Eat back your exercise calories? Yes or No? Why?
CarolineLeclair
Posts: 48 Member
I have not been eating back my exercise calories and have hit a plateau.... A long and frusterating plateau!
I have heard that by eating back my exercise calories I will start to lose weight again. Is this too good to be true? (I would love to eat a little more!!!)
I have heard that by eating back my exercise calories I will start to lose weight again. Is this too good to be true? (I would love to eat a little more!!!)
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Replies
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That won't be what's causing your plateau - eating more will not cause you to lose weight. Your plateau will be caused by something else. Do you weigh everything you eat? How long have you not lost weight for? Can you open your diary?0
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It is too good to be true.0
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The idea of eating them back is to maintain a constant deficit irrespective of exercise level. Those with more to lose might prefer to just take advantage of extra loss.
I never really know what the answer is with a plateau over a month long, eating more is counter-intuitive and the equivalent of exercising less might be worth trying too - less exercise = less stress. Both go against the simple notion of a calorie deficit driving weight loss.0 -
Calorie deficit doesn't necessarily drive weight loss over sufficiently short periods of time. Water retention -- from exercise, sodium, stress, whatever -- can mask the loss, but not indefinitely.The idea of eating them back is to maintain a constant deficit irrespective of exercise level. Those with more to lose might prefer to just take advantage of extra loss.
I never really know what the answer is with a plateau over a month long, eating more is counter-intuitive and the equivalent of exercising less might be worth trying too - less exercise = less stress. Both go against the simple notion of a calorie deficit driving weight loss.
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CarolineLeclair wrote: »I have not been eating back my exercise calories and have hit a plateau.... A long and frusterating plateau!
I have heard that by eating back my exercise calories I will start to lose weight again. Is this too good to be true? (I would love to eat a little more!!!)
Eating your exercise calories back is not about a plateau....it's about keeping the original deficit you signed up for. It's how MFP is designed.
If you want to eat your exercise calories back....then eat them back because you want to retain lean muscle while losing a larger percentage of fat.0 -
CarolineLeclair wrote: »I have not been eating back my exercise calories and have hit a plateau.... A long and frusterating plateau!
I have heard that by eating back my exercise calories I will start to lose weight again. Is this too good to be true? (I would love to eat a little more!!!)
You received incorrect information. If you are not losing weight, the answer is to always lower your calorie intake. You are eating at maintenance right now. You either need to just start eating smaller portions or figure out where you logging error is in your intake.
Do you weigh your food? Log everything you eat and drink?
Tip: you only raise your calories if you are already losing weight and want to lose at a slower rate. Never any other time, unless your goal is weight gain.
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I really don't know.
Ask this question here a year or so ago and almost everyone would say that yes, eating back your calories was necessary to lose weight and that by eating more you would lose more.
It never made any sense to me. Nowadays all that seems to have gone away and most people now say you should eat as little as possible to lose weight.
I go with the little as possible camp because it just seems more likely!0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »
Calorie deficit doesn't necessarily drive weight loss over sufficiently short periods of time. Water retention -- from exercise, sodium, stress, whatever -- can mask the loss, but not indefinitely.The idea of eating them back is to maintain a constant deficit irrespective of exercise level. Those with more to lose might prefer to just take advantage of extra loss.
I never really know what the answer is with a plateau over a month long, eating more is counter-intuitive and the equivalent of exercising less might be worth trying too - less exercise = less stress. Both go against the simple notion of a calorie deficit driving weight loss.
indeed, hence "with a plateau over a month long". The OP didn't say how long.0 -
A plateau, plateau is from eating too much.DeguelloTex wrote: »
Calorie deficit doesn't necessarily drive weight loss over sufficiently short periods of time. Water retention -- from exercise, sodium, stress, whatever -- can mask the loss, but not indefinitely.The idea of eating them back is to maintain a constant deficit irrespective of exercise level. Those with more to lose might prefer to just take advantage of extra loss.
I never really know what the answer is with a plateau over a month long, eating more is counter-intuitive and the equivalent of exercising less might be worth trying too - less exercise = less stress. Both go against the simple notion of a calorie deficit driving weight loss.
indeed, hence "with a plateau over a month long". The OP didn't say how long.
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jellybaby84 wrote: »I really don't know.
Ask this question here a year or so ago and almost everyone would say that yes, eating back your calories was necessary to lose weight and that by eating more you would lose more.
