Eating back calories.. your thoughts, please!

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Replies

  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    Since I've started my journey I have never eaten back my calories. I know MFP already creates a deficit for you, but to me it makes no sense to eat back what you have just burnt off. I guess it all depends on what foods you eat back.

    By not eating back i have lost .5 - 1pd a week give or take and im happy with that. I have less than 20 pounds to go, so it'll be harder to take off those last few pounds. But I know I can do it!

    Why doesn't it make sense if it still leaves you in the deficit you set to meet your weekly goal?
  • suziepoo1984
    suziepoo1984 Posts: 915 Member
    I always eat back most of my workout calories and i have lost 29 pounds in 8 months at different rates. Now that i am very close to goal weight, weight loss has slowed down, but thats just expected!
  • smoofinator
    smoofinator Posts: 635 Member
    www.shouldIeatmyexercisecalories.com

    :laugh: That's great!!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    If your logging food and exercise honestly you can't not lose weight. Eat back your exercise calories. I'm 56lb down and always ate them.

    This!^

    MFP gave you a calorie deficit BEFORE exercise.....that's why you are expected to eat exercise calories back. A large calorie deficit will have you losing fat+muscle.....when all you really want to lose is fat.

    Exercise calories back can be tricky.......do you use MFP "guesstimates" or a heart rate monitor? A heart rate monitor would be more accurate for some types of exercise ....not strength training though. If you are using MFP numbers .....be conservative.

    If you eat your calories back and the scale does not budge for a couple weeks....then step down the exercise calorie estimate.

    What is your activity level.....mine is sedentary.....so when I log workouts....I eat the calories back. I don't log "activity" .....just workouts.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    I always eat back most of my workout calories and i have lost 29 pounds in 8 months at different rates. Now that i am very close to goal weight, weight loss has slowed down, but thats just expected!


    Yep! ......good point. The closer you get to goal ....the slower weight comes off.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,428 MFP Moderator
    thanks everyone!

    I have been staying as close to my 1200 calorie goal as I can, even when I exercise and have felt satisfied, most of the time. Good to know that eating back calories still results in weekly loss.

    When I'm hungry, I will eat back what feels reasonable.

    I would suggest looking at how many plateau threads are out there and see this exact scenario. The issue with NOT eating back exercise calories (if you follow MFP) is you do not provide your body with enough nutrients to sustain your muscle mass, especially the more lean you are. So while continuing a low calorie diet, you increase the chances of losing more muscle. Ideally, and what 90% of new MFP's don't realize, is your want to maximize fat loss and minimize muscle loss. Muscle is tight and lean, so the more you have, the smaller you will be.

    When you lose muscle, you effective body fat % may not drop and in fact it can increase.Heck, I can't tell you how many members are underweight or at the low end of their acceptable weight range and still not happy. It's because they don't have muscle because they lost it threw diet. If you want to be lean, aim for 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass, lift heavy weights and set a moderate deficit (or do TDEE -20%).
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    My advice is to follow MFP's recommendations to the letter for a while, and then tweak as necessary in small increments. Don't assume that the only two choices are eating back or not eating back. In my case I found that eating back 2/3rds of my exercise calories was about right to bring my average weekly weight loss in line with my expectations.

    It worked out very well for me. I lost 58 pounds in my late 50s and have kept the weight off for over 2 years. I rarely ate less than 1500 calories a day while I was losing the weight and was never hungry enough to lose control and binge. I never hit a plateau. I probably could have lost faster if I'd tried, but sometimes a strategy for short term success has a way of setting you up for long term failure.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    www.shouldIeatmyexercisecalories.com

    :laugh: That's great!!

    OMG I just died! :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
  • rgugs13
    rgugs13 Posts: 197 Member
    I eat most or all of mine back. Sometimes I eat over on some days and under on others. Had my goal set to lose 1 pound a week in November, and I lost 4 pounds, even with going over calories some days and under others. I think the weekly average is more important than daily. I upped my goal to 2 pounds a week which puts me at 1200 calories a day. I keep my activity level at sedentary and let my Fitbit credit me with extra activity. With exercise the last couple of days I end up eating about 1600-1900 calories to net about 1200. Should be interesting to see how adding in weightlifting and maintain or increasing cardio changes things this month.
  • HeatherMaile24
    HeatherMaile24 Posts: 9 Member
    I really appreciate all your insight, everyone.

    I don't use a heart rate monitor so I think it would be good practice to eat back a portion of my exercise calories. I'm never sure how accurate the MFP estimate for exercise calories is.

    I think I'll start with about 75% and see how that goes. I've lost 6.6 pounds in 25 days so MFP has served me well, so far! :)

    Thanks again!

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