Ate back some of my exercise calories but gained weight

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BalancedBeauty87
BalancedBeauty87 Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
Before I exercise I'm suppsed eat 1310 calories. I'm doing turbo fire and I like to push myself pretty hard. With one workout I can burn about 1000 calories according to my heart rate monitor, so I tried increasing calories to 1700 and I started gaining weight. I was pretty much forcing myself eat the extra food because I didn't want to go into starvation mode. Is it possible thay my body is just adjusting to the extra calories or should I just stick to my original 1310 calorie goal? I'm grateful for any advice! :-)

Replies

  • ashenriver
    ashenriver Posts: 498 Member
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    Before you start adjusting calories, what is the time frame that you are talking about?

    Are you sure that you are eating 1700 calories, by this I mean, weighing all of your food with a scale, measuring cups are for liquids only, using the correct nutritional information, etc.

    Is your HRM calibrated correctly, 1000 cal seems like a lot.

    How long have you been gaining weight, is this different from normal body weight fluctuation, water gains, etc.

    Remember MFP has a deficit built in, on days you exercise you get to eat more, its recommended to eat 50-75% of those exercise calories back due to over estimation of calorie burn.

    Starvation mode is a myth the way it is used/stated in MFP, search the forums to read up on it.
  • lukewind
    lukewind Posts: 177 Member
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    I burn a lot more calories then you do per minute of exercise and it would take me 90 minutes on a treadmill to even get close to 1,000 calories burned from exercise. That number may very well be very wrong. You don't burn as many calories exercising as you might think. Also, if you just gained weight on one week then wait it out. Your weight can fluctuate quite a bit day to day. If you are still gaining weight after 2-3 weeks then you are obviously eating too many calories. You may want to go get and RMR test done just to make sure your metabolism lines up with MFP estimation.
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
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    Before I exercise I'm suppsed eat 1310 calories. I'm doing turbo fire and I like to push myself pretty hard. With one workout I can burn about 1000 calories according to my heart rate monitor, so I tried increasing calories to 1700 and I started gaining weight. I was pretty much forcing myself eat the extra food because I didn't want to go into starvation mode. Is it possible thay my body is just adjusting to the extra calories or should I just stick to my original 1310 calorie goal? I'm grateful for any advice! :-)
    You burn 1000 calories with one workout?

    You are NOT going to go into starvatio mode eating 1310 calories a day. Starvation mode how most people think of it does not exist. YOu would have to eat next to nothing for a longer period of time to get to that point.

    That HRM is full of it....it takes around 8-10 miles of RUNNING to burn 1000 calories. Those HRM arent teh greatest in calculating calories burnt wtih regular exercise.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I agree that 1000 calories burned seems optimistic. But how much weight and what kind of time frame are we talking about? One week? Two? Six?

    It's not uncommon to see a slight gain on the scale when you adjust your eating and exercise habits. The good news is that it's usually water weight and temporary. That's why it's so important to give your body several weeks to adjust to any changes in your routine before deciding what is and isn't working.
  • pinkyslippers
    pinkyslippers Posts: 188 Member
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    I agree with the others that it is the long term picture that is important. If the gain was just one week, and you felt stuffed, it might just be the volume of food still being processed by the body which caused the gain.

    Calculating calorie burn is a tricky science, and many of these companies which make HRMs are cagey about how they calculate it. At the end of the day, it's still just an estimate. Experiment over the longer term to see if you can find a balance.
  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
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    I agree with the others that it is the long term picture that is important. If the gain was just one week, and you felt stuffed, it might just be the volume of food still being processed by the body which caused the gain.

    Calculating calorie burn is a tricky science, and many of these companies which make HRMs are cagey about how they calculate it. At the end of the day, it's still just an estimate. Experiment over the longer term to see if you can find a balance.

    and that is why I dont technically go with the eating back of your exercise calories. I have it set to lose 1/week and i stick to that, and the exercise I do is above and beyond and motivates to keep on doing it. Too many times we dont know exactly we burned so even if you eat back half of your exercise calories...you truly could be breaking even.
  • BalancedBeauty87
    BalancedBeauty87 Posts: 6
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    Yes I measure everything out...measuring cups, scale, etc. I've only increased it for the past 2 weeks. I thought it was calibrated correctly. I just put new batteries in and I have my weight set 5 lbs lower. For almost an hour long of Turbo Fire I thought that was about right. I dont burn 1000 every work out, sorry for the confusion. I have a timex hrm but I'm going to invest in a Polar soon. I'm actually 2lbs heavier than I was a week ago. Thanks for your reply!


