Those who eat back exercise calories?

samiyan05
samiyan05 Posts: 115 Member
in Success Stories
Hello :)
I'm just kind of confused and I know this is a touchy subject on here. I would like to actually see results from people who eat back the calories burned from exercise. The reason being because I feel like I am sabotaging myself on the days that I do it but then if I don't I feel like I'm eating too little and that may be why I'm not losing weight... Idk... I've lost 50lbs and I wish I kept a diary back when I lost most of it so I would know exactly how because now that the scale isn't moving it's driving me crazy not knowing what I did so differently back then...


Anyone who eats back your calories and lost weight please tell me how much you eat and how much you lost.

I'm 6 ft tall
Sw 250
Cw 202 (the last 2lbs before 200 keep fluctuating!! Grr)
Gw 175
And the scale just won't move! !

Any help here!?!
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Replies

  • samiyan05
    samiyan05 Posts: 115 Member
    ....
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
    every last one, its the only reason I exercise.
  • mclgo
    mclgo Posts: 147 Member
    Hi there!
    I have lost 25 lbs in about 21 weeks. I usually eat back most of my exercise calories. And some days I go OVER my limit, but I'm still losing.
    For me the key seems to be exercise - period. If I don't walk, I don't lose much. If I do, I lose more. No matter how much or how little I eat.

    Hope this helps!
  • Nomitron
    Nomitron Posts: 11 Member
    I was actually just wondering this exact same thing, I look forward to seeing some replies.
  • fitnessMommy68
    fitnessMommy68 Posts: 7 Member
    I don't necessarily eat back the calories all the time but I do add work out minutes to offset out to eat eating. I talked to a professional physical fitness person and he said that fast food and resteraunts nutritional information are not accurate. I can see that becasue I watch those subway people add mayo to their sandwiches like it's the only thing they are putting on it. I would watch your measurements too when eating back calories. I will take the opportunity to make a meal I really like on exercise days but make sure I measure. When I don't, I don't lose.
  • MommaRobs
    MommaRobs Posts: 24 Member
    I have been under my allowed calories for weeks, with and without exercise, and I am barely losing anything. It is so frustrating. So is the key to losing eating back all of the calories from exercise and not staying under? I'd love to know.
  • JazzKat71
    JazzKat71 Posts: 14 Member
    I've only been on MFP for just under two weeks (so I'm still a newbie), but I notice this is indeed a VERY touchy subject here. From what I could gather (from those that responded), the people who ate their calories back (who mostly thought people who didn't were foolish), were usually people who were maintaining their weight or at a point where they were looking to lose between 5 and 10 pounds. Whereas the people who refused to eat their exercise calories, seemed to be people who still had a lot more pounds to go.

    I don't eat them back. For someone like me, who already has a lot of calories to eat, eating my exercise calories back would only result in me eating high calorie junk...because lets face it, I know myself well enough to know I'm not going to use those calories to eat more of the good stuff.

    I'm always interested to see this debate though lol
  • simplycorey
    simplycorey Posts: 721 Member
    It really depends on how hungry I am that day. Sometimes I won't eat any, sometimes maybe half and sometimes almost all of them.
  • samiyan05
    samiyan05 Posts: 115 Member
    every last one, its the only reason I exercise.


    I noticed you've lost a lot of weight (congrats btw, that's awesome!)

    Have you always eaten them all back or just since the weight has been off?
  • Gnasher1960
    Gnasher1960 Posts: 19 Member
    I have always eaten back my calories. I set my profile to sedentary so I had to eat back any exercise calories otherwise I'd be way under my goal. If I didn't I'd always be hungry. As long as you keep to a deficit then you should be losing weight. I started losing about 2lbs per week and gradually decreased to 1/2lb a week as I lost the weight. I've gone from 230lbs to 160lbs.

    My diary is open if it helps.

    I recently stopped exercising due to injuries, so I upped my calorie intake so as not to lose weight while not lifting. I haven't been particularly good either but I'm still losing!
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf
    The above should help explain the exercise calorie idea. For the record, I've eaten my exercise calories throughout the 100 lbs loss.
  • Tiff050709
    Tiff050709 Posts: 497 Member
    It really depends on how hungry I am that day. Sometimes I won't eat any, sometimes maybe half and sometimes almost all of them.