It never made any sense to me. Nowadays all that seems to have gone away and most people now say you should eat as little as possible to lose weight.
I go with the little as possible camp because it just seems more likely!
The eat as much as possible (and still lose weight) camp hasn't gone away............still here.
Here's why people don't eat as little as possible..............some of us want to lose FAT as opposed to just "weight." Really large deficits make it hard for your body to support existing lean muscle. I'm over 50 and need all the lean muscle support I can get.
I don't want a "number on the scale"......I want a lower body fat percentage.
OP - you are 12 pounds from goal. You are looking at losses of 1/2 pound a week. This is easily masked by water retention....how long have you been at a plateau?0 -
I have leveled off for about 2 months now with a weight fluctuation of only about 1-2 lbs up or down.
MFP has given me a calorie goal of 1200 and I am darn good at sticking to it... but with no changes. (Yes, I measure, weigh and document everything!)
1200 is hard but with no changes (and I've increased exercise) I was hoping that eating my calories back may be what my body is asking for...?
That being said, I'd hate to try it and start gaining back the weight I've lost.0 -
If you've already lost a good amount of weight, you may need to reasses your calorie goals. The more weight you lose, the less calories your body needs to survive, so if you don't adjust your goals and the deficit, you're going to hit maintenance without realizing it.
As for eating back your exercise calories, MFP's goal is your daily goal WITH the deficit built in. So if your normal TDEE is 1500, MFP will tell you maybe 1350, depending on what your deficit percentage is. When you exercise, you burn more than your TDEE, so eating that back will balance it out. One thing to keep in mind is that if you use MFP to enter your calories burned, your will be getting a major over-estimate of what you burned. MFP is not very accurate, which is why the general advice is to only eat back about 50% of what MFP tells you. Now, if you have a heart rate monitor and can get a much more accurate count of your calories burned and enter that manually, then you'll eat back more.0 -
How much more do you have to lose? Set your caloric intake goals to a reasonable level. I just went through a 2 month plateau and whoosh - lost another 5 lbs. Likely due to stress and water retention, but will never be sure.
For eating back I eat back my protein to help defend against muscle loss, but that's about it.
Just keep it up and be patient.0 -
I've always eaten about 50-75% of my exercise calories (not all of them to account for overestimation). But I was pretty certain my calories from food were accurate as I've weighed and measured EVERYTHING. I also extensively researched and verified caloric burn from activities and always used a chest strap heart rate monitor to gauge my exercise calories as accurate as possible.
As your plateau, it might be helpful take a deficit break - raise your calories to maintenance for 3-4 weeks, then go back to a deficit.You received incorrect information. If you are not losing weight, the answer is to always lower your calorie intake. You are eating at maintenance right now. You either need to just start eating smaller portions or figure out where you logging error is in your intake.
Do you weigh your food? Log everything you eat and drink?
Tip: you only raise your calories if you are already losing weight and want to lose at a slower rate. Never any other time, unless your goal is weight gain.
This is incorrect information as there are instances when that would not be the answer.
@SLLRunner , few years ago, before learning about proper nutrition and fitness, I attempted to lose weight (male, in my late 30's, 6' tall, 230lb) - I ate around 1200 calories and run 5 days a week for 7 miles. After 6 months and getting to 200lb - I could not lose anymore. Do you mean to tell me that I should've lowered my calories more??? There is more. The minute I started eating over 1400-1500 - I gained weight with the same exercising. Does that make my TDEE 1400??? Hell NO.0 -
Good advice so far! Although some differing opinions, I appreciate all the advice! I should add that I wear a fitbit surge (with heart rate monitor).
I like the idea of eating back 50-75%. That sounds fair and safe! I also like the idea of rating to maintain for a while and then trying again!
Good tips!! TY!!
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I've always eaten about 50-75% of my exercise calories (not all of them to account for overestimation). But I was pretty certain my calories from food were accurate as I've weighed and measured EVERYTHING. I also extensively researched and verified caloric burn from activities and always used a chest strap heart rate monitor to gauge my exercise calories as accurate as possible.
As your plateau, it might be helpful take a deficit break - raise your calories to maintenance for 3-4 weeks, then go back to a deficit.You received incorrect information. If you are not losing weight, the answer is to always lower your calorie intake. You are eating at maintenance right now. You either need to just start eating smaller portions or figure out where you logging error is in your intake.
