Eating back your calories

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victrois
victrois Posts: 10
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello

I have 6lbs to loose and then I have hit my 1 stone target. I am working really hard 7 days a week in the gym, training twice a week with a personal trainer.

Apart from Saturdays when I allow myself to drink and eat what I like, I am eating 6 meals of 200 kcal each day, and yet, even with the calories I am burning during exercise (at least 350 kcal per day from cardio alone) I am struggling to get the last 6lbs off. I know 6lbs is a lot of someone of my current weight, but I swore I would lose the stone before my wedding (10 weeks to go!)

My question is this - does anyone eat back the kcal they burn in the gym? As I said, apart from Saturdays, I try to stick under 1200 - 1300 a week, but I have read a few posts on here about having a week of eating back those kcals burnt, it would be great to know your thoughts, kinda freaked about eating more than 1200 a day but at this stage I am willing to give it a try if it works!!

Thanks

V

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Since you don't have much to lose even 1200 plus your exercise calories is probably not enough. When you have less than 15 lbs to go your goal should be 0.5 lb loss/week. this will put you in a deficit of 250 cals/day, and the closer you are to your goal weight the more important it is to eat your exercise calories. This helps prevent your body for losing muscle while trying to lose fat.
  • nickfn
    nickfn Posts: 19
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    I'll just leave this here:

    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

    Cheers on the wedding!
  • losethechalupa
    losethechalupa Posts: 51 Member
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    Girl I havnt got a clue! I try not to eat back my calories, but at the same time I am not on a strict weight loss journey and I am happy with losing a few pounds every few weeks for right now as I tweek my routine. In my opinion, you may need to eat back at least a portion of the burned calories so that your body doesnt go into starvation mode, but it should probably be something low in fat and high in protein like a handful of nuts or some peanut butter or even a peice of cheese or something like that. Everyone has their own journey/goals but try not to get so hung up on the scale. Do you think that the 6 pounds is going to make a difference in your overall appearance? Maybe your body is saying that your weight is where you are suppose to be and is holding on to that weight. Just a thought. Many blessings and Good luck to you.
  • ejmcam
    ejmcam Posts: 533 Member
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    I think you shoudl try eating them back. Personally I dont eat all mine back. My cals are set to 1260 , I burn about 400 a day at the gym and and I eat about 1350 a day. Give it a try for a week or 2, and see what happens. If its not working for you, you can stop, but you wont know unless you try!
  • caligirl2802
    caligirl2802 Posts: 232 Member
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    I wasn't eating mine back and I reached a plateau, but as soon as I started eating back my exercise cals it kick started me in to losing again, I have since lost 10lbs. I don't always eat ALL of them back, I probably manage about 70% of the cals that MFP gives me for the exercise I have done.

    Good luck and Congrats for the wedding!!
  • victrois
    victrois Posts: 10
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    Thanks for all your advice, guys. I am going to check out that website and see what works for me.
    Thanks so much. :smile:
  • JennsLosing
    JennsLosing Posts: 1,026
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    i eat back my calories when i feel hungry, if i dont feel hungry i dont eat them back. So far its working for me, but i have alot more to lose than you. I do know that the last few pounds are the hardest to drop. Good luck! i cant wait until im at the point where i only have 6 more pounds to lose.

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