just how important is it to totally eat back

vpsmith14
vpsmith14 Posts: 71
edited September 25 in Health and Weight Loss
I am wondering. Even after reading all about it. Is it EXTREMELY important to eat back each and every calorie you burn through exercise? What if I ate back half of what I burned. Would I be short changing my weight loss efforts?

I am supposed to eat 1200 a day. Like today I burned 615 in exercise. So really, should I eat a total of 1815 calories to be on track?

Thanks so much,
Tricia
www.mommyx12.blogspot.com

Replies

  • ashley0616
    ashley0616 Posts: 579 Member
    With your allowance being so low, you should eat back most of your exercise calories. You will want to net 1200 a day (total of what you eat - how much you exercise off) so that your body functions properly and does what you want it to do: drop fat and gain muscle.
  • mrsweigl
    mrsweigl Posts: 198 Member
    I used to eat back about half and wasn't losing as much as i wanted. I don't eat back now, will see how that works...
  • Tiana405
    Tiana405 Posts: 270 Member
    bump
  • coderedcoderedjkjk
    coderedcoderedjkjk Posts: 72
    I usually try not to eat them back.
  • snowflakelaia
    snowflakelaia Posts: 214
    I definitely CANNOT eat them all back. I eat until full, I have several meals a day, needed veggies, protein, and healthy fats.

    For my height, I don't think I need the "compulsory"/required 1200 kcal, it also depends on your weight... I need 1200 to stay on track, but if I want to lose I have to eat a bit less than that.

    My body doesn't like it if I over stuff it, and my mind feels very tired...
  • teri_cmc
    teri_cmc Posts: 21
    I think it depends on what you eat and when. You have to experiment a little and get to know YOUR body. Eating every 2.5 - 3 hours, about 250 calories each time works for me with my carbs coming from fruits and veggies. Also, variation helps too - don't do the exact same thing every week - both caloriewise and exercisewise and so on...
  • marspec1maven
    marspec1maven Posts: 13
    I would like to know the answer tooth's also. I have myself set at 1200 calories also. After the exercise is tallied I get more calories to budget. I try not to look at that and to stick to my set limit. I don't want to get accustomed to eating/craving more if I wont necessarily always be getting all of that exercise in every day.
  • RoadDog
    RoadDog Posts: 2,946 Member
    I am trying to lose weight, so I don't eat back my exercise calories. If I was trying to maintain, I would.
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    I am wondering. Even after reading all about it. Is it EXTREMELY important to eat back each and every calorie you burn through exercise? What if I ate back half of what I burned. Would I be short changing my weight loss efforts?

    I am supposed to eat 1200 a day. Like today I burned 615 in exercise. So really, should I eat a total of 1815 calories to be on track?

    Thanks so much,
    Tricia
    www.mommyx12.blogspot.com
    Short answer for you: Yes absolutely you should be eating them back. There are going to be the naysayers here who will disagree but at 1200 you NEED to eat those cals back end of story.
  • rockabyesarojane
    rockabyesarojane Posts: 471
    here:

    my friend took the time to type this all out earlier today so i will let her have the pleasure of explaining it to you:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/00trayn/view/how-to-bust-a-3-month-plateau-87677
  • vpsmith14
    vpsmith14 Posts: 71
    Thanks guys. There were a few different answers. I have about 15 lbs to go at this point and I'm really nervous about hitting a plateau again. I stayed at the same weight for 8 months before the scale began to move again. It makes sense to me to replace those calories burned through working out and have at least a 1000 calorie net for each day. But it seems so scary to be eating what seems like so much more than my normal 1200. Any thoughts?

    Tricia
    www.mommyx12.blogspot.com
  • DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo
    DoReMiFaSoLaTiDo Posts: 296
    it depends on where you are at on your weight loss journey...if you are morbidly obese, I'd say DO NOT EAT THEM BACK... once you lose a significant amount, your body will need the calories gained from eating them back. or you will plateau (will need the calories for energy to burn more fat)
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    unless your under 5 ft tall and live a very sedentary lifestyle 1000 a day net is not enough end of story.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    Note - I have a BodyMedia Fit that tells me what my daily burn is and that's how I have this info about my deficits.

    I'm within 10lbs of my goal and eat back every single one of the exercise calories that my HRM gives and usually about 200 more, depending on the day. And even eating that much my daily deficit is still usually between 500-700, which I keep there to account for the BMF's possibility of a 10% difference. But if I didn't eat that much, I'd be at a deficit of 1000 or more, which isn't a desired at this point.

    When I wasn't eating them all back, I stopped losing. When I started them all, plus, I started losing again again. I've lost just under a pound a week each week I've been doing that.

    And I have a desk job where I pretty much just sit at a computer all day and, other than cooking and working out, I just sit around while at home. In case anyone was wondering if I led a more active lifestyle. lol
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