Why is it that....????

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sunshine79
sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Why is it that since I stopped logging my exercise calories (I just note them on the exercise page) that:

a) I'm more able to stay within my calorie allowance and
b) I have finally broken through my plateau?

Is it psychological?



(& please, with no offence intended) i don't need anyone telling me I'm going to die from starvation mode because I'm not eating my exercise calories - I'm not in starvation mode and eating back exercise calories doesn't work for me. Doing that had me stuck at a plateau for 3 months - it's only since I stopped eating them back that I've started to lose weight again)

Replies

  • End6ame
    End6ame Posts: 903
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    It is most likely because the calories spent during exercise were overestimated, so when you ate them back you were eating over your allowance.
  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
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    It is most likely because the calories spent during exercise were overestimated, so when you ate them back you were eating over your allowance.

    Sounds feasible but I have a HRM?????

    Thanks for taking the time to respond though
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    It's possible that you need to reconfigure your calorie budget goals after having lost some of the weight you wanted to shed. Your caloric requirements drop as your weight does, so you need to update your food budget. That can be the cause of one's plateaus sometimes.
  • lclarkjr
    lclarkjr Posts: 359 Member
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    My guess is that you were either underreporting your calorie intake or overestimating your calories burned through exercise so that when you were eating back your exercise calories, you were actually eating more than you burned and no longer creating the calorie deficit needed to lose weight. By not eating them back you are able to maintain a deficit now. Congrats for pushing through your plateau!
  • mae3785
    mae3785 Posts: 40 Member
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    It's possible that the stress of over thinking the process was causing a lag in your efforts. And everyone is different, I sometimes eat back my calories and sometimes don't.
  • MsFitnFabulous
    MsFitnFabulous Posts: 432 Member
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    I wish I knew so I could tell both of us. I think losing weight has so many contributing factors and if one is slightly off, you stall out. Either way, we're sticking to it like glue so eventually somethings gotta give.
  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
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    Thanks everyone, you've all made some valid points. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. Maybe it's something I'll never get a definitive answer on BUT the main thing is (I guess) is that I've finally found a way that works for me.

    Thanks again and all the best with your journey's :happy: :happy: :happy:
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
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    another note: HRM's are notoriously imprecise. Many (most?) of them will over-report calories burned. Unless you have like a BodyBugg or BodyMedia system, I'd trust MFP's estimated calories burned over what your HRM tells you.
  • sunshine79
    sunshine79 Posts: 758 Member
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    Thanks for the tip. In my experience I found that the numbers generated by MFP were far higher than those on my HRM so I go with the HRM as it's lower, just to be safe :smile:
  • Sasha_Bear
    Sasha_Bear Posts: 625 Member
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    another note: HRM's are notoriously imprecise. Many (most?) of them will over-report calories burned. Unless you have like a BodyBugg or BodyMedia system, I'd trust MFP's estimated calories burned over what your HRM tells you.

    I would never trust MFP over the HRM as long as you got one with a chest strap it's definitely accurate, or at least more accurate then MFP. MFP can't measure intensity level so how could it ever be accurate?

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