eat eat eat

Yes. I'm down 60lbs since the start of November 2010, and I always eat my exercise calories.

I have had a lose every single week, and typically loose 1.5-3 lbs a week.

You need to eat them so your body doesn't think its starving. Otherwise your body panicks and hangs on to that fat for dear life.

Most times, I eat back my calories. I am still loosing weight, but it is slow. My trainer said that you should not eat back the calories, but I have heard different thoughts on this subject. Mentally....the exercise gives me the "right" to eat more food...so I think! Maybe it is all psychological?

I was for awhile (I've kind of fell off the wagon in general). Here's the deal... and I'm gonna give the short version since the long version can be found somewhere on this site. Not eating back your exercise calories will make you lose more weight in the short term... as in a week or two... but then your body goes into starvation mode because it isn't getting the energy it needs and it will start to hoard everything you eat! That doesn't sound good, does it? It isn't. You will stop losing. Eating your exercise calories is the healthy way to lose... I'm not saying if you miss 100 calories here and there you're going to go into starvation mode. But in general you should be around your daily caloric intake 90% of the days.

Nicole

I wasn't eating all of them....maybe a third or less. My weight loss was slow...usually 5-8 ounces a week is all. I started 2 weeks ago eating them all and I've lost 2 lbs both weeks! Just sayin'! Try it out both ways and see how your body does!

I eat back most of mine as well. I have lost weight steadily since I started and have always eaten 90% of the exercise calories back. I also eat small meals 5 to 6 times a day and walk 40-60 minutes a day.

Yes, I always eat them back and I always lose weight, every week. I've lost 7kg (15.4lb) in 8 weeks.

I think the thing that we need to recognise more, is the impacts that not eating enough food (starvation mode/nutritionally deprived) will affect the way in which your body releases AND REPLENTISHES fat stores.

If you eat insufficient calories, your metabolic rate slows down. Your body holds on to the fat (because it is worried that it will need that fat to survive in the future, because the body is not getting enough calories).

More importantly, when we stop our "diet" or restricted calorie intake, our bodies try to protect itself from future "starvation" and replenishes the fat stores at a great rate of knots. This means you will put on weight, FAST. And most of it will be stored as fat.

For years, I have been a yo-yo diet who lost weight (I would starve myself, exercise like crazy, and was very very hard work), and then put it all back on (plus more). I could never understand why the weight would come back so easily, even if I didn't eat "badly". But now I understand - it was because I had such a low calorie intake during my weight loss phase, that my body's only response afterwards, was to store every calorie consumed in my "normal" eating phase. Hence, the rapid weight gain.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your journey.

The only times that I have found that I have not been losing weight were when I wasn't eating them back.

So yes, eat those calories!

Yep. I aim to eat at least 50-75% and lose every week.

I do...