Do you eat back your calories to maintain your weight?

The worst case scenario of eating calories back is that you will gain a little weight. That's it. You can then cut back because you know you're eating too much.

But if you're losing weight right now, you know you aren't eating enough. So why wouldn't you want to eat more? I get the emotions around it, but there is a clear solution to your problem.

Everyone who maintains their weight finds a way to eat enough to maintain their weight. Some people do it unconsciously, many others (including myself) do it through deliberately eating back their activity calories. But the end result is the same. You'll have to find a way to do the same if you don't want to be underweight.

AshFace22 wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

You've been asking similar questions for a while.

I know. Can't ya tell there's a lot of psychological problems behind all the weight loss? I just want to know FOR SURE and maybe looking to find that one answer where I go "Oh! Okay! So it's NOT the end of the world! This person knows what he/she is talking about" Looking for an answer from someone with a similar situation who found a solution that just clicked for them.

I don't think anyone is going to be able to tell you with absolute certainty that you will never gain a pound if you begin eating back activity calories. We don't know, for instance, how you are calculating your burn. But what we do know with certainty is that eating at your actual maintenance calories is a requirement to maintain your weight. It may take you a little bit of trial and error to get there (it sometimes does), but it is worth it for your health, energy, and meeting your fitness goals.

janejellyroll wrote: »

AshFace22 wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

You've been asking similar questions for a while.

I know. Can't ya tell there's a lot of psychological problems behind all the weight loss? I just want to know FOR SURE and maybe looking to find that one answer where I go "Oh! Okay! So it's NOT the end of the world! This person knows what he/she is talking about" Looking for an answer from someone with a similar situation who found a solution that just clicked for them.

I don't think anyone is going to be able to tell you with absolute certainty that you will never gain a pound if you begin eating back activity calories. We don't know, for instance, how you are calculating your burn. But what we do know with certainty is that eating at your actual maintenance calories is a requirement to maintain your weight. It may take you a little bit of trial and error to get there (it sometimes does), but it is worth it for your health, energy, and meeting your fitness goals.

Yeah, this. You're still losing on what you're eating. Eat more. It might take you another six months to find your sweet spot - so just start the experiment.

I'm ten years past my weight loss of 70 pounds and in the last 7 months I've eaten on average 3000 calories per week over my previously established maintenance calories, and I just go up a pound and down a pound over and over. I log everything, use my digital food scale. I have no explanation for this other than I'm just really healthy now and eating mostly whole foods. None of the calculators tell me I should be eating this much.

If you used mfp to get your maintenance goal then you are supposed to be eating back the exercise calories. If you used a TDEE calculator then that already takes the exercise into account, but if you are still losing then you are probably underestimating your activity and you need to eat more. I know how you feel. I am in the same situation. I have lost more than my goal weight and I have had to keep gradually increasing my calories so I don't keep losing weight. It can be hard to eat more when you have been concentrating on eating less because you are afraid that you will gain the weight back. But as @cmriverside said you are not going to gain it all back overnight. Make sure you have set a goal range of about 5 pounds and eat back the exercise calories. As long as you stay in that range (5 pounds is usually good), then you are maintaining.

ETA Most of the calculators tell me I should be eating around 1700 to maintain, but I generally eat around 2300 and I am really just starting to see my trend level out.

@kgirlhart - yep, that has been my experience too. I am eating 500+ more per day than the calculators suggest...and I have really consistent logging over many years' time, and really consistent exercise of just walking a few times a week.

I also use the 5 pounds range, I weigh myself twice a week.

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. It all depends if I feel hungry or not and, if eating back the cals, will put me over my daily cal limit or not.