Eating back exercise calories and gaining weight...

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c_ramey
c_ramey Posts: 83 Member
Anybody else have this issue? I love to work out and really want to tone up with exercise during the last pounds, but when I eat my exercise calories back I gain weight instead of losing. I don't want to be in stravation mode, but I would like to look good when I reach my goal weight. So to the people who have this issue what do you suggest?

Thanks for taking the time to respond.
~Cris~

Replies

  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    Stop eating the exercise calories then. There is nothing that says that you absolutely have to eat them.. so stop for a bit and see what happens. I never really eat any of mine back unless I'm seeing my personal trainer... then I try too so my net isn't too low.
  • MZNIKKIBOO
    MZNIKKIBOO Posts: 190
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    BUMP--- I JUST STARTED EATING MINE BACK AND I HATE IT! ;-(
  • funkyspunky871
    funkyspunky871 Posts: 1,675 Member
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    Stick with it for a couple of weeks. You'll start losing again, I bet.
  • vayax
    vayax Posts: 152 Member
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    I think it depends on how many calories you burn and also the quality of those calories you are eating... I don't eat mine all the time...if I'm burning around 250 cals then I don't usually eat them...If I burn around 400 I eat around half of them so the deficit is not so big...

    You can try it for a couple weeks and see if it works for you!

    good luck!
  • CapriceD
    CapriceD Posts: 23 Member
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    I had that problem when I started using this site. When logging in your exercise, type (0) or as I do I give myself 10 calorie points for every exercise activity I do. Since I've changed that, I've lost every week.
  • Alacey88
    Alacey88 Posts: 487 Member
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    Actually I have the opposite issue where I exercise and eat my extra calories, I still manage to lose weight but usually I eat fruits or low calories that actually fill me up so I don't go overboard and eat more than what I burned off. You can stop eating the extra calories like Dad106 said or try eating something that is low in calories or something that fills you up.
  • alibreasy
    alibreasy Posts: 328 Member
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    I believe you should stay as close to your target calories as possible, if you have a small amount of spillage into your exercise calories is okay, its just when you eat the entire exercise calories...what happens is either you will stay the same or gain a little. I never go no more than 200 cal over my goal calories w/ exercise. But you should change up as much as possible because you have to trick your body...if you eat to few it will think you are starving yourself and go into storage mode and of course you dont want that and if you eat too many you get no results. So stay within most of the time and indulge some of the time...keeping up rigorously with your exercise!
  • butterfly1445
    butterfly1445 Posts: 81 Member
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    Maybe start eating only half of them back and see what happens. Or only eat them back if you feel hungry, if you don't feel hungry after exercising you may not need them back. I base my decision to eat them back on how hungry I am after I've already eaten my planned meals for the day. I always plan for the first 1200 calories then have backup snacks planned if I need them. If I've exercised, finished my original planned meals and drank plenty of water for the day but still feel hungry I see that as a sign that I need to eat some of those exercise calories back.

    Listen to your body :)
  • ChelseaRW
    ChelseaRW Posts: 366 Member
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    The only big issue with eating them back is if MFP or something else is causing inaccurate counts of either meal calories or calories burned. You may want to try eating most instead of all of them back. I eat mine back almost daily since joining this site and lost 16 lbs since Feb. (had a couple of plateaus in there which I broke by eating a little more each time).
  • richardvictoria
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    Any chance that you are overestimating exercise calories? I found that I needed to subtract out the my regular "resting" calories from my exercise calories to get a better estimate of what I should be eating back. For me, I reduce my exercise calories by about 110 calories per hour.

    Another possibility is that you need to give your body some rest days. I know that I have had better "weight loss" results on the scale after a period of hard or very regular exercise after taking 2-3 days off.

    Just a couple of thoughts. Good luck!
  • elliecolorado
    elliecolorado Posts: 1,040
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    I tried eating back my exercise calories (I gave it a month just to give my body time to adjust) and I gained a pound, lost a pound... Now I just stick to eating back a little (because I am usually starving a few hours after I work out). I burn 500-600 calories average and maybe eat an extra 200. It works for me and now I am losing consistently about 3lbs a week (42lbs in . Plus when I ate back all of my exercise calories I usually felt overly stuffed and sick. Weight loss is not one size fits all and sometimes you need to experiment and see what works for you. :-)
  • kobzal
    kobzal Posts: 74 Member
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    Are you using a heart rate monitor to count calories burned, or the MFP database? I have found that for me, the MFP database always overestimates calories burned, and by a good amount too. So if you are purely using the database and eating back all those calories and gaining weight, the database may be overestimating calories burned for you too.
  • gatorflyer
    gatorflyer Posts: 536 Member
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    I actually have experieinced this as well. I think there are many factors involved, not the least of which is they type of calories you are consuming that is extra, when you eat them, etc. As a rule the recommendation is to eat half of them back. AS a rule I don't generally eat them back and certainly only if I've really burned a lot, but I do make sure to at least hit my 1200. My recommendation would be to take a look at the other things you're doing, eating, etc. Make sure your calories burned are really truly what you yourself is burning (HRM) and not an estimate based on someone else at your weight or what a treadmill or other equiment might say. If everything else is the same and the only thing changing is the number of calories you're eating back, then take a look at what these extra calories are. If they are fruit, veggies or protein, you're probably OK. If it's junk, then not so much. You can always go back to not eating them back for a while and see what changes. Then maybe you can try eating back 1/4 of them and see if that helps.
  • koosdel
    koosdel Posts: 3,317 Member
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    Are you using a heart rate monitor to count calories burned, or the MFP database? I have found that for me, the MFP database always overestimates calories burned, and by a good amount too. So if you are purely using the database and eating back all those calories and gaining weight, the database may be overestimating calories burned for you too.

    ^This^
  • Angela4Health
    Angela4Health Posts: 1,319 Member
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    There could be many reasons why you are gaining weight. If you aren't using an HRM to calculate the number of calories burned, you may be overestimating and therefor, overeating. You also may be going over in fats or carbs even though you are staying within calories (I"m not saying you are, but if so, that could be a reason. )
    ETA: Also, if you used to NOT eat your exercise calories back and you just started to eat them back, it's possible your body was in starvation mode, and you will need to give your body a few weeks to get used to the extra calories so you can start losing weight again.
  • c_ramey
    c_ramey Posts: 83 Member
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    Thanks everyone for all the great information. I am going to start back tomorrow with the exercise, and try just eating half of my exercise calories back and see how that goes.


    Thanks again!
    ~Cris~