eating back calories?

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maillekelly
maillekelly Posts: 132
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm so confused, you read everywhere, 'stick to 1200 cals a day and exercise 5 days a week' but I see people on here saying they eat back their calories? but how does that help? Sorry I know nothing about this, I haven't been eating back my calories, I've noticed on some days (like today) my net is just 600 cals.

Any advise would be great!

Replies

  • Rtrue18
    Rtrue18 Posts: 45
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    600 net calories is probably too low and I don't know how long you can maintain that. Personally I need to eat more than 1200 calories on days I work out or I dont have the energy for a good workout. However I don't usually eat back all my calories I loose when working out. I try to stay around 1500 on workout days, sometimes it goes a little higher if I got a really long workout in and my body needs more food. You don't want to go into starvation mode, and 1200 with a workout that is burning 600 probably isnt good for you.
  • TeraMarieD
    TeraMarieD Posts: 55
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    I don't understand it either.........
  • RajwaJ
    RajwaJ Posts: 191 Member
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    See it like a car with a full tank of petrol. Say a full tank is 1200 kcals. That is what is classed as the minimum amount of calories you need a day to stop your body going into starvation mode.

    When you exercise you are using some of the fuel in the tank and to make it work better you need to top up the tank. Best way I can think of explaining it.

    I eat most of my exercise calories back and I never go lower than 1200 Kcals a day.
  • bsexton3
    bsexton3 Posts: 472 Member
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    Discussed many times. Simply do a search.

    From what I have read. If you are at 1,200, you should eat back some if not all of your workout calories, otherwise you may go into starvation mode.

    Even with a heart rate monitor, I only eat back about 1/2 of my workout calories. Thing to do is try all three: eating none, eat half, eat all. Which works best for you at reaching your goal weight loss per week? That is the one to do. I always adjust based on what my weight is doing.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    Exercising is for your body's health... your muscles, your heart, your lungs.

    Eating less is for weight loss. You're still consuming less calories than you burn when you eat back those calories.
  • BeardieDad
    BeardieDad Posts: 14 Member
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    What most people mean by eating back the exercise calories is that plan to eat the baseline count established on the "Food" tab and then based on the calories burned on the "Exercise" tab add those to your baseline. I prefer to not eat back all of the calories on the "Exercise" tab because I think some of the exercises are a bit optimistic but I do eat some of them back or use them to offset when I go a little over on the food count.
  • maillekelly
    maillekelly Posts: 132
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    Exercising is for your body's health... your muscles, your heart, your lungs.

    Eating less is for weight loss. You're still consuming less calories than you burn when you eat back those calories.

    I am doing this for weightloss, I'm trying to get down 25lb by september, the math is just confusing me, so many people just do it by eating low cal and getting exercise.

    And I never ever feel hungry on 1200 cals a day, I always eat 1200 cals, never under. I'm always satisfied ;/ I would feel like I'm stuffing myself needlessly if I ate even more.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    People, it's not that complicated.

    MFP gives you a calorie deficit when it calculates your daily calorie goal. So even if you didn't exercise you would still lose weight. You're already eating less than your body needs, so when you exercise and burn more calories you have to eat at least some of those burn calories back. If you don't, your body won't have enough nutrition and energy on which to function properly and over time your body will stop burning fat and can even start shutting down bodily functions. Eat your exercise calories and you'll stay healthy!
  • blisterpeanuts
    blisterpeanuts Posts: 67 Member
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    The stickies at the top of these topics have some extensive information and discussion. I thought the same thing when I started, and since have come to understand the logic of preventing the body from going into starvation mode.

    The thing is, I sometimes just don't have the appetite or desire to eat anything more. For example, yesterday, I burned about 850 cals on the elliptical (80 minutes)--and that may be a conservative estimate.

    At the end of the day I still had about 1,000 calories to eat back.

