Eating back my exercise calories???

sdclement84
sdclement84 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I started off at 285 lbs and have lost 11 lbs in 3.5 weeks. My body fat is still around 35% so my daily IIFYM calorie goal is 2500 cals. I workout 6 days a week doing 30 min of HIIT/Steady Pace cardio on the treadmill/eliptical/stationary-bike and 45 mins of light/heavy wieghts. According to my polar watch, I burn 800-1000 cals each exercise day including my steps. I meal prep 5 days a week with healthy, high protien foods and eat what ever I want on weekends, but I always make sure I stay under my daily calorie goal. The truth is that I am only taking in around 1800-2000 calories during the weekdays and I dont ever eat back my exercise calories. I have had plenty of energy and I feel great. I assume that is due to my amount of excess body fat. Is that correct to assume? I know that as my weight/BF drops, I will have to adjust my calorie goal. My question is if this is okay for now, and when or if I will need to start eating back my exercise cals? Also....is it okay that im only eating 1800-2000 cals of my daily 2500 calorie goal?

Replies

  • samjuniper2010
    samjuniper2010 Posts: 1 Member
    I have no idea what the answer to your question is but you're doing amazingly well. So motivated. Keep it up!!
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    no, that's not correct to assume. if you feel great - no weakness, dizziness, trouble sleeping - it means you're probably eating enough but it could mean you're excited and euphoric with your success and aren't feeling your body. this happened to me when i was losing too fast. you don't want to lose more than 2 pounds per week at this point, although the first couple weeks are often faster. if you lose more than 2 pounds per week, it's worth considering eating some exercise calories back as you don't want to lose muscle.

    you don't mention your height, what your loss per week goal was to get you set up with 2500 calories or whether that 2500 calories does or doesn't include your exercise calories.
  • sdclement84
    sdclement84 Posts: 5 Member
    edited June 2016
    Im 5'10" and im losing about 2.5 a week. 2500 cal goal was calculated by IIFYM for losing 2 lbs per week ,and I dont know if it includes my excercise cals.
  • sdclement84
    sdclement84 Posts: 5 Member
    edited June 2016
    Im also sleeping well with out any dizzyness or weakness. Still to early to be euphoric about anything yet.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    edited June 2016
    My honest guess is that you're over-estimating how much energy you burn through exercise, and as a result your calorie deficit isn't as big as it sounds. (I could be wrong.) Weight lifting is great for a lot of reasons but it doesn't burn a ton of calories. HIIT is good for specific things but people over-sell its calorie burn.

    I'd pay attention to energy levels and whatnot, log meticulously, and see how it progresses. If you're not having any problems you don't need to adjust things. Your actual weight loss vs how many calories you've eaten will help you figure out how many you're burning over time.
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    My honest guess is that you're over-estimating how much energy you burn through exercise, and as a result your calorie deficit isn't as big as it sounds. (I could be wrong.) Weight lifting is great for a lot of reasons but it doesn't burn a ton of calories. HIIT is good for specific things but people over-sell its calorie burn.

    I'd pay attention to energy levels and whatnot, log meticulously, and see how it progresses. If you're not having any problems you don't need to adjust things. Your actual weight loss vs how many calories you've eaten will help you figure out how many you're burning over time.

    agree 1000%

    if something is working, there's nothing to worry about, and it sounds like the OP is doing well.
  • BillMcKay1
    BillMcKay1 Posts: 315 Member
    sdclement84 wrote: »
    Im 5'10" and im losing about 2.5 a week. 2500 cal goal was calculated by IIFYM for losing 2 lbs per week ,and I dont know if it includes my excercise cals.

    Pretty sure IIFYM is a TDEE calculator so as long as you picked the appropriate activity level and exercise as laid out it's "estimate" would include your entire energy burn and caloric requirements. So if it says to lose 2lbs per week eat 2500 calories, that's what you eat.

    Log what you eat, weigh and record daily and create your own data points. Then tweak as needed until you are hitting the 2lb a week average over a month or so. Continue to monitor and adjust as needed to maintain the weight loss rate as you lose pounds.

    MFP or IIFYM or any online calculator is a tool, and they can hardly be super accurate. They are made to give estimates for a vast range of people and activity levels.
  • hoodncoast
    hoodncoast Posts: 4 Member
    Congrats on your loss...keep up the good work! I'm just back at this again, but I've lost more times than I can count. My feeling is that if you are loosing EAT. If you aren't then you will have to adjust. As you loose weight your calories will decrease so eat what you can if it's working.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    edited June 2016
    I haven't looked at IFFYM for a long while, and decided to after reading the OP question ... and no where on it did it say to eat back any calories from exercise. What it did do, however, was if you input an excercise goal ... (number od days per week, length of time, and exertion level), it used that information to formulate a new calorie goal. Very easy and straight forward ...

    Of course, the calorie intake depended on which deficit I chose, -15%:recommended, -20%:aggressive, -25%;reckless.

    My own results are described below and showed the variation depending on if I iniput activity or not, and how much of it.
    At no exercise with a sedintery life style, it calced my BMR at 1682 and TDEE at 1934.

    If I exercise 2 days for 30 minutes at moderate activity, it results in the same calories as if I worked out for 3 days for 30 minutes at light activity. In both cases, my TDEE came out as 1999 and my 15% cut calories came in at 1599.

    Seems that if you input an exercise goal and stick with it, you don't need to eat back calories at all, just stay within the recommended amount. However if you do not put in exercise goals, then you need to eat back some of the excercise expended calories; I am thinking with the same % cut in calories as your target, and not overestimating how many calories were actually burned.

    edited for PS ... OF course, for someone who is a different sex, age, height, and working out at different capacities will have different caloric goals.

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