Do you weigh your food? Log everything you eat and drink?
Tip: you only raise your calories if you are already losing weight and want to lose at a slower rate. Never any other time, unless your goal is weight gain.
This is incorrect information as there are instances when that would not be the answer.
@SLLRunner , few years ago, before learning about proper nutrition and fitness, I attempted to lose weight (male, in my late 30's, 6' tall, 230lb) - I ate around 1200 calories and run 5 days a week for 7 miles. After 6 months and getting to 200lb - I could not lose anymore. Do you mean to tell me that I should've lowered my calories more??? There is more. The minute I started eating over 1400-1500 - I gained weight with the same exercising. Does that make my TDEE 1400??? Hell NO.
So no no to this.
SLLRunner is right OP
But you will find out
Choice is yours
Raise your calories and see what happens or tighten up your food logging.
Let us know what the results are..
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Experimentation can sometimes answer questions better than forums. You could temporarily cut your calories and see what happens. I find that if I've hit a plateau I will drop calories by an extra 200 just to see what happens and how I end up feeling. I don't worry if my daily intake is a bit lower than might be sensible because it's only temporary and purely to see what happens.
If I feel horrendously bad as a result then reducing calories is not the answer and I look elsewhere for an explanation. Possibly ask a doctor. If the extra deficit gets things moving again and I still feel great then I have a decision to make, has the change resulted in a daily allowance that would generally be considered unhealthy or is it still relatively reasonable?
If I decide the latter then maybe I just need to make it the new permanent target. MFP isn't always exactly right after all! Sometimes you have to do some "tuning" after MFP sets your daily goals (my current calorie limit is 200 higher than MFB recommended and I am still losing 2lb a week). If I decide the former on the other hand, then I am most likely getting something wrong when it comes to how I measure my calories. Time to re-double efforts to weigh food accurately or re-examine what I am eating and whether I have identified it's calorie content correctly (once I significantly miscalculated the calories in a pasta preparation because I had not realized the nutritional table on the pack did not include the additional ingredients you have to add to complete the recipe.....and I was eating a LOT of it....stuff like that).
There are often so many variables involved, sometimes the only way to get answers is to play with the numbers yourself a little (within reason) and see what happens....
Works great for me!
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Have you tried cutting carbs? How many carbs a day are in your diet? Go two weeks without carbs and see if that helps any. Eat extra vege's and lean protein. Your body may be holding on to the fat because it has carbs to burn.0
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wendy82559 wrote: »Have you tried cutting carbs? How many carbs a day are in your diet? Go two weeks without carbs and see if that helps any. Eat extra vege's and lean protein. Your body may be holding on to the fat because it has carbs to burn.
Also woo
Eat only no carbs when you have a medical issue with those nutrtions or want a life style without carbs
For weight loss it doesnt matter
I eat high carbs and lost 108 pounds in 11 months
Calories is important for weight loss
Not losing weight means you dont eat less calories than you burn ( deficit) Very simple
It is science.
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wendy82559 wrote: »Have you tried cutting carbs? How many carbs a day are in your diet? Go two weeks without carbs and see if that helps any. Eat extra vege's and lean protein. Your body may be holding on to the fat because it has carbs to burn.
Cutting carbs isn't a magic solution. Granted, there are people with medical conditions that do better with lower carbs, but you can lose weight just fine without cutting them. I did, and I know others did as well.0 -
If your trying to lose weight, then why eat back all your exercise calories? It seems pointless to exercise if your just going to eat them all back, unless you just want to eat more food then what you can eat normally without exercise. I always eat a healthy amount of calories for my body to function and if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back and i continue to shed pounds.0
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If your trying to lose weight, then why eat back all your exercise calories? It seems pointless to exercise if your just going to eat them all back, unless you just want to eat more food then what you can eat normally without exercise. I always eat a healthy amount of calories for my body to function and if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back and i continue to shed pounds.
Because if your daily goal is already in a deficit and then you burn 500 calories for exercise, that puts you way below what your daily goal is and you may not be getting the nutrition your body needs to function properly. Doing that once in a while is one thing, doing it continually can be harmful in the long term.0 -
If your trying to lose weight, then why eat back all your exercise calories? It seems pointless to exercise if your just going to eat them all back, unless you just want to eat more food then what you can eat normally without exercise. I always eat a healthy amount of calories for my body to function and if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back and i continue to shed pounds.
