Going to eat exercise calories.. question?

fontenotR
fontenotR Posts: 12 Member
edited November 8 in Fitness and Exercise
In the past I have not eaten exercise calories but will later fall off the wagon and binge. Therefore, I'm am thinking that I need to start eating back a portion of my exercise calories so I can stay satisfied and consistent.

I have the mindset that I wont lose weight very quickly (and/or stal1) when I start eating those extra exercise calories. Has anyone else struggled with this? Thoughts?

Replies

  • rgauthier20420
    rgauthier20420 Posts: 52 Member
    edited December 2014
    Something that might help is trying to remember that eating healthy and exercising are a life style change. Understand that there are time that you'll just want to eat a bunch of food and that's not really bad in a sense. But if you've adopted an exercising lifestyle, then you'll have no issue working that extra bit of food off.

    More to your question, you might try eating back half to start with and see how things go in regards to your actual weight loss.
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
    If using MFP the correct way - your deficit to lose weight is already calculated into your calorie goal for the day. The reason we "eat back" our exercise calories is because when we exercise the calories we burn put us even further into deficit. I would guess you are falling off the wagon and binge because you are going too far into your deficit. Remember - your body needs fuel to move!

    Try eating back your exercise calories. I'm guessing you will feel fuller, happier, and healthier.

    Best of luck!
  • carencae
    carencae Posts: 25 Member
    I found that when I ate back my calories I quit losing weight. I found out that the trick is to not log your activity until bed time. I have it set in my goals 3~ 30 min work outs a week. But I just found this out last week so I am seeing if it will do any good to not eat back my calories. I was going to the gym and doing an hour on the elliptical so I could go out to eat and enjoy a guilt free meal. I was losing inches like crazy but no pounds. I got frustrated and quit MFP for a couple months and gained back 13 of the 40 I had lost. :'(
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    edited December 2014
    fontenotR wrote: »
    In the past I have not eaten exercise calories but will later fall off the wagon and binge. Therefore, I'm am thinking that I need to start eating back a portion of my exercise calories so I can stay satisfied and consistent.

    I have the mindset that I wont lose weight very quickly (and/or stal1) when I start eating those extra exercise calories. Has anyone else struggled with this? Thoughts?

    Most underestimate the amount of calories they eat per day, and overestimate the amount of calories burned during exercise. Depending on where you are in your cycle - losing, gaining, maintaining - you can experiment with how much you eat back.

    If losing, to be safe, only eat back a portion of the exercise calories burned - start at about 50-60% and see how that does. You can easily adjust from there, but make sure you are still running a deficit. If you really count your calories perfectly with food weighing and are as accurate as possible, and you have a device that measures your expenditure as accurately as possible - you can eat back a higher percentage while still ending up at the day's end deficit to keep the weight loss going.

    The trick is that accurate counting is required to get the CICO equation correct day in and day out.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    carencae wrote: »
    I found that when I ate back my calories I quit losing weight.

    So a couple of lessons there, it's easy to not be in deficit if one isn't rigorous about intake and output. Equally, weight is secondary to health and physique improvement.

  • wulfax
    wulfax Posts: 93 Member
    edited December 2014
    When I first started using MFP and exercising (on September 1st) I was really focused on the scale. I was very strict with my food and I never ate back my exercise calories. I had days where I ate less and did a lot of exercise; this resulted in net calories less than 300. I lost a decent amount of weight in the first 2 months (about 25 lbs.), but as time has gone on I have moved away from using the scale as my measure of success.

    I still log all my food and try to stay below 1700 for the day, and unless there is a special situation (traveling and having to eat fast food and this being the holiday season, etc.) I am pretty successful. What I measure my success by now is my activity. Before September, the most exercise I did was walking from my desk to the copier or to the break room. Now I jog 3.1 miles 3 times a week and have just started lifting weights 3 times a week. Don’t get me wrong, I am still in the ‘obese’ category for weight, but I know that if I moderate my calories and keep my active lifestyle, the weight will come off, I don’t need to obsess about it.

    As an above poster stated:
    rgauthier20420 wrote: »
    Something that might help is trying to remember that eating healthy and exercising are a life style change.

    Believe me, you will be happier if you change the way you measure progress from weight loss to miles traveled, weight lifted, or hours exercised.

    vm6adbje4r6i.png
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    wulfax wrote: »
    When I first started using MFP and exercising (on September 1st) I was really focused on the scale. I was very strict with my food and I never ate back my exercise calories. I had days where I ate less and did a lot of exercise; this resulted in net calories less than 300. I lost a decent amount of weight in the first 2 months (about 25 lbs.), but as time has gone on I have moved away from using the scale as my measure of success.

    I still log all my food and try to stay below 1700 for the day, and unless there is a special situation (traveling and having to eat fast food and this being the holiday season, etc.) I am pretty successful. What I measure my success by now is my activity. Before September, the most exercise I did was walking from my desk to the copier or to the break room. Now I jog 3.1 miles 3 times a week and have just started lifting weights 3 times a week. Don’t get me wrong, I am still in the ‘obese’ category for weight, but I know that if I moderate my calories and keep my active lifestyle, the weight will come off, I don’t need to obsess about it.

    As an above poster stated:
    rgauthier20420 wrote: »
    Something that might help is trying to remember that eating healthy and exercising are a life style change.

    Believe me, you will be happier if you change the way you measure progress from weight loss to miles traveled, weight lifted, or hours exercised.

    vm6adbje4r6i.png

    So the OP should listen to somebody that is still in the "obese" column, or to those who have successfully figured out how to count calories and have already figured out the exercise calories in terms of how many to eat back?

  • ktdid626
    ktdid626 Posts: 185 Member
    So I'm 5'10". I found that instead of placing my goal at "two pounds per week, " I changed it to "One pound per week." This took my calorie goals from about 1700 to 2100 per day. This also allowed me to eat without going over due to hunger. I do eat back exercise calories. I found I was over eating frequently with the lower goal, and it was the main reason I changed my goals. Once I did this, I was effectively losing one pound per week. I am very satisfied with this number. I know that my body easily puts on weight, but doesn't easily lose it.

    Yes. It felt weird for a week or two because I thought I was cheating. But I gave into the new goal. I still worked out the way I had been, but found the weight loss start to be STEADY now that I was letting myself eat more. The larger you are, the more you need. As you get smaller, your needs will decrease. 16 weeks. 15 pounds down. From 292 to 277. This last week since Thanksgiving I hit a plateau but I don't think it's from anything but falling off my wagon, and indulging in high calorie/ salty foods. That's all. But I'm right back on today. I'm gonna stay steady with my weightloss. I can do this. You can too. Just experiment even if it feels weird at first.
  • wulfax
    wulfax Posts: 93 Member
    edited December 2014
    SingingSingleTracker wrote: »
    So the OP should listen to somebody that is still in the "obese" column, or to those who have successfully figured out how to count calories and have already figured out the exercise calories in terms of how many to eat back?

    I am sorry that you felt threatened by my opinion. If you disagree with me, state why you disagree, don’t state that because I am still ‘obese’ my opinion doesn’t matter.

    Yes, I am still in the obese column as far as weight goes (I am 6'0" and weigh 241 lbs.), but I have only been exercising and watching what I eat since September 1, 2014. In that time, I have lost 48.5 lbs. That is an average loss of 3.7 lbs. per week. When I posted I in no way discounted your opinion, please do me the same courtesy.
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
    I always lost more when I would eat back my calories and it makes it much easier to resist the bad stuff
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