Who still loses weight by eating back the calories they burned off from exercise?
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For purposes of hypoglycemia prevention post workout, yes. I eat what I need and leave the rest on the table. Doctor doesn't have a problem with what I'm doing and I'm still losing.2
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I have actually gained weight eating back my exercise calories. I tried it for a week just to see and I gained weight. I have learned to eat back only a small portion of them because exercise calories are not always accurate. Even my Fitbit gives me too many calories so I just modify. Everyone is different. I wish I was one of those that could eat back all of their calories, that would be awesome!!
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One thing I want to clarify (underline): What matters is your actual loss rate. Any of the calculators, including the ones built into MFP, just give you an estimate to start out with.
The calculators are based on the average results from large research studies. Most people are close to the average (i.e. there's a small standard deviation, statistically speaking), but a few people - like 1 in 20 - can be quite quite far from the average.
After the first month of consistency (maybe 6 weeks for premenopausal women), ignore the 1st couple of weeks (because water weight is weird at first), look at the average loss per week from the later weeks, and adjust eating to a healthy loss rate.
The question isn't whether you can eat back exercise & still lose weight. Everyone can . . . if their tracking is accurate and their base calories are estimated reasonably accurately in the first place.
P. S. If you're not tiny, are tracking eating accurately and consistently (no unlogged "cheat days"), and can't lose at the MFP minimums (1200 for women, 1500 for men), talk to your doctor.4 -
I didn't at first, but now I try to eat back around half the calories I burn. The weight seems to be dropping quicker now that I fuel up properly.2
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victorias36 wrote: »I have actually gained weight eating back my exercise calories. I tried it for a week just to see and I gained weight. I have learned to eat back only a small portion of them because exercise calories are not always accurate. Even my Fitbit gives me too many calories so I just modify. Everyone is different. I wish I was one of those that could eat back all of their calories, that would be awesome!!
I think we all have the issue with apps and fitbit having a lot of variety in calories burned during specific exercises, especially branded classes and things fitbit can't log.
I reiterate that everyone needs to set their activity level on both mfp and fitbit to "sedentary" just to be safe, since it will assume the lowest BMR.
And I added a shortcut to my phone to this chart that has literally every possible activity and calories burned based on weight and intensity. I use it to compare to MFP, Fitbit, and Samsung Health awarded calories to help adjust the averages. It's really comprehensive as a quick reference guide.
http://www.statisticbrain.com/calories-burned-during-exercise/2 -
WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »I reiterate that everyone needs to set their activity level on both mfp and fitbit to "sedentary" just to be safe, since it will assume the lowest BMR.
No. If a person is genuinely active, they do NOT need to set their activity level to "sedentary".
As long as you have negative adjustments enabled, it makes ZERO difference what activity level you choose on mfp if you have an activity tracker synced. At midnight, it will credit you with exactly the same number of calories burned regardless of activity level chosen.
That's coming from someone who is set to "active", has a synced FitBit and loses weight exactly as predicted from calorie intake and FitBit burns.
Your BMR is calculated to be the exact same value regardless of activity level chosen. Your predicted calorie burn varies based on activity level - but you only start getting credited with "extra" calories after you've burned more than you "should have" for that activity level. And with negative adjustments enabled, mfp actually "takes away" calories if you've been less active than you "should have" for your chosen activity level.4 -
A person who is nervous or worrying about eating back calories can be assured that if they're anything above "sedentary, but have it set on "sedentary"....they can safely eat back whatever extra calories they've earned from exercise and still lose weight. Some people diet, but don't exercise and their non-exercise level (such as their jobs or chores or whatever) vary greatly day to day. People who have exactly the same activity level at work, school, and home everyday wouldn't be confused about how many calories to eat back anyway.
And I'm well aware of Fitbit's negative calorie adjustments. Those are frequently wrong, too. I can't wear my fitbit when I swim laps or even during heavy punching/kicking sessions. Fitbit often cannot properly log certain workouts or need manual entry (which is all guessing). Even Fitbit lists the many sport's and activities that aren't accurate. Heart rate isn't very accurate and that's all they use to calculate. It doesn't know your workload vs muscle mass to figure out how hard you're working.
Even worse....people who have naturally very low or very high heartrates get bizarre resting readings and changing the Exercise Zones only helps during "moderate to heavy" access. My fitbit tells me that on days I don't exercise, I can only eat a total of 650 calories daily. So no. Trusting the negative adjustments is much more complicated than what I initially suggested.
Which is what virtually every website and forum suggest people do, btw. Set both fitbit and mfp to "sedentary" AND allow negative adjustments and then you're sure you're always safe to eat back 100% of calories and still lose your set lbs goal.0 -
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I eat back 50%0
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Who still loses weight by eating back the calories they burned off from exercise?
- People who understand how this app works.
