To eat back or not eat back that is the question.
madameb80
Posts: 18 Member
I'm so confused by this. My fit bit is synced to MFP. My calorie intake is 1200 and on my first week last week lost 5lbs. (Hope it isn't a fluke) i have a desk bases job so very sedentary during the day and only get my steps in on an eve. I've been doing high intense classes which my fitbit registers. By the time it does my adjustment on MFP means I've burnt off more than I've eaten. So my question is...... do I eat back even Some???? Thank you xx
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Replies
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I used to only eat 50% of my exercise calories but I could've gone right up to 75% because I lost, on average, 750g a week as opposed to the 500g a week I was gunning for.0
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I doubt that you have burnt 1200 unless you spent several hours at the gym. Check what online calculators give you for your workout and eat at least half of them back. More if you are still hungry.0
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »I doubt that you have burnt 1200 unless you spent several hours at the gym. Check what online calculators give you for your workout and eat at least half of them back. More if you are still hungry.
I have my fit bit linked to MFP I did 2 HIT classes first burnt over 260 second 560 which by the time I got home I'd burnt more cals than I had consumed. MFP is adjusting my intake as the day goes so I've got to trust it I guess. Lost 5lbs last week so fingers crossed this week.0 -
Negative daily calories is a dangerous place to be...
To sustain most of your vital functions (heart, kidneys etc) you need to be eating about 1,200 AFTER you've deducted your exercise calories.
I mean, if you're teeny tiny to start with, then it might be a bit lower, but probably not too much.
Please remember to fuel your workouts, or you're just going to be storing up problems for later!8 -
I've been told by a few on here that I need to eat them back. I'm at the point of being scared to. Though I ate some back last week and lost. It was my first week though. Just scared incase it was a fluke. X0
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You probably lost 5 lbs the first week because that's water weight. That's normal.
The MFP program is setup so you can eat the exercise calories back. Sometimes the calorie numbers can be inflated. Many people eat about 50 percent back for that reason.
I eat my exercise calories back if I'm hungry, otherwise not. I don't force myself to eat or force myself to go without food.3 -
on my first week last week lost 5lbs. (Hope it isn't a fluke)
It's not a "fluke", but it's a typical first week. Don't expect that kind of loss every week. It wasn't fat, it was mostly fluid. Fat loss shouldn't be more than 1-2 pounds per week. And even when that happens, it's an average over time. Fat loss can be mostly linear. Weight loss (which includes water weight) is far from it.
As to the rest of your post, it is for your health that you should eat exercise calories back if you are using MFP. If you don't you run the risk of increasing your deficit, which sounds good at first (bigger is better right?), but it can be bad for your health in other ways, like loss of muscle and lean body mass - which is something that you want to preserve in this process.
I try to eat 50-100% of them back. It keeps me right on target. If you are doing this for a scale number, you'll be tempted to "be safe" and go for the biggest deficit possible. If you are doing this for your overall health, why not do it in the most healthy way possible? Keep it steady with your calorie deficit under control.
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Try eating half back for a period of 4-6 weeks, if you're losing more than expected increase the amount you eat back, if you're losing less than expected eat less of them back back.
As other's have mentioned in the first week you will have most likely seen a significant drop from water weight.
This is a basic explanation of how MFP works to calculate your calorie allowance
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »I doubt that you have burnt 1200 unless you spent several hours at the gym. Check what online calculators give you for your workout and eat at least half of them back. More if you are still hungry.
I have my fit bit linked to MFP I did 2 HIT classes first burnt over 260 second 560 which by the time I got home I'd burnt more cals than I had consumed. MFP is adjusting my intake as the day goes so I've got to trust it I guess. Lost 5lbs last week so fingers crossed this week.
What's your height, current weight, and goal weight?
You are just looking at the adjustment you get on MFP, yes? Not the numbers on the fitbit? (Numbers on the fitbit include your BMR so do not reflect just calories burned, unless yours has a separate item for that.) What kind of FB do you have?
Unless you have hundreds of pounds to lose, going forward you should not expect 5 pound losses per week. In fact, if the exercise is new you could retain some water from that, which would mask your progress. My own scale went up 7 pounds when I started lifting weights again. Took a few weeks to come off.
But to answer your question, to use MFP correctly you do eat back exercise calories. However, sometimes HRM activity trackers give inflated calorie counts. So does MapMyHike. So you have to experiment with what percent of exercise calories will give you your target weekly rate of loss.0 -
I went for a couple of walks today, 30 mins on a treadmill, then just a jaunt with my wife and her friend. Total calories burnt was 1004. I seriously am not hungry tonight. I pre-plan meals and just trying to choke down my night time snacks is a chore. Total consumed today is 1800 calories and change. My daily target is 1760 cal. I don't want to force any more down, its bed time soon.... Little advice?0
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ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »I went for a couple of walks today, 30 mins on a treadmill, then just a jaunt with my wife and her friend. Total calories burnt was 1004. I seriously am not hungry tonight. I pre-plan meals and just trying to choke down my night time snacks is a chore. Total consumed today is 1800 calories and change. My daily target is 1760 cal. I don't want to force any more down, its bed time soon.... Little advice?