    I tried to eat, I really did. I went to the store and got some sugar-free Edy's fruit pops and some Weight Watchers ice cream bars. I ate 3 of each, which was about 500 cals. Then I ate a banana - another 100. And I was stuffed. I hate going to bed on a full stomach, so I just had to stop.

    I refuse to believe that I have to eat a Pepperidge Farm cake or a pint of Ben and Jerry's just to meet my calorie goals! Some people have suggested eating more often during the day, like 5-6 small meals, but even these micro-meals will fill me up. It's a conundrum. But, I'm still losing weight!
  • Roootman
    Roootman Posts: 3
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    I'm new here, I've been losing weight since last Thanksgiving (Nov 25 2010). I recently started swimming 3 days a week and according to the exercise input I've been putting in at this site I've been burning OVER 1000 calories an hour doing an average breast stroke for one hour straight, three time a week. I've been on a calorie restricted diet of 1000-1200 calories a day and many days swimming puts me into NEGATIVE calories as I sometimes add 30 minutes of treading water too.

    There is no way that I can eat back these calories as I can barely get in 1000 calories a day now (due to bariatric surgery). I have not noticed an increase in my weight loss since I started, it's been about 5-7 pounds a week for months now.

    Can I safely keep this up?
  • Roootman
    Roootman Posts: 3
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    I'm new here, I've been losing weight since last Thanksgiving (Nov 25 2010). I recently started swimming 3 days a week and according to the exercise input I've been putting in at this site I've been burning OVER 1000 calories an hour doing an average breast stroke for one hour straight, three time a week. I've been on a calorie restricted diet of 1000-1200 calories a day and many days swimming puts me into NEGATIVE calories as I sometimes add 30 minutes of treading water too.

    There is no way that I can eat back these calories as I can barely get in 1000 calories a day now (due to bariatric surgery). I have not noticed an increase in my weight loss since I started, it's been about 5-7 pounds a week for months now.

    Can I safely keep this up?
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    I'm new here, I've been losing weight since last Thanksgiving (Nov 25 2010). I recently started swimming 3 days a week and according to the exercise input I've been putting in at this site I've been burning OVER 1000 calories an hour doing an average breast stroke for one hour straight, three time a week. I've been on a calorie restricted diet of 1000-1200 calories a day and many days swimming puts me into NEGATIVE calories as I sometimes add 30 minutes of treading water too.

    There is no way that I can eat back these calories as I can barely get in 1000 calories a day now (due to bariatric surgery). I have not noticed an increase in my weight loss since I started, it's been about 5-7 pounds a week for months now.

    Can I safely keep this up?

    You should talk to your doctor about whether or not this is safe and healthy for you.

    My guess is that it isn't and you may need to cut back on your exercise so that you don't burn so many calories.
  • blisterpeanuts
    blisterpeanuts Posts: 67 Member
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    I'm new here, I've been losing weight since last Thanksgiving (Nov 25 2010). I recently started swimming 3 days a week and according to the exercise input I've been putting in at this site I've been burning OVER 1000 calories an hour doing an average breast stroke for one hour straight, three time a week. I've been on a calorie restricted diet of 1000-1200 calories a day and many days swimming puts me into NEGATIVE calories as I sometimes add 30 minutes of treading water too.

    There is no way that I can eat back these calories as I can barely get in 1000 calories a day now (due to bariatric surgery). I have not noticed an increase in my weight loss since I started, it's been about 5-7 pounds a week for months now.

    Can I safely keep this up?

    An hour of swimming 3 times a week? That does NOT sound like excessive exercise to me! It might even be too little; generally it's recommended that the average person should do 4-5 days a week of cardio-vascular exercise.

    I would definitely not cut back on exercise; rather, I would, as the other person suggests, talk to your physician. Maybe go in and get a blood test every 3 months to check your general levels--WBC, RBC, LDL, HDL, etc.--plus BP, HR, and lung volume.

    You might need to eat more protein and fat, to give your body more material to work with. I don't know. Again--ask an expert, and good luck with your program.

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