    Before you start adjusting calories, what is the time frame that you are talking about?

    Are you sure that you are eating 1700 calories, by this I mean, weighing all of your food with a scale, measuring cups are for liquids only, using the correct nutritional information, etc.

    Is your HRM calibrated correctly, 1000 cal seems like a lot.

    How long have you been gaining weight, is this different from normal body weight fluctuation, water gains, etc.

    Remember MFP has a deficit built in, on days you exercise you get to eat more, its recommended to eat 50-75% of those exercise calories back due to over estimation of calorie burn.

    Starvation mode is a myth the way it is used/stated in MFP, search the forums to read up on it.

    [/quote]
  • BalancedBeauty87
    BalancedBeauty87 Posts: 6
    Options
    I burn a lot more calories then you do per minute of exercise and it would take me 90 minutes on a treadmill to even get close to 1,000 calories burned from exercise. That number may very well be very wrong. You don't burn as many calories exercising as you might think. Also, if you just gained weight on one week then wait it out. Your weight can fluctuate quite a bit day to day. If you are still gaining weight after 2-3 weeks then you are obviously eating too many calories. You may want to go get and RMR test done just to make sure your metabolism lines up with MFP estimation.

    Thanks so much! I'm going to get a new hrm soon. I dont burn 1000 with every workout just the 55 min dvd. My heart rate gets up in the 180s and stays pretty much 165-175 bpm. But I'll definitely look into that RMR test.
  • BalancedBeauty87
    BalancedBeauty87 Posts: 6
    Options
    Before I exercise I'm suppsed eat 1310 calories. I'm doing turbo fire and I like to push myself pretty hard. With one workout I can burn about 1000 calories according to my heart rate monitor, so I tried increasing calories to 1700 and I started gaining weight. I was pretty much forcing myself eat the extra food because I didn't want to go into starvation mode. Is it possible thay my body is just adjusting to the extra calories or should I just stick to my original 1310 calorie goal? I'm grateful for any advice! :-)
    You burn 1000 calories with one workout?

    You are NOT going to go into starvatio mode eating 1310 calories a day. Starvation mode how most people think of it does not exist. YOu would have to eat next to nothing for a longer period of time to get to that point.

    That HRM is full of it....it takes around 8-10 miles of RUNNING to burn 1000 calories. Those HRM arent teh greatest in calculating calories burnt wtih regular exercise.

    Yes whenever I do the 55 min turbofire dvd it says I burn 1000 or more. If I do a 60 min slim in 6 dvd I only burn like 600. Turbo fire is prettt intense so I believed it. Lol But I'm going to get a new hrm soon anyway. Thanks for your reply! The whole startvation mode had me kind of freaked out.
  • BalancedBeauty87
    BalancedBeauty87 Posts: 6
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    I agree that 1000 calories burned seems optimistic. But how much weight and what kind of time frame are we talking about? One week? Two? Six?

    It's not uncommon to see a slight gain on the scale when you adjust your eating and exercise habits. The good news is that it's usually water weight and temporary. That's why it's so important to give your body several weeks to adjust to any changes in your routine before deciding what is and isn't working.

    It probably is water weight! I'm going to go back to the 1310 but eat a little more if I'm hungry! Thanks for your reply!
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    So you increased to 1700 gross per day for 2 weeks and you are up 2lbs? You only weigh in weekly?

    So you don't know any of the fluctuations between now and then.

    If you have a regular exercise schedule, keep eating your 1700 cals. Track weight fluctuations for 2 weeks and assess from that. If you AVERAGE about the same, then a reduction in cals is required.

    And don't forget to take pics/measurements.
  • BalancedBeauty87
    BalancedBeauty87 Posts: 6
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    I agree with the others that it is the long term picture that is important. If the gain was just one week, and you felt stuffed, it might just be the volume of food still being processed by the body which caused the gain.

    Calculating calorie burn is a tricky science, and many of these companies which make HRMs are cagey about how they calculate it. At the end of the day, it's still just an estimate. Experiment over the longer term to see if you can find a balance.

    Thank you so much!! I'm only 51 days into this and still learning. The whole startvation mode had me freaked out. Lol

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