- People who are reasonably accurate (or lucky!) with both their food and exercise logging.
- People who understand a goal is to be hit, not undercut.
- People who understand that the fastest rate of weight loss doesn't equal better results.
- People who think ahead to maintenance at goal weight, because exercise certainly needs to be accounted for then.
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I do.
When I first started on MFP, it was the only way I could feel like I wasn't starving. I eat a ton...
MFP had put me at something like 1400 or 1500 calories...and that wasn't going to cut it. I worked out in order to get an extra 200-300 calories a day.
I lost like 25 lbs in 6 months.
I also even upped my calories from what MFP recommended and put it at 1600 or 1700. Some days I even ate all the exercise calories from that as well.
That being said, I also changed the food I ate, going primarily plant based, whole grain, and lean meats. So, there may be a correlation there as well, but I'm not going to debate anyone about it. :P0 -
I eat 50-75% of them back yes, goal weight nearly reached and lost 25-30 kg (never weighted in at the start)0
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Most days I eat every single delicious calorie my Garmin gives me an adjustment for, still losing my 1lb per week as intended and haven't thought about quitting once in 7 months.3
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I don't use the MFP calorie goal as it's WAY too low for me. It says I should be on 1200 calories to lose less than half a pound a week. In reality I lose that much eating about 1500 calories a day.
I suppose that if I stuck to MFP's calorie goal and then ate ALL of my exercise calories back I'd lose about the same, but I don't do the same amount of exercise every day. So some days I'd be eating 3,000 or more and other days, 1200.
I've put some weight on over the last year, taking my total loss to about 38kg. But I lost a total of 45kg (about 100 pounds) by eating back half of whatever apps told my I burned through extra exercise. And it was easy and pleasant and there was lots of beer and cake and ice cream and pizza and McDonald's and sweets. And I still lost 3kg a month.
When I eat too few calories I don't really lose weight faster, AND the weight I lose comes back much more quickly. I was amazed how long it took to gain back 10kg actually.
I'm training for a half marathon now and will be taking high calorie energy gels on my long runs. Why? Because like any machine, your body performs better when it's properly fueled.
So why make yourself miserable by denying yourself lovely food that your body needs? Eat some of your exercise calories. And enjoy them!2 -
victorias36 wrote: »I have actually gained weight eating back my exercise calories. I tried it for a week just to see and I gained weight. I have learned to eat back only a small portion of them because exercise calories are not always accurate. Even my Fitbit gives me too many calories so I just modify. Everyone is different. I wish I was one of those that could eat back all of their calories, that would be awesome!!
Are you sure it was actual weight gain? I can gain or lose 4 pounds overnight. I can be absolutely perfect in my diet and exercise for a week and gain. I can eat like a pig and move too little and lose. It evens out after about three weeks usually. So I think it would take more than a week to see the effect that any change had on weight. Could that higher number on the scale have been a blip?
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One further thought: You say "I want to start eating back the calories i burn off, but i feel like then my workout goes to waste". Workouts never go to waste. They make you more fit. They improve your mood. They can help other aspects of your health, such as blood pressure or blood sugar. Even some cardio can help with preserving existing muscle as you lose fat, even if it's not quite as good for that as weight training is. They help build the habit of being active, which will help you keep weight off more easily once you reach goal weight.
Amen to that! And as someone who didn't take care of herself for a year after losing 100 pounds and only put a fraction of it back on I can attest to that. I didn't exercise as regularly as I should because of injuries, but exercise had become a habit and I was still much more active than I had ever been when I was obese. I didn't like not exercising. AND I'm pretty sure that having not ruined my metabolism by eating far too little, I was able to limit the weight gain in that year off.
I never regret a workout. I often regret not working out. It makes me happier and healthier (can't believe I'm typing this stuff) and it makes room for beer and ice cream. A workout is never, ever wasted!
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Could that higher number on the scale have been a blip?
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Your actual weight level cannot always be seen when you weight yourself at a single point of time.
To truly see what your weight level is doing you have to look at how it changes over a period of 4-6 weeks.
Which is why I keep suggesting that people should use a trending weight app, or web site to better evaluate their weight level changes (or their own spreadsheets, of course)
libra -> android
happy scale ->iphone
www.weightgrapher.com -> web (set yourself "to maintain")
www.trendweight.com -> web (my favourite. requires freely available without a device fitbit.com account, OR directly supported equipment)
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@WendyLeigh1119 I don't think a blanket recommendation to set oneself to sedentary can possibly be described as safe!
I agree it would make losing weight a certainty, but I don't want to just "lose weight", I want to improve my health, and achieve my fitness goals, too.
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Yes, most days I have been eating back all of my exercise calories and I've dropped 7 kg in the first 3 weeks.0
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I can eat back about 20% of this apps estimation and still lose 2 lb a week.0
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