I eat back calories when Im hungry and dont when Im not. Listen to your body.6 -
Simple answer, perfect. You are very wise, thank you!0
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ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »I went for a couple of walks today, 30 mins on a treadmill, then just a jaunt with my wife and her friend. Total calories burnt was 1004. I seriously am not hungry tonight. I pre-plan meals and just trying to choke down my night time snacks is a chore. Total consumed today is 1800 calories and change. My daily target is 1760 cal. I don't want to force any more down, its bed time soon.... Little advice?
I eat back calories when Im hungry and dont when Im not. Listen to your body.ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »Simple answer, perfect. You are very wise, thank you!
Although I suggest starting you're own thread for more personalized answers so you're not hijacking Op's, but I will say this. Hunger is a terrible indicator on whether you are getting the nutrition you need. Although one day of this won't hurt you, it's not something you want to get in the habit of.
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ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »I went for a couple of walks today, 30 mins on a treadmill, then just a jaunt with my wife and her friend. Total calories burnt was 1004. I seriously am not hungry tonight. I pre-plan meals and just trying to choke down my night time snacks is a chore. Total consumed today is 1800 calories and change. My daily target is 1760 cal. I don't want to force any more down, its bed time soon.... Little advice?
How did you work out calories burned here? It takes a lot of walking (like 5 or more hours for an average person) to burn that much.0 -
vespiquenn wrote: »ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »I went for a couple of walks today, 30 mins on a treadmill, then just a jaunt with my wife and her friend. Total calories burnt was 1004. I seriously am not hungry tonight. I pre-plan meals and just trying to choke down my night time snacks is a chore. Total consumed today is 1800 calories and change. My daily target is 1760 cal. I don't want to force any more down, its bed time soon.... Little advice?
I eat back calories when Im hungry and dont when Im not. Listen to your body.ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »Simple answer, perfect. You are very wise, thank you!
Although I suggest starting you're own thread for more personalized answers so you're not hijacking Op's, but I will say this. Hunger is a terrible indicator on whether you are getting the nutrition you need. Although one day of this won't hurt you, it's not something you want to get in the habit of.
^^this.
Not to mention for that reason, 'listen to your body' is how some of us became overweight/obese to begin with!3 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »vespiquenn wrote: »ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »I went for a couple of walks today, 30 mins on a treadmill, then just a jaunt with my wife and her friend. Total calories burnt was 1004. I seriously am not hungry tonight. I pre-plan meals and just trying to choke down my night time snacks is a chore. Total consumed today is 1800 calories and change. My daily target is 1760 cal. I don't want to force any more down, its bed time soon.... Little advice?
I eat back calories when Im hungry and dont when Im not. Listen to your body.ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »Simple answer, perfect. You are very wise, thank you!
Although I suggest starting you're own thread for more personalized answers so you're not hijacking Op's, but I will say this. Hunger is a terrible indicator on whether you are getting the nutrition you need. Although one day of this won't hurt you, it's not something you want to get in the habit of.
^^this.
Not to mention for that reason, 'listen to your body' is how some of us became overweight/obese to begin with!
I would suggest that not listening to our bodies was how most of us got here. We listened to our emotions instead. If we listened to our bodies, they would have told us "you're full and don't need to eat".5 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »vespiquenn wrote: »ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »I went for a couple of walks today, 30 mins on a treadmill, then just a jaunt with my wife and her friend. Total calories burnt was 1004. I seriously am not hungry tonight. I pre-plan meals and just trying to choke down my night time snacks is a chore. Total consumed today is 1800 calories and change. My daily target is 1760 cal. I don't want to force any more down, its bed time soon.... Little advice?
I eat back calories when Im hungry and dont when Im not. Listen to your body.ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »Simple answer, perfect. You are very wise, thank you!
Although I suggest starting you're own thread for more personalized answers so you're not hijacking Op's, but I will say this. Hunger is a terrible indicator on whether you are getting the nutrition you need. Although one day of this won't hurt you, it's not something you want to get in the habit of.
^^this.
Not to mention for that reason, 'listen to your body' is how some of us became overweight/obese to begin with!
I would suggest that not listening to our bodies was how most of us got here. We listened to our emotions instead. If we listened to our bodies, they would have told us "you're full and don't need to eat".
Recently read a research article that found people who had lost weight & kept it off for a year had not only reported increased appetites as compared to pre-weight loss, but had appetite-regulating hormone levels (leptin, I believe) that had not yet adapted to their new body weight. In other words, they felt hungry even when caloric & nutritional needs were adequately met. Researchers theorize this may be contributing to the difficulties people have maintaining their weight loss.
