Realization about eating back calories

marnieinMB
marnieinMB Posts: 196 Member
edited October 1 in Health and Weight Loss
Eating back calories is such a big issue on here and for me personally but I think I am finally getting it.

I stopped working out for a week per doctors orders. I ate 1200-1300 a day; a few days I went over. Guess what? I dropped almost three pounds.

When I was working out and not eating back enough calories I wasn't losing.

I must eat back to lose. Simple as that.

Replies

  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 Member
    I'm glad you found what works for you.
  • pinkita
    pinkita Posts: 779 Member
    My brother had to stop working out after his surgery to correct his deviated septum, and he lost 4lbs in 1 week! He came to the same realization after that. Even though I'd been telling him for months he should eat back some of his exercise cals :)
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    Epiphany! congrats!!
  • Monica_has_a_goal
    Monica_has_a_goal Posts: 694 Member
    My daughter says the same thing.. And now I agree after having gained 3 pounds on vacation and Losing 4 pounds when I ate within 100 calories of my goal.. I'm glad it truly works!
  • kylakesgal
    kylakesgal Posts: 952 Member
    I admit it is a little scary at first to eat them back but I've found that eating mine back works a lot better. You don't want to create too large of a calorie deficit and since mfp already has that figured in.....all we have to do is follow their guidelines. Congrats on your weight loss and best of luck to you:)
  • CarolynB38
    CarolynB38 Posts: 553 Member
    I find the same thing. I tried weightwatchers once and it only allowed you to eat back 12 points (this is years ago) I was earning around 40 or more extra points a day through exercise. I wasn't losing weight until my leader suggested I eat back at least half of them every day. The next week I had lost 4lbs through eating a lot more! It certainly seems to work.
  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
    People need to understand it is a balance between food and exercise. Also that you Do need to Feed your body a certin amount of helathy foods to get those results. Working out is great and we all need it but you can loose weight alone on eating healthy clean foods. The more we exercise the more we want to eat. Sometimes that is not always a good thing :-)
  • seasonalvoodoo
    seasonalvoodoo Posts: 380 Member
    Yay, I'm glad you had the realization! I always eat back mine and have been losing pretty steadily! :)
  • CharlieBarleyMom
    CharlieBarleyMom Posts: 727 Member
    I agree! I worked out extra this morning because I plan on a delicious dinner of sushi and sashimi and I do not want to have to worry about possibly eating a sushi roll with some mayo or even a rainbow roll which is 500 calories in and of itself! (I stay away from those for the most part).

    Good for you that you found out your best bet!
  • RajwaJ
    RajwaJ Posts: 191 Member
    I've switched to maintenance for a few weeks and although I am eating over 2000 calories a day instead of maintaining I have still lost weight this week, Its still hard to get my head around. lol!
  • lil_missfit
    lil_missfit Posts: 565 Member
    That happened to me too:)) Welcome aboard:)) Good luck on your weight loss journey:))
  • katzrich
    katzrich Posts: 17
    Learning a good pit from this thread, thanks for starting it! I have been having issues trying to eat all my calories, I am usually 600 to 900 under my goal but you guys are giving me the motivation to eat them all. Thanks for posting this.
  • JeSuisPrest
    JeSuisPrest Posts: 2,005 Member
    I've been eating back at least half of mine for the last week, and after 40 days of no change on the scale I have finally dropped 2 pounds. Looks like it works to me! ;)
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    People need to understand it is a balance between food and exercise. Also that you Do need to Feed your body a certin amount of helathy foods to get those results. Working out is great and we all need it but you can loose weight alone on eating healthy clean foods. The more we exercise the more we want to eat. Sometimes that is not always a good thing :-)


    Gee, I LOVE my exercise, but most of my exercise is play! If it's a nice day and I have the time, I am out on my bike or out on the ocean paddling--the feeling is exhilirating -- joy, gratitude, pure happiness. When I see the dolphins in the kelp beds and the sun is shining on me I know i am blessed! Dancing makes me feel beautiful -- to me, exercise is ALWAYS a good thing.

    blessings.
  • realme56
    realme56 Posts: 1,093 Member
    I can vouch for this as well. When I eat closer to goal (net at least 1200) I lose weight. I fell into the "exercising too much and eating too little" before and did not lose weight and would actually gain if I ate a chocolate bar or any "treat" that was out of my normal low calorie intake.

