To Eat or Not To Eat

I eat back most of them. Only because my body needs that fuel to keep on going with my weight loss.

I eat mine back because I don't burn fat if my calorie deficit is too high. Also, I like eating. There are days when I'm not hungry enough to eat them all, so I don't. But for the most part, I eat every single one and it never negatively affected my weight loss.

How fast does a car go after it runs out of gas? It doesn't. It shuts down. Same concept. Your body needs a certain amount of fuel in order to do what it needs to do. Your body requires food just as it requires sleep.

I have a hard time believing that eating all the exercise calories is good unless I'm really hungry. I'm short, 5'1, so try to keep my calories around 1100-1200 whether I exercise or not. I am losing fat, not muscle. I know this because I see more definition in my legs. I also think it's crazy to eat more calories to lose weight when on a plateau. I'm sorry but that doesn't make sense to me. If I'm not hungry I'm not going to eat. To end plateaus I change my exercise around and work harder. My sister and I have talked extensively about this and she just lost 55 pounds. I'm at a 32 pound loss. So I'm doing something right. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

I have a hard time believing that eating all the exercise calories is good unless I'm really hungry. I'm short, 5'1, so try to keep my calories around 1100-1200 whether I exercise or not. I am losing fat, not muscle. I know this because I see more definition in my legs. I also think it's crazy to eat more calories to lose weight when on a plateau. I'm sorry but that doesn't make sense to me. If I'm not hungry I'm not going to eat. To end plateaus I change my exercise around and work harder. My sister and I have talked extensively about this and she just lost 55 pounds. I'm at a 32 pound loss. So I'm doing something right. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

It doesn't make sense, but it works. Our bodies don't always work in ways we think are logical. Sometimes during plateaus we need to eat more to show our bodies that there will be access to enough food. Eating at a calorie deficit for an extended period of time makes our bodies think we're running short on food, so it stops burning fat because it thinks it needs to prepare for potential starvation. Eating more counteracts this effect and allows our bodies to continue to burn fat.

Should you get back all of your excerise calories or only a portion of them? I thought the point was to burn off the calories & keep them off. But then someone pointed out that your body will start to burn muscle instead of fat if you do this. See, I'm totally lost...

MFP already has you eating at a calorie deficit. You don't want that deficit to be too big, otherwise your body won't be getting the nutrition it needs. Whether you eat some or all of them is up to you. I suggest experimenting a little to see what works for you. Try eating half of them back and if you're not hungry and are losing at a healthy rate you can stick with that. Or you can try eating more or less. I suggest trying more before trying less.

MFP does not have you eating at a deficit. The goals are averaged out with your activity level. For a healthy fit individual with minimal exercise, medically is has been stated that a 1200-1600 daily intake is needed to maintain...I'll try to find the resource on this...

I have a hard time believing that eating all the exercise calories is good unless I'm really hungry. I'm short, 5'1, so try to keep my calories around 1100-1200 whether I exercise or not. I am losing fat, not muscle. I know this because I see more definition in my legs. I also think it's crazy to eat more calories to lose weight when on a plateau. I'm sorry but that doesn't make sense to me. If I'm not hungry I'm not going to eat. To end plateaus I change my exercise around and work harder. My sister and I have talked extensively about this and she just lost 55 pounds. I'm at a 32 pound loss. So I'm doing something right. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

I'm 5'2" & my calorie intake, per MFP, is around 1300...so when i exercise it can get up near 1600. Well, like you, there are times when I'm just not hungry & don't want to eat those extra calories. I've been doing fairly well since I started here (a little over 15lbs so far). I guess it's to each his/her own, eh? And by the way, congrats on your progress!!! :flowerforyou:

It's true that everyone is different and our bodies all work a little differently. However, we all have the same survival mechanisms and the same basic bodily functions. What differs is the point at which those survival mechanisms kick in and those depend on your genetic history. People whose ancestors experienced a lot of famine and/or severely limited food supply (eg. Central/South Americans, some Native Americans) are more likely to store fat easily, need more calories in order to burn fat and will have a harder time burning fat. Those whose ancestors never had much trouble finding food (eg. a lot of Europeans) won't have those same problems and can get by with fewer calories. And then, there are those who come from both who have to figure out which genes are more dominant.

In my case (Mexican Indian and European) my Mexican genes win out. This is sort of nice because it means I get to eat more while losing weight, but it means it's a lot harder for me to actually burn fat and lose weight. (It took me a year to lose 25 pounds.) Increased activity is more important than calorie deficit for my weight loss.

So you do need to figure out what works for your own body. But, it's best to start by using the MFP program as it's set up. Try it for a few weeks. If it's not working, make adjustments. The only way you'll know what's right for you is by experimentation with different amounts of calories and different activity levels. Any time you change anything you should give it at least two weeks before you decide it's not working for you.

I lose faster, feel better, and am happier when I eat them back.

I've never felt deprived or like i was dieting. This is the only time in my life that I've tried to lose weight and actually got to the point where I have to say, "You know what? I really gotta start eating a lot more because I don't want to lose much more."

Every other time, I got burnt out and quit long before I reached my goal. This time, it's sustainable.

And it makes sense. It wasn't a drastic change in my lifestyle that made me gain weight slowly. It was poor eating habits and lack of exercise. So it's not going to require a drastic change to lose that weight slowly, either. And less of a change to maintain it.

And most importantly... I can still eat pizza.

Love it!

Last week I would put my exercise in the morning as soon as I would get done. Then I would notice I would have about 500 calories left, and I would eat more, and when I weight my self in this week, I gain 7#, so now I'm butting my exercise at the end of the day and so far I have loses 7#, I have gain. So Now I would not eat more... but you need to what your body wants... Try both way and see...