What happened to you when you ate your exercise calories?

I gained... So I dont eat them any more and I'm losing... :happy:

Lost a stone (14 lbs )

Took about 3 weeks - was on 1200 plus exercise cals

Now maintaining. have 1600 plus exercise cals. Still eat most of them. Still sitting at 98 lbs (plus 0.6 during TOM)

I eat most of mine back. I just make sure I NET 1200 or a little more. I do not like to go below that because then I will gain. If I do 5 miles and burn 500 cals, I eat about 400 back. Sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. Really depends on the person and their body. Some will gain if they eat them back, maybe due to slow metabolism, not sure. I lose a pound some times slightly more per week from eating back. Try a week doing both and see how it works for ya. I just think that if your having a bon fire you have to give it wood to keep burning and my way of thinking is you have to keep your body fueled so it keeps burning cals. Works for me, but this is a very very debatable subject hahah Your going in to the lions den here LOL! I do not argue over it, but most will and do. Good luck to ya in whatever works for ya

Ive decided that everyone can eat their exercise calories, its the base calories that needs to change. I thought at first that I couldnt eat them when i was on the recommended 1200 cals, but I have now lowered my basic cals to 1000 and I eat ALL of my exercise calories, and I'm losing 2 lbs a week

I eat most of mine and I still lose. My loss is set for 1.5lbs a week but I usually lose 2+. I'm not one of those people who burn like 700+ cals a day though. A really good day will see me burn 300 cals but most days I'm between 175-250 cals burned.

I'm fine with losing it a little more slowly because I like the idea of giving my skin a chance to catch up. I have so much to lose that loose skin is a real concern for me.

Oh and I don't trust the exercise calculator here. I either use the readouts on the machines I'm using or halve my time when entering it here because I do feel the totals here are out of whack.

I say try a few different ways and see what works best for your body. Just be sure to add strength training and stretching along with the cardio.

I GAINED!! So, I try not to tap into them unless absolutely necessary. It sort of defeats the purpose to me. I KNOW, I EXPECT a lot of replies that are completely opposite. Do what works for YOUR body! GOOD LUCK!!

I don't eat much of them, usually just what I took in with my supplements that I use when I work out. I think it is one of those things that varies with everyone, some can eat all their exercise cals and still lose and others can't, I can't. Experiment a bit and find what works for you personally.

I gained, at first. It took about a week to level out then the weight started going down again. I never use MFP's exercise calories estimates though, they are way too high for me.

I think it all depends on how accurate MFP calories are for both exercise and food items, and also whether you record exactly what you are eating to the gramme - In theory it should work, in practice I don't trust the variables, and just relax a bit if I have exercised loads and allow myself to go over the limit, maybe 25% I have averaged 2.5lb a week since starting mid Jan. I know thats 1/2lb more than recommended, and maybe I should eat a few more exercise cals... A bit of trial and error works, as we are all a bit different, except for the calorie deficit issue which is common to us all I guess!!

Best of luck!

rgds, David

Well, I don’t think that the responses to this question, are actually going to tell you a thing. What you’re searching for is something deeper than the exhausting exercise calorie debate. I eat most of mine, most of the time and have since day 1. I have consistently lost weight and inches while doing so.