    It is a fine line to straddle.
  • Babushka_Dolly
    Babushka_Dolly Posts: 113 Member
    But I CAN'T... I earned over 1000 extra today... how can I possibly find a way to eat that many extra calories? I know I should... but it is REALY hard. Like last night, after I earnt loads by swimming, I was full and satisfied after my evening meal and found myself trying to find things I could eat to try and eat to fill up my calorie allowance... even thoug I was not hungry! Also if I eat back the extra calories I end up going over my carbs or protine..... its to hard to eat them back.
    Does anyone else have this problem? x
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    But I CAN'T... I earned over 1000 extra today... how can I possibly find a way to eat that many extra calories? I know I should... but it is REALY hard. Like last night, after I earnt loads by swimming, I was full and satisfied after my evening meal and found myself trying to find things I could eat to try and eat to fill up my calorie allowance... even thoug I was not hungry! Also if I eat back the extra calories I end up going over my carbs or protine..... its to hard to eat them back.
    Does anyone else have this problem? x

    On a day I know I will have a huge burn I try to plan by eating a larger-than usual breakfast, and a couple protein bars during the day, real peanut butter instead of PB2, etc. Also, after a big burn day (like a 50-mile ride or something similar), I will often plan not to work out the next day and use some of the extra calories then--that way I still reconcile within 24 hours.

    blessings.
  • ncgingerich
    ncgingerich Posts: 46 Member
    What I would like to know is this - does it work better to eat back ALL your exercise calories or just some of them? I am afraid to eat back all of them but would try it if it was proven to work better. As a rule, I only allow myself to eat back about half but I don't do this often enough to notice if it boosts the loss or not.
  • kaila77
    kaila77 Posts: 2
    What exactly is eating back your calories?? Is it okay to go over your calorie intake and then work it off to meet the goal for the day??
  • jmjones66
    jmjones66 Posts: 144 Member
    I FINALLY realized it too! I had been on a plateau for about 8 weeks. Then, the family and I went on vacation (I ate what ever I wanted) and when I came back, I lost about 6 pounds! I realized then, that I had been starving my body. I know now that I have to eat back those exercise calories in order to lose the weight. The losses have been pretty steady ever since.
  • SDV219
    SDV219 Posts: 106
    I'm really going to have to look at what I eat and how to achieve eating back my calories, and at least netting 1200. Some nights I find myself sooo full, that it would hurt my stomach to eat another thing. But I don't want to stop working out everyday until I know that it is a habit, and it becomes to the point that i NEED to exercise to feel better. KWIM?? I just want to do what's healthy for my body, but I'd love for the numbers to just be falling off too! Last week after exercising for more than a week straight I gained 2 pounds!! But I never once ate my exercise calories back. This week I upped my calories, and have been trying to eat some of them back, but seem to always be at 800+ deficit. Not good. Gotta get me some of those protein bars!!
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    What I would like to know is this - does it work better to eat back ALL your exercise calories or just some of them? I am afraid to eat back all of them but would try it if it was proven to work better. As a rule, I only allow myself to eat back about half but I don't do this often enough to notice if it boosts the loss or not.

    Don't be afraid! It really works when you are a regular exerciser. You must give it a shot for 2 weeks and enjoy the success. (this does not mean eat them all back in the form of cupcakes, though--tee hee).

    blessings.
  • LaurnWhit
    LaurnWhit Posts: 261 Member
    Bump!
  • NotGoddess
    NotGoddess Posts: 1,198 Member
    What exactly is eating back your calories?? Is it okay to go over your calorie intake and then work it off to meet the goal for the day??
    Yes, but I prefer to word it as exercising to earn extra calories. That way you are earning something rather than seeing exercise as a punishment because you ate too much. And it'll keep you from falling into the mindset of 'I can have this cheesecake, I'll just do a few rounds on the treadmill later'.
  • Texalese
    Texalese Posts: 26 Member
    Good to know! I've been wondering about this.
  • imustbegood
    imustbegood Posts: 228 Member
    I am aiming to lose 2lb per week which put me on 1200 cals but I found I wasn't losing - have now read about eating exercise. Cals and have upper my cals to 1400 everyday to allow exercise cal eat back and itbis working much better - haven't eaten back all cals from exercise but only just started upping it :)
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    I eat all of mine which sometimes means I eat 2300 calories. I love it. And yeah, if i have a big workout planned (like a mountain bike ride) in the evening I eat more all day even if it means going above goal because I know the exercise will push me back below goal. It's not hard if you eat real foods and not "diet" foods.
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