Do you eat back your calories?

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blackaheep4288
blackaheep4288 Posts: 41 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My Dr put me on a 1800 calorie diet last month. I've done really well with it and have lost 20lbs over the last month. Today we had our monthly meeting and I asked him about eating back my calories. I'm currently burning around 1400 calories a day with excerise and eating around 1800. He said I shouldn't eat any back... I feel like this could possibly have negative effects long term. I'm 6ft and 398lb(Very happy to be under the 400 mark. It's been over a year since I've seen that). Also could drinking 2 gallons of water daily have any negative impacts on me? It's spread across a 12 hour period.

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  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    What kind of exercise are you doing to burn 1400 calories?! I'd be concerned about eating them all back just since that's an extremely high amount and not something most people could do just by working out.
  • Jen58473
    Jen58473 Posts: 24 Member
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    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    What kind of exercise are you doing to burn 1400 calories?! I'd be concerned about eating them all back just since that's an extremely high amount and not something most people could do just by working out.

    He's almost 400 lbs, so he could burn 1400 calories in an hour with fairly intense exercise.

    OP, you should ask your doctor for an explanation as to why you shouldn't eat back exercise calories. The more you weigh, the higher your deficit can be. I would expect that as your weight drops, your doctor will revise your calorie allotment.
  • EricTheAngler
    EricTheAngler Posts: 4 Member
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    TWO GALLONS OF WATER. Thats a lot of water man.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,485 Member
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    Is your doctor treating you as though you are on a VLCD and doing monthly check ups and blood work?
    Do you have additional health problems that necessitate a rapid weight loss?

    For a relatively healthy person at your weigh, your net calories are way too low.

    Even netting 1800 cals is giving you a high loss rate. Go back to your doctor and get clarification. Personally I think you should eat back at least 50% of your exercise calories. But really it is up to you and your doctor.

    Cheers, h.
  • blackaheep4288
    blackaheep4288 Posts: 41 Member
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    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    What kind of exercise are you doing to burn 1400 calories?! I'd be concerned about eating them all back just since that's an extremely high amount and not something most people could do just by working out.

    It's actually a bit more than that. I walk with an incline of 10 and a speed of 2 for two miles. I then drop down to 5 incline for 1 mile. After the first mile I go and lift.
    Jen58473 wrote: »
    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    What kind of exercise are you doing to burn 1400 calories?! I'd be concerned about eating them all back just since that's an extremely high amount and not something most people could do just by working out.

    He's almost 400 lbs, so he could burn 1400 calories in an hour with fairly intense exercise.

    OP, you should ask your doctor for an explanation as to why you shouldn't eat back exercise calories. The more you weigh, the higher your deficit can be. I would expect that as your weight drops, your doctor will revise your calorie allotment.

    I asked him today and he said that it would be pointless to exercise if I was eating the calories back.
    EricTheAngler wrote: »
    TWO GALLONS OF WATER. Thats a lot of water man.

    That's how I fill my belly. I'd rather be full of water than hungry all the time.

    middlehaitch wrote: »
    Is your doctor treating you as though you are on a VLCD and doing monthly check ups and blood work?
    Do you have additional health problems that necessitate a rapid weight loss?

    For a relatively healthy person at your weigh, your net calories are way too low.

    Even netting 1800 cals is giving you a high loss rate. Go back to your doctor and get clarification. Personally I think you should eat back at least 50% of your exercise calories. But really it is up to you and your doctor.

    Cheers, h.

    I was looking into weight loss surgery and my insurance requires 6 months of a dr monitored diet. This is what he thought would be best for that. Other than being overweight I have no other health issues. He's not doing any type of bloodwork and we are meeting every month to go over my mfp diary and my workouts.

  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,485 Member
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    If you are doing monthly meetings with your doc just make sure you let him know if you are getting overly stressed, tired or have frequent minor illnesses. These are all signs of not getting enough nourishment.

    Drinking so much water a day could flush out electrolytes and some vitamins. Another thing to check with the doc.

    Has he put you on any supplements to compensate for the low nutrition from food?

    Good luck, h.
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
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    Because the MFP calculations are inaccurate, and machines are filthy liars (unless very recently calibrated), I go with the crowd that says eat back roughly 50% of those calories. If anything you have a bit of a wiggle room if you're a little more hungry. However, your Doctor told you this, and I second the opinion to ask him why. I've seen some MFP success stories where the Dr has put them on a massive calorie deficit to drop the weight fast, but they were also closely watched.
  • positivepowers
    positivepowers Posts: 902 Member
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    Are you hungry? If so, you might need to eat some calories back. Your physician may not understand the MFP program, which is why he/she told you not to do this.

    As for the water, certain conditions like hyponatremia, or low levels of sodium in the blood (aka water intoxication) happens when drinking such large amounts of water. Severe hyponatremia can rapidly cause brain swelling, confusion, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and lack of energy, muscle spasms and death. You might want to cut back on the water a little, especially since you must be sweating from exercise.

    Better the weight loss happen a little more slowly than you damage your health from malnutrition or electrolyte imbalances.

    Best of luck and good health!!

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