too many calories to eat back.. HELP!

I hardly ever eat back my calories - I only do it when I am hungry!

Isn't detrimental to me (yet) :-D

I'm not skinny fat by not eating back my calories. My body looks toned and has definition.

So I dont think that is strictly true xx

I don't eat my calories back and exercise 3 times a week x

I have my daily calories set to 1200 and usually 'earn' about 300 in exercise calories.

I eat probably about half my calories back (unless i am really hungry - then i will eat more)

I tend to find thats about the right balance (sometimes i will have a hot chocolate drink at bed time if i have the calories left)

I think the crux of the matter is....we are all different and when you loose weight regularly, a pound or 2 a week, then stick to what you are doing until you plateau and then look at changing again - if you loose to quickly then increase caloires or decrease exercise - just keep tweaking until you find what works for you (but always give a new regime a week to kick in and produce measurable results)

Diane

Try adding nuts such as almonds, brazil nuts, macadamias, hazelnuts, and walnuts. Also, organic dried fruit. I started Zumba class, and I'm burning so many calories that I'm keeping these items handy for snacking on after class. I can't eat a heavy meal after class, but these are easy to eat.

There are sooo many posts about eating back calories, is it good or not.. I think a happy medium should work.. but I am finding it hard to eat back ALL my calories as I walk to and from work so burn quite a few and I dont want to give that up, but im finding it hard to eat back all my calories as i dont want to force food down if im not hungry!

Any tips for quick healthy calories?

How do you calculate your calorie burn - HRM or MFP's generic setting? If you are using MFP's generic listing for a walk, chances are you are not burning what it says you are.

I would recommend opening your diary if you want advice so that people can look to see what is going on with your diet.

I eat back most of my exercise calories because my body needs the fuel after the hard workouts I put it through. After workouts I enjoy a glass of oganic low fat skim milk with a vanilla protein powder added and it feels awesome. I keep protein bars at my desk and I munch on nuts and string cheese at my snack times. Fruit too - especially in the morning. I plan what my workout is going to be like at the beginning of every day (which is easy because I'm doing C25K and I lift weights the same days each week - tuesday, thursday and saturday).

Before I used MFP I just ate a blanket 2200-2300 calories a day based on my weight and activity level and lost between 1.5-2 lbs a week. Then when I started MFP, