Exercise calories - to eat back ALL or NOT to eat back all??

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  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    http://www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
  • iheartralphie
    iheartralphie Posts: 104 Member
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    EAT BACK THE MAJORITY OF THEM OR YOU WILL NOT LOSE ANY MORE WEIGHT!!!! I know this from experience!! This was the only thing that helped me start losing again...I was working my butt off, burning almost 1000 cal a day, but nothing. Even gained 2 back. Until I took everyones suggestion and started eating those calories back. then I lost 3 lbs that first week and went back to losing. Slowly, but steady.
  • sam363
    sam363 Posts: 204 Member
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    My rule is that if I am hungry I eat. Usually this means eating back most of my exercise calories. I have found much better success sticking with a diet if I'm not starving by the end of the day. The trick for me is finding low-cal foods that will keep me full throughout the day.

    Completely agree! I usually eat most of mine back because otherwise I will be starving. It's all in the choices. Normally the days that I work out I will eat a pb & banana sandwich and extra grapes. If you are finding that you are not losing weight then eat them back.
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,738 Member
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    As far as your weight goes, keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat. Therefore, even if you burned a lot of fat and lost weight in that area, you may have put on muscle mass. That's a good thing. You should try measuring your thighs, waist, arms, neck, and hips every few weeks to see if you are really making progress. That should help. As far as my exercise calories--if I'm hungry, and I feel like I need more food, I eat all of the calories I earn. If I don't feel hungry, I don't. It's really a judgment call, but don't eat just to eat.

    Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound. Muscle is more dense than fat...

    A cubic inch of muscle does weigh more than a cubic inch of fat. The post didn't say that a pound of muscle weighs more than a pound of fat. It's clearly talking about volume.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    As far as your weight goes, keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat. Therefore, even if you burned a lot of fat and lost weight in that area, you may have put on muscle mass. That's a good thing. You should try measuring your thighs, waist, arms, neck, and hips every few weeks to see if you are really making progress. That should help. As far as my exercise calories--if I'm hungry, and I feel like I need more food, I eat all of the calories I earn. If I don't feel hungry, I don't. It's really a judgment call, but don't eat just to eat.

    Muscle does NOT weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound. Muscle is more dense than fat...

    Yes muscle does weigh more than fat. When you compare something by weight, volume should be kept constant, if you are measuring volume then weight should be kept constant. You are trying to compare 2 things and having 2 variables, you need to keep something constant or it is not a fair comparison. Because muscle is more dense, Earth's gravitational force caused muscle to be heavier. the poster never once said the 1 lb of muscle weighs more than 1 lb of fat, so why are you putting words into their mouth.

    If you use your logic, you would argue that carrots and butter have the same caloric content becuse 100 cals of carrots = 100 cals of butter. Would you make that argument? Carrots have less calories because they are less calorie dense, just like fat vs. muscle when it comes to weight.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
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    EVERY time I see someone post their results for 30DS, they are AMAZING. BUT... I notice there's never much weight loss - only inches! Hop back on, but this time, take your measurements. Put the scale in the closet and go by how your clothes fit, your measurements and the compliments you get. :flowerforyou:

    Would you rather be a hard size 6 weighing 130 or a soft jiggly size 10 weighing 130 lbs?
  • veggievixen
    veggievixen Posts: 36 Member
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    Thanks for this, I had the same question. I set my activity level at "light" one up from sedentary to avoid the doing the math every time I logged calories out. My job burns a lot, but the workload varies from day to day. I don't sit down much, meal times and 20-40 minutes of e-mail/internet time a day. Does that sound appropriate, should I just do the math, or would sedentary give me a more accurate picture? I've been hitting the 1.5lb/week goal so far, so it seems like I'm on the right track.
  • BudWII
    BudWII Posts: 2
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    Depending on when we exercise and how close we are to bed time (3hrs out) depends on how much of our burned off calories we eat back. We keep a schedule for our eating, but definitely do the shake after workouts. We eat our required calories for the day, but if we don't feel hungry, we skip that part of the daily plan. We have lost 401lbs each since January 17, 2011 and have had many pig out days (Superbowl, BBQs, dinners out and family get togethers). Weight loss doesn't mean dieting or deprivation, it just means getting up from the food trough and putting that shovel down everyday. Just make sure that you don't put your body into starvation mode or you will not lose weight.

    We don't do DIETS.

    BudWII and Robbin
  • AbbyCar
    AbbyCar Posts: 198 Member
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    I have not read all of the replies to your question, but here is what I've learned from my own experience. I was eating my calories back, but not losing as fast as I would like (~1/2 pound per week maybe), so I decided just to eat my 1200 calories. I lost a pound the first week and then went back to my 1/2 pound per week. I found that I was very tired at the end of the day and not nearly as strong in my workouts. I believe I also lost some muscle during this time. So...for me, I eat back most of my calories. I was told by a trainer that this was acceptable since MFP already gives you a deficit in calories. I have way more energy to get through my workouts and am not falling asleep on the couch at 9:30pm. I also think that this makes me feel less like I'm on a "diet" and allows me to concentrate more on become stronger and building endurance.
  • thrld
    thrld Posts: 610 Member
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    Okay, here's another question -- when do I have to eat back my calories?

    I usually work out at night, and am not very hungry after. So do I eat back the calories the next day? Or should I eat them back the lunchtime before excercise. Is there a ideal time span in which I should eat them back (within 12 hours? 24 hours?)

    Thanks!
  • nichole325
    nichole325 Posts: 244 Member
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    Okay, here's another question -- when do I have to eat back my calories?

    I usually work out at night, and am not very hungry after. So do I eat back the calories the next day? Or should I eat them back the lunchtime before excercise. Is there a ideal time span in which I should eat them back (within 12 hours? 24 hours?)

    Thanks!

    That is a GREAT question I was wondering myself.

    The way my day goes is I eat bfast...then lunch...then I go home and I'll sit down for 30 minutes or so then I'll do an hour of cardio/training then I will cook and eat dinner.
  • carin_cress
    carin_cress Posts: 21 Member
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    I have not read all of the replies to your question, but here is what I've learned from my own experience. I was eating my calories back, but not losing as fast as I would like (~1/2 pound per week maybe), so I decided just to eat my 1200 calories. I lost a pound the first week and then went back to my 1/2 pound per week. I found that I was very tired at the end of the day and not nearly as strong in my workouts. I believe I also lost some muscle during this time. So...for me, I eat back most of my calories. I was told by a trainer that this was acceptable since MFP already gives you a deficit in calories. I have way more energy to get through my workouts and am not falling asleep on the couch at 9:30pm. I also think that this makes me feel less like I'm on a "diet" and allows me to concentrate more on become stronger and building endurance.

    I agree with you. I find if I do not eat back my calories or most of them I am not as strong in my workouts and I feel sluggish. I am not losing weight fast, maybe a 1/2 pound a week, but I notice it in inches (my clothes are loose on my body more and more each week). I have discovered that the inches are what is important, not the scale. I weigh the same that I weighed about 5 years ago but I am a whole size smaller. That is because I am exercising using cardio and as well as strength training (building muscle). This process takes longer but it is so much healthier. This is my opinion, from personal experience.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Okay, here's another question -- when do I have to eat back my calories?

    I usually work out at night, and am not very hungry after. So do I eat back the calories the next day? Or should I eat them back the lunchtime before excercise. Is there a ideal time span in which I should eat them back (within 12 hours? 24 hours?)

    Thanks!

    That is a GREAT question I was wondering myself.

    The way my day goes is I eat bfast...then lunch...then I go home and I'll sit down for 30 minutes or so then I'll do an hour of cardio/training then I will cook and eat dinner.

    If you know you are going to workout, estimate the amount you will burn and spread those out throughout the day, or add an extra snack or 2.
  • jude666
    jude666 Posts: 231 Member
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    Your current exercise routine is VERY similar to mine. Except I drive to work.

    But when I get home I do my BFBM video which for me burns 450-500 calories. And then I try to go for a walk with my dogs after dinner which burns 200-300 cals depending on how long we go for.

    I have been changing up my working out and eating for about 4 months now and I find the best way for me is to not eat all of my exercise calories back. I will only eat about half. But then there are some days when I'm a little piggy and I'll go over, and that's okay too.

    I've been doing this new, don't eat all your exercise calories back routine for 1 1/2 weeks so not that long but I've already lost 2.4 lbs and I haven't weighed in for the 2nd week yet.

    Referring to what that girl said above with the BMI, mine is 23.7 so that falls into the 'tricky' category. Basically you might have to try out a few different things to see what is going to work for you. When this not eating back my calories stops working I'm going to be changing it up again too.

    I also started out with 30DS and I loved those work outs but yeah, they were not burning enough calories, which BFBM surely does. I used to do her No More Trouble Zones DVD too, which I prefer to BFBM but I pulled my shoulder a couple months ago and I didn't heal it properly and now I'm trying to fix it and weights do not help...

    On a different note, how do you like BFBM? It kicks my *kitten*. Circuit 6, OMG, those standing mountain climbers, KILL ME. LOL.

    EDIT: My calorie goal is set to 1400 calories not the 1200 MFP suggests. 1200 is just too low for me.

    The first time I did BFBM I thought I was going to die... but then i hadn't touched the 30DS for a while so I knew it was going to be hard. I TOTALLY agree I DETEST both of the mountain climbers! It did get easier the second time round. I wasn't able to do it last night and I was actually quite gutted. Have you tried 6 week 6 pack? or at least i think that's what its called, i'm at work so haven't got the dvd with me!! I've got that one to try next, i'll let you know how I get on! Hope your shoulder is ok now. I pulled my back while I was doing 30DS, i have never experienced pain like it. thankfully it went away but I couldn't do anything for a couple of days I was gutted!

    I am overwhelmed by the responses i've got to my question.... you're all so fab on MFP! I shall continue as I am but will invest in the protein shake i think and I am going to try and eat back at least half of my exercise calories.
  • jude666
    jude666 Posts: 231 Member
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    THANK YOU ALL SOOOOOO MUCH!! You've totally put my mind at rest.... I shall not beat myself up about eating ALL of the calories back ALL of the time. Good luck to you all with your weight loss journeys. You're all absolutely fabulous!!

    :flowerforyou:

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