Depends on how you're calculating your calorie goal initially.
The method MFP uses (called the NEAT method) builds in a calorie deficit, but assumes zero intentional exercise outside of whatever you choose as your daily activity level. So your goal already has the deficit built in. By exercising you're widening the gap (creating a bigger deficit). That sounds good in theory, but can lead to exhaustion and may leave your body lacking in proper fueling and nutrition.
If you use a TDEE method (what many other sites use), then that method takes your 'average' daily exercise into account. In that case, no you would not eat exercise calories back, unless you have a day where you drastically exceed your assumed 'average' exercise.0 -
If your trying to lose weight, then why eat back all your exercise calories? It seems pointless to exercise if your just going to eat them all back, unless you just want to eat more food then what you can eat normally without exercise. I always eat a healthy amount of calories for my body to function and if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back and i continue to shed pounds.
Um....because that's how the program is designed and why you fill out your personal information and goal. MFP assumes you do ZERO exercise when it spits out your goal.
Hypothetical Person. To lose 1lb per week, a 500 calorie deficit per day is needed.
2000cal maintenance - 500cal deficit = 1500 cals in to lose 1lb per week.
2000cal maintenance + 500cal from workout = 2500 cal maintenance
New 2500 cal maintenance - 500 cal deficit= 2000 cals to lose 1lb per week
You can see that by eating back your exercise cals keeps you at the goal you entered while properly fueling your body.if i can burn an extra 500-1000 calories i dont eat them back
For those new to the app, this is not advisable. If you're really burring off 500 to 1000 calories per day you should be eating back at least some of your exercise calories. Start with 60% or so and adjust from there. Adjusting is mainly due to inaccuracies in calorie burn estimates and potential inaccuracies in calorie in logging.
Exercise calories become more and more important the closer you get to goal weight. If I burned off 1000 exercise cals and didn't eat them back, I'd only be netting between 1000 and 1200 cals.0 -
I just make small changes every 30 days either with my exercise routine, calorie target or the foods that I eat. Just that one small change each month keeps my body guessing, and working. This isn't a scientific answer and there's no research behind it, just what works for me. Sometimes the simple answer is the right one.0
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Alot of you might not agree with my methods, but they have always worked for me with no problems. Granted i end up putting the weight back on every 2-3 years but thats because i have trouble maintaining. Losing weight is easy.0
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Alot of you might not agree with my methods, but they have always worked for me with no problems. Granted i end up gaining weight every 2-3 years but thats because i have trouble maintaining. Losing weight is easy.
It's one thing to disagree with your methods, but rather here, people are pointing out why you are incorrect about the pointlessness of eating back exercise calories and why they become more and more important.
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Alot of you might not agree with my methods, but they have always worked for me with no problems. Granted i end up putting the weight back on every 2-3 years but thats because i have trouble maintaining. Losing weight is easy.
No one has disagreed that not eating them back won't make you lose weight...it's the sustainability and detriments to health factors other than weight that's the issue. The fact you have trouble maintaining seems to confirm this.0 -
It's one thing to disagree with your methods, but rather here, people are pointing out why you are incorrect about the pointlessness of eating back exercise calories and why they become more and more important.
It seems pointless to exercise just to eat them back if you are in a sense forcing yourself to eat them back.
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CarolineLeclair wrote: »I have not been eating back my exercise calories and have hit a plateau.... A long and frusterating plateau!
I have heard that by eating back my exercise calories I will start to lose weight again. Is this too good to be true? (I would love to eat a little more!!!)
you have to understand how the tool is used...it's all just math. this tool is designed to give you a calorie goal to lose weight as per your activity level without any exercise...so when you do exercise, you get more calories to account for an otherwise unaccounted for activity. if you exercise, you increase your body's calorie (energy) requirements which is why you're supposed to account for that activity.
the purpose of exercise isn't to burn calories...that's a nice bi-product...but the purpose of exercise is fitness and it is very important to overall health and well being. it is important though to learn how to properly fuel that activity. what do you think happens when you don't properly fuel, lets say a 1/2 century ride? you bonk and you have recovery issues, that's what.
the problem most people have with this though is that 1) they're underestimating their intake to begin with...this is largely due to selecting generic and just generally *kitten* entries from the database rather than actually trying to be accurate; 2) eyeballing portions or miss-measuring portions; 3) overestimating exercise burn.
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