    This
  • aelphabawest
    aelphabawest Posts: 173 Member
    I eat back all of my calories. I'm not dieting - I'm changing my lifestyle. And that lifestyle now includes a permanent level of movement and fitness. Which, in order to do well, requires eating. I regularly run 4-6 miles, hike 10+ miles, etc. - if I don't eat most of that back, I won't have any energy at all to do that sort of exercise.
  • sydneyplainjane
    sydneyplainjane Posts: 140 Member
    Hi there!
    I have lost 25 lbs in about 21 weeks. I usually eat back most of my exercise calories. And some days I go OVER my limit, but I'm still losing.
    For me the key seems to be exercise - period. If I don't walk, I don't lose much. If I do, I lose more. No matter how much or how little I eat.

    Hope this helps!

    Yeah, this is the same for me. For some reason, "how" I create my deficit matters. If I have a food deficit, I don't seem to lose much. But, if my deficit is through exercise, I have more success.

    In response to the OP, though, whether or not I eat back my exercise calories depends on how I'm doing for the week. For instance, yesterday, I had what I'd call a bad food day, and went way over my calorie limit. So, today and tomorrow, I probably will NOT eat back my exercise calories. On a normal day, I usually eat back some exercise calories, but not all.
  • Healthy_Hunnie
    Healthy_Hunnie Posts: 60 Member
    I am looking to lose 30 lbs total. SO far I have lost 13. Each day is different for me but I have my daily caloric intake goal set at 1400 net. Meaning the goal is taking excercise into consideration. So some days I can eat up to 2200 cals because I burned 700-800 cals in an exercise session. Lately I have been under my calorie goal for the day, but I know the first month, I was typically right at the goal or over and I still lost 10lbs in the first month.

    I believe that working out and monitoring what you are eating is the real key. You need to get the right nutritents and proportions of protein, carbs and fats.

    FOr my weight, I will take 60% of my total lbs and turn that number into grams of protein. I aim to eat that much protein a day. I get protein from milk, egg whites, meat (steak, fish, chicken), and protein bars/shakes. I am also a firm believer in Shakeology. It definitely helps with maintaining your nutrient levels.
  • LarryDUk
    LarryDUk Posts: 279 Member
    I would, but it kinda gets complex the more I work out. For a long period I was burning 2000 exercise calories a day. I did not eat that much back! I tend to keep my intake between 1800-2200 a day and that works for me, no matter what I do for exercise.
  • conniemaxwell5
    conniemaxwell5 Posts: 943 Member
    I eat mine back and I've lost 58 pounds.My net calories are set at around 1600 calories. If I burn 300 with exercise, I eat 1900. I'm set to lose 1/2 pound a week.

    It's about having an overall deficit. Your body is burning calories all day, not just when you exercise. On average I burn 2200 calories a day, so eating 1900 gives me a daily deficit of 300. A pound of fat is 3500 calories, so it takes me about 12 days to lose a pound.
  • lgowell10
    lgowell10 Posts: 1
    Im not here to tell you or anyone what to do, so ill just share what I do.

    I set my activity level to sedentary so that mfp gives me a basal calorie number. then I edit my goals myself to have a 500 calorie deficit a day. Now that puts me at less than 1200 kcals which is bad for you, but i workout and move every day. When I plan out my meals for the day i plan on burning ~450kcals at the gym any more that i burn is for snacks. my goal each day is to get the number in the top right as close to 0 as possible. some days im over, and others im way under, but i judge what i eat off from how i feel so if im extremely full, im not going to force myself to eat more. likewise if im hungry, i eat more. I look at the weekly numbers to see how many calories i am over or under my goal. thats where i judge how well im doing.
    My goal on mfp is for 1,080kcal, but i usually eat around 1500, i just like seeing the 0 at the end of the day.
  • aubeatle
    aubeatle Posts: 17 Member
    It all depends on how you set up your profile. If you set your activity level to "sedentary", then YES you should eat back your calories. If you set it to "active" or "lightly active", then you should not. Since MFP has you at a calorie deficit whether you exercise or not, it all depends on your activity level.

    This post is also very helpful: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13
  • Miss_Mabee
    Miss_Mabee Posts: 119 Member
    Touchy subject indeed! I EAT BACK.... kind of.

