NOT eating back calories?

You're not going to do damage in the short term by not getting enough calories. Long term you could have hormonal issues, and it's generally not a good idea to run large deficits over long periods of time. (Lean mass loss, binging, etc).

I rarely eat back exercise calories. I've survived. I think as long as you eat your calories you'll be fine not eating back your exercise calories sometimes.

So if I eat 1800 calories a day, and burn 1200 during exercise, the 600 remaining is enough for refueling my muscles, and feeding my brain? Curious theory.

I do not eat back my burned calories. I tried and could not eat all of the calories. I tried half and still it was to much for me. I try and eat the calories I am allowed and be done with that. I walk 3 1/2 to 4 miles a day and do floor exercises like 200 crunches, 100 reverse crunches leg lift etc. At least I know the calories are there if I travel or eat a little over on the holiday. I will make it through the holidays. I think you will be very successful. I had the same question about this topic as you did and everyone was helpful in there response. Feel free to add me as a friend!

I've tried the whole "eat back burned calories" thing. I've been working out 5days a week for 4 weeks with no results. Actually I've gained. So today I ate what I wanted. I ended up eating about 1250 calories. But after exercise I only netted about half that. Now that it's bedtime I'm wondering how much damage I've done not eating enough calories.

no worries for 1 day.

are you taking your measurements? I was on a scale plateau for over 3 months, but lost many inches during that time. If not for my measuring tape, I would have really been bummed.

Edit: are you new to working out, or is this 5 day/week schedule new? If so, that would explain a weight gain. I'd be willing to bet you've lost inches though. chin up and keep on!

When I first started working out, I wasn't eating back my calories. I hadn't found this board yet and didn't know that that was what MFP apparently expected people to do. (I downloaded the app via my phone and never logged on to the site for nearly a year after joinging)

After I found this forum because a google search I was doing turned up a result with a link to a thread hear and I started cruising around. I saw all the posts about eating back exercise calories and how it was neccesary and all the scare propaganda on starvation mode and started eating back my exercise calories. I stopped losing weight. Then I started gaining. So I ate less of my exercise calories and I stopped gaining or losing. So I tried some different plateau busters that people talked about. I gained again (slower, but gained).

So I sat down with my six months of BodyMedia Fit data, my year and a half of MFP data and pumped everything into a spreadsheet. Then I found every different formula for calculating BMR, TDEE and all that jazz and put all of my info into every formula. I took each one and found the average for each of them.

What I found is that my activity level here was set too low, so I changed it to Lightly Active from Sedentary andm based on all the numbers, I stopped eating my exercise calories. At most, if I have a more active than normal day, I'll dip into them for 100-200 calories, but only if needed. And I've been back to steadily losing 1-2 pounds a week just like I was last year before I found the MFP boards and all the talk of eating back my exercise calories.

Mind you, I don't net at low as 600. My base calories aren't 1200, so I'm not netting in the triple digits, I tend to still fall into four digits. Also, if you're going by machine calories, definitely don't eat back that many. I was thankful that by the time I started eating mine back I'd gotten a Polar FT4 HRM because I discovered that the machines were giving me way higher burns (like, hundreds higher) than my HRM did.

My caveat is that nothing works for everyone, if it did, wight loss would be super easy. This particular thing works for me, just like low carb didn't work for me and I lose better with my carbs around 40-45% daily. But I had to find these things out by trial and error and that's really the only way that anyone can discover what works for them. I just like to give my personal successes (and failures) as examples of just that. Anything you do or try will have supporters and people that tell you what you're doing is wrong. But just stick with whatever you try and give anything new at the very mininum, a month, to see what effect it's having on your loss journey, don't expect instant feedback from your body.

Good luck and hope that all goes well for you!

You do not have to eat back your calories. If you haven't lost anything then you either need to stop eating back your calories or change up your workouts. I may gave a plan/idea that could help you. Feel free to request ne and send me a message.

Is that how you lost those two pounds?

How are you calculating your exercise calories? I know that the gym machines underestimate my heart rate, that MFP overestimates my calorie burn, and my HRM got broken so isn't much use to me.... My point is, I think probably aiming to eat some but not all is likely the most sensible way to manage things. Or even better, learn to understand when your body is hungry (not just fancying) and eat to that. I definitely don't eat the same amount every day. Some days I definitely need more than others. Also, remember that your needs will change as you progress, and that this isn't always predictable - so sometimes you will need to adjust the exercise, or the intake, and listening to your body is the only way to make those adjustments. As someone already noted, there aren't really any hard and fast rules. People do respond differently to diet and exercise, and it is important to work out what does work for you, but also to be flexible with that, as what works for you will change over time.

I didn't even realize what the "You've earned an extra 4838564863 Calories from exersizing" thing meant until I read this post LOL.
Obviously, it's not hurting me TOO much.