My apologies for the odd wording in summarizing that research. If I can find the original article, I'll edit & add the link.0 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »vespiquenn wrote: »ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »I went for a couple of walks today, 30 mins on a treadmill, then just a jaunt with my wife and her friend. Total calories burnt was 1004. I seriously am not hungry tonight. I pre-plan meals and just trying to choke down my night time snacks is a chore. Total consumed today is 1800 calories and change. My daily target is 1760 cal. I don't want to force any more down, its bed time soon.... Little advice?
I eat back calories when Im hungry and dont when Im not. Listen to your body.ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »Simple answer, perfect. You are very wise, thank you!
Although I suggest starting you're own thread for more personalized answers so you're not hijacking Op's, but I will say this. Hunger is a terrible indicator on whether you are getting the nutrition you need. Although one day of this won't hurt you, it's not something you want to get in the habit of.
^^this.
Not to mention for that reason, 'listen to your body' is how some of us became overweight/obese to begin with!
I would suggest that not listening to our bodies was how most of us got here. We listened to our emotions instead. If we listened to our bodies, they would have told us "you're full and don't need to eat".
My body is a treacherous liar. My emotions are fine. My appetite got me to 70 pounds overweight.
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I don't eat them back unless I'm hungry. I try to do my workouts in the evening then have dinner after I get home even if it's later etc I've lost 1.6kg in the last week.0
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jenniferhugheswork wrote: »I don't eat them back unless I'm hungry. I try to do my workouts in the evening then have dinner after I get home even if it's later etc I've lost 1.6kg in the last week.
I hope that's not a deficit and weight loss you are trying to maintain (with the caveat that if you are morbidly obese or under a doctor supervision it's possibly okay)....
I also hope you realize that not eating back calories you add for exercise can cause you health problems (if your caloric deficit becomes excessive). I don't know your stats, but if you are avoiding keeping your deficit reasonable in order to "maximize your weight loss rate" (which I realize you didn't say explicitly), it's not a healthy option.
You may not be doing any of those things, but your post is potential red flag.0 -
I actually have my calories set to maintenance and rely on my workouts to put me in a deficit so I don't eat my workouts back.
I've lost just over 1kg each week doing this but I do workout quite a bit.1 -
You're supposed to, but again, most people don't log accurately, so unless you weigh everything, you're probably better off not eating them back.0
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Eat them back. If 1200 is your goal and a deficit. If you burn 300 calories and eat them back, (1500 - 300) you're still at 1200 calories. If you don't eat them back you're down to 900 calories and pretty much starving yourself.0
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Don't be scared. I hit a major plateau, increased calories and started losing again. Eating too little calories is just as hindering to weight loss as eating too many.1
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I actually have my calories set to maintenance and rely on my workouts to put me in a deficit so I don't eat my workouts back.
I've lost just over 1kg each week doing this but I do workout quite a bit.
This. That's what I do also. SO much easier. For me anyways. Lost 6 lbs so far. It's a slow process; just the way I like it!0 -
I'm so confused by this. My fit bit is synced to MFP. My calorie intake is 1200 and on my first week last week lost 5lbs. (Hope it isn't a fluke) i have a desk bases job so very sedentary during the day and only get my steps in on an eve. I've been doing high intense classes which my fitbit registers. By the time it does my adjustment on MFP means I've burnt off more than I've eaten. So my question is...... do I eat back even Some???? Thank you xx
I never eat my calories back. If I have an intake of a specific amount, I keep to it. No matter how much I workout. The best way to ensure you're full without going over your intake is foods that are filling but lower in calories. I love fruit. Lately especially watermelon. It's almost a free calorie fruit and it's so filling. 3.5 cups is around 100 cals. I also work a desk job so I take three 15 minute walks a day during work hours and snack on fruit at my desk I between meals. One hand in the watermelon cubes and one on the keyboard lol
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I notice that Fitbit can add steps even when your just waving you arm and not moving. There were times when I was riding on back of a motorcycles and my Fitbit was saying I took at lot of steps. So be caution what you count as additional calories for Fitbit. I normally do not eat my exercise calories. I up my daily calories from the suggested MFP calories suggestion.0
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I actually have my calories set to maintenance and rely on my workouts to put me in a deficit so I don't eat my workouts back.
I've lost just over 1kg each week doing this but I do workout quite a bit.
a 1kg a week is a fairly high rate of loss (approx. 2.2lbs) - which isn't recommended unless you have 75+lbs to lose0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »I actually have my calories set to maintenance and rely on my workouts to put me in a deficit so I don't eat my workouts back.
I've lost just over 1kg each week doing this but I do workout quite a bit.
a 1kg a week is a fairly high rate of loss (approx. 2.2lbs) - which isn't recommended unless you have 75+lbs to lose
Based on what? A 7500/week deficit or thereabouts is pretty sustainable for even moderately overweight males. My maintenance at 20 pounds overweight was about 2600-2700 calories/day as a 6'2" 200ish pound male.
I wouldn't call 1700 calories a day (net of exercise calories) a serious health threat by any means.0
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