    My reasoning is that my body requires a certain amount of calories to keep my organs running and healthy. Therefore I never go under 1200 or I am probably killing brain cells ;)
    I don't always eat back ALL of my calories but enough to keep a reasonable amount of calories in my system to stay healthy, active and awake!
    And I also think it's a lifestyle change. I want to get into the lifelong habit of understanding that days I eat more, I can work out to compensate. That means that I won't go without my favorite foods forever, thats just terrible. I just have to work for the things in life I want :)
    I've been on here for a year now and I think I would have gone crazy or given up if there were no "rewards" and I was stuck at the same calorie count this whole time.
    I've lost all my weight while eating back at least some of my calories. Sometimes I workout to "earn" myself something super awesome for dessert. That's how I look at it anyways :)
    I hope you find what works for you!
  • ToFatT0B3S1ck
    ToFatT0B3S1ck Posts: 194 Member
    I eat them back if I am hungry and always make sure my net is at least 1200 if I'm hungry or not. Check out the ticker for weight loss.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    I have eaten back every little morsel of exercise calories since I started nearly 4 years ago.
  • kbresso
    kbresso Posts: 40 Member
    I usually eat most of my exercise calories. I've been counting calories for almost two years, more or less (except when I was bulking for about 4 months). For awhile, I calculated my calories at sedentary and then ate back the calories (I didn't use MFP's calculation) and now I'm at TDEE-17%, and with TDEE the exercise cals are already built in. Either way, I eat my exercise calories because I've learned, at least for me, if I don't eat enough to support my activity level, my weight loss plateaus. I workout out 6 times a week, lifting 4 days and I run twice a week. I'm losing weight eating just over 2000 calories a day and I'm in the if-it-fits-in-your-macros camp, so I can usallly get away with a chocolate chip cookie a few times a week :)
  • ChristineinMA
    ChristineinMA Posts: 312 Member
    I eat them back if I am hungry and always make sure my net is at least 1200 if I'm hungry or not. Check out the ticker for weight loss.

    This has been my experience as well.

    Remember, it is not just whether you eat exercise calories or not, the amount of body fat available to lose makes a difference too. I am in the Obese category of the BMI and have fat to spare. As I get closer to goal, I expect that the weight will come off more slowly.
  • danofthedead1979
    danofthedead1979 Posts: 362 Member
    If you've set your calorie limit at a deficit to start with, then eat back your workout cals. You're still in deficit. Its the deficit that will generate weight loss, not the exercise. If you've set your cals at maintenance level, then don't eat back the cals burned, as this creates the deficit and generates the weight loss.
  • Saraisamom
    Saraisamom Posts: 26 Member
    If you are worried about eating too many calories back because of overestimating calories burned during workout, get yourself a good quality heart rate monitor. You don't have to eat all your calories back, but you can work on a percentage that doesn't feel like sabotaging your deficit.
  • GemmaRowlands
    GemmaRowlands Posts: 360 Member
    Personally I never ate them back, but my settings were to lose slowly, so that probably works out as similar who set to lose 2lbs a week but ate them back. Maybe. Anyway I did okay, hit my goal, and have thus far managed to maintain for 10 months.
  • JazzKat71
    JazzKat71 Posts: 14 Member
    It all depends on how you set up your profile. If you set your activity level to "sedentary", then YES you should eat back your calories. If you set it to "active" or "lightly active", then you should not. Since MFP has you at a calorie deficit whether you exercise or not, it all depends on your activity level.

    This post is also very helpful: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13

    THIS!! I think this is VERY important!!!! I wish I could bold that second sentence.
  • Jess1caLe
    Jess1caLe Posts: 31 Member
    I do, but to a certain extent. I work out in the evenings a lot, so I have to prepare myself to burn the calories I take in. Of course everyone is different and has a different perspective on things, but I don't see it as a calorie deficit--I see it as a way to earn my exercise for the day. I need the calories for energy, gain, and strength to work out. Though it is hard at times when I happen to do an intense work out and MFP says I've burned 700 calories and it's 8pm. I can't bring myself to eat that much just a couple of hours before bed. :ohwell:
  • summermac96
    summermac96 Posts: 1 Member
    I always tried to leave a slight deficit when I first started out. Then I lost too much weight. Well guess what? The MFP exercise calories are extremely OFF for me which I only discovered upon using a HRM to track it. No wonder I felt like I was STARVING but my diary didn't show it. I do usually eat my calories now but I am maintaining.

    I highly recommend you get a HRM if you don't have one. It has been eye opening for me!

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