Calories Burned

My personal trainer also said not to eat back my calories. I have heard other stories where people eat back their calories once they hit a platue to get them through it, but I haven't actually done that myself. I have lost almost 40 lbs, and I don't usually eat back my calories. I do eat after my workout, but it usually fits into my regular calories. On my cheat days I usually eat more calories than usually but not by too many, and not over the extra calories I earn from exercise. I think you should just listen to your body, if you are not hungry by eating at your regular calories then I wouldn't eat them back. If you are hungry then you should fill that with a healthy choice. I would suggest to just not use those calories to pig out on junk. If you do eat it back, eat it back healthy. Hope this helps!

Hi,

I'm just wondering. I have read a success story in the message board and one of his advises is that he "does not eat back what he burned in his workout".

Is it true that to lose pounds faster is not to eat back what you burned?

I tend to get hungry after a heavy workout.

Hope to hear your inputs.

Thanks

No, that is terrible advice.

Here is a post of mine from another similar thread about staving your body of fuel:

OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

Are you getting the picture?

EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.
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There are many people who will tell you not to eat exercise calories. Before you take their advice, you might want to see whether they are at goal, have EVER been at goal, or have ever been able to maintain at goal. If anyone says to you 'THE LAST TIME I LOST WEIGHT", just stop listening right there.

Ask some athletes whether or not they replenish their bodies with food equal to the calories they burn. Ask people who are fit and have achieved and maintained a healthy weight for some years. Don't ask people who count walking across a parking lot as exercise.

Here's an interesting case study about how to stay fat while consuming only 700 calories a day. Take a moment, you'll be glad you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

blessings.

Excellent post, sleepytexan! Everyone here would do well to take your advice.

I always try to think that I burned less calories and ate more calories than the numbers that I actually calculated that way I am guaranteed to have some type of deficit. There are many sites out there that allow you to calculate the number of calories it takes to maintain your current weight. You could then use the same method to calculate the calories for your goal weight and try to aim to have your calories always be less than that number. In reference to the success story- I think it depends on how intense the workout is. If I run 9 miles, I am going to plan to eat more that day. If it was a thirty minute run, I would not even consider trying to justify eating more that day. It is way easier to consume 800 calories than it is to burn it off.