever get sick and barely ever feel restricted in my diet. I like the idea of being able to work out hard for a big frickin piece of cheesecake (or whatever your cheat may be). I think it is a healthy way of looking at food and a good habit to get into. It is okay to indulge in life, but it means putting in a little work.

    Really dieting is like basic finance. It's all about having a certain amount of money/calories to spend. If you want more than that then you will need to work more.
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
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    I don't eat mine back. I work out at night, and I'm not hungry when I get home. As long as my calories are over 1250 and I get my vitamins in, I don't panic. I do the "if it fits my macros" and high protein/fats and low carbs so my calories are pretty low anyway. I'm not starving, and I still have 40lbs to lose. I also don't believe MFP when it estimates my exercise calories, and I don't want to buy a HRM for the pool.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    I don't eat them back-don't see the point in burning them off if you do

    lost 1lb per week,

    *sigh*
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
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    I do the TDEE-15% method....see ticker below. :happy:
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    i know this has been asked ALOT. It seems 50% of people eat them back and 50% dont.

    so i was wondering... do you eat them back? and do you still lose weight?

    or if you dont eat them back, do you lose more weight than those who do?

    I don't eat them all back because I want to account for any error in exercise calorie estimations. I know I get my food calorie estimations correct because I read the packages and look up nutritional information and only use MFP calculations if I know the calorie count is correct. But, for exercise, MFP's estimations are generally much higher than my pedometer on my IPhone and the machines at the gym where you put in your height and weight.

    Thus far, when I've stayed within my calorie limit most of the time and eaten back only a portion of my calories, I have lost pretty much at the rate that I wanted to: the first 16 or so pounds at 2 pounds a week, the next 6 or 7 pounds 1 pound per week, and today I set my goals to .5 pounds per week for the last 10 pounds.

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