Eating back exercise calories.

alfonsinarosinsky
alfonsinarosinsky Posts: 198 Member
edited November 21 in Food and Nutrition
For 2 straight weeks I was eating back my exercise calories and unfortunately didn't lose any weight; not an ounce. It was very frustrating. I decided 2 days ago not to even track my cardio or strength training and today I am down almost 2 lbs. Has this happened to anyone else? But yay

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
    Could just be 'the whoosh'.

    I have some questions for you;
    • Are you weighing your foods with an electric food scale?
    • Are you weighing foods accurately? i.e. grams instead of cups
    • How are you obtaining your calorie burns? MFP, HRM or machines?
  • FitPhillygirl
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
    edited July 2015
    3 years ago when I was losing weight I never ate back any of my exercise calories unless I felt really hungry and wasn't getting enough calories. Since then I have been maintaining by eating at my TDEE and set MFP to record 0 for excercise that my Vivofit 2 records.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    If you end up being too hungry, try eating back half the extra instead of none. A lot of people find that half is the magic number for them.

    I generally lose my weight in bursts. I do the WHOOSH thing a lot. Right now I've been waiting to drop for two or three weeks and I think it will happen soon.

    Congrats on your loss!! :)
  • alfonsinarosinsky
    alfonsinarosinsky Posts: 198 Member
    IsaackGMOON wrote: »
    Could just be 'the whoosh'.

    I have some questions for you;
    • Are you weighing your foods with an electric food scale?
    • Are you weighing foods accurately? i.e. grams instead of cups
    • How are you obtaining your calorie burns? MFP, HRM or machines?

    Yes I weigh all my food with an electronic scale and I usually weigh grams or ounces although I have used cups for salads (tossed salad).
    I don't think understand the last question. But if this is what you mean I was step counting for everything on my iPhone. That led me to believe I was tallying less than I actually did because I do 3 days of weight training and 6 days of cardio w interval training.
  • LoseSyra
    LoseSyra Posts: 75 Member
    I've recently had some success by increasing my exercise 15 minute walk at lunch and more diligent walking/swimming at night and not eating those exercise calories back. So at the end of the day I ate about 50 calories more than MFP would allot me without considering exercise. I am mid-40s with a desk job, so I am set on sedentary. I think being careful about eating exercise calories back becomes more important as we get older and I know I exercise way less than I did 10 years ago. I do weigh my food.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Calorie burns are estimates. Some estimates are very high, some estimates are pretty good. The question on how you obtained your calorie burn estimate was because of this. Weight training doesn't burn a lot, and it is incredibly difficult to get a decent number (be very conservative here).

    It's best to start off with your estimate and eat a portion back....not all. It could be you ate more calories back than you actually burned.

    Many MFP users eat back 50-75%. Use a set percentage for awhile and see how things progress. Dial up or dial back to approximate your weekly goal.
  • alfonsinarosinsky
    alfonsinarosinsky Posts: 198 Member
    Thank you all.
This discussion has been closed.

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