Not going to eat exercise calories anymore

I'm wondering if anyone else has reached this point/conclusion? I exercise pretty intensely 6 days a week anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours right now. In the summer the volume goes way up and intensity stays the same. Anyway, I've noticed that when I eat my exercise calories, even if I only log half of my actual workout, and if I stay within my points limits I do NOT lose weight. Essentially what I'm trying to say is that I can only eat 1400 or under calories a day in order to lose, no matter how intensely I exercise.

I simply don't know what else to do. I've done some research and while "studies" show that exercise does aid in weight loss, it isn't the answer. The answer is keeping calories under control. It's taken me about 4 years to come to this realization, and it kind of sucks because I love exercise and I always thought I could eat more given I am active, but experience tells me no.

I lost all my weight without eating back any exercise calories, but I didn't learn about the "MFP way" until late in the process, so I didn't exactly do it "right" (I utilized portion control, and started exercising).

As they say, you can't out-train a poor diet, but exercise can certainly help improve your deficit.

I think this is so true! I don,t even record my exercise until the end of the day so I don't calculate any of these calories into my daily caloric limit. If you work out hard and burn 300-400 cal this addition can put you into weight maintenance not loss. Wish this wasn't this case, but for me, it is .

Essentially what I'm trying to say is that I can only eat 1400 or under calories a day in order to lose, no matter how intensely I exercise.

This is just not true. If you're exercising as intensely as you say, it's more likely that you are underestimating your intake. Do you weigh/measure and log EVERYTHING you eat? Or are you eyeballing portions, leaving out small things because you think they don't matter, not logging cheat days, etc.?

I am not trying to insult you because I have been where you are. Earlier this year, I was only eating 1400 calories a day and could not get the scale to budge, despite working out 6 days a week. Except in reality, I was eating more like 1900 calories a day and didn't realize it until I actually started weighing and logging literally EVERYTHING. Now, that may seem like overkill, but it worked. I adjusted my intake to a legitimate 1700 calories, and I lost 1/2 a pound or more every week, like clockwork.

Exactly.

I log everything. However, I think that I MAY be overestimating calorie burn, as well as only eyeballing portions instead of weighing them. I do use the weight watchers spoons to measure my evening meals (morning and lunch are standardized - accurate) Gads…guess it's time to start weighing all of my dinners from now on.

If you are eyeballing your portions I can guarantee you that you are substantially underestimating your intake...probably 30-50% given that's pretty much par for the course. You have to be conservative with your burn as well...we just don't burn as much as all of the sweat would have us believe which is why exercise should be done for fitness and diet used for weight control.

Wondering if my body has become so acclimated to the same exercises that it's become super efficient at minimizing calorie burn, even with a high HR?

There is some adaptation, but it's pretty negligible. Do you have a particularly high RHR? I only ask because I did and thought I was burning all of these calories per my HRM...turns out everything was thrown off by the fact that I could go for a brisk walk and be at 135 BPM because of my condition...so my HRM just assumed I was at that particular % of my VO2 max....if I ran or something it would show me at like 85% - 90% with huge calorie burns. Once I got on meds for my condition and got my RHR in the normal range, the real picture came into view...

Your HR doesn't determine your burn...it's just used in an algorithm to estimate some level of VO2 max that you are working at...if you have any kind of conditions which give you any kind of irregular heart beat...LRH, HRH, etc then the algorithm is going to be invalid.

And I am exercising intensely. HR at 80-90% for long periods of time - typically 1.5 hour bike rides. I wear a Garmin so I know for a fact this info is accurate. Wondering if my body has become so acclimated to the same exercises that it's become super efficient at minimizing calorie burn, even with a high HR? Switched from road cycling to mountain bike in September. Swim 2000-2500 yards twice a week with some sprints mixed in. May need to switch it up even more. I'd run but I'm too heavy right now - don't want to get injured. I'm thinking some heavy lifting may be in order!

When was the last time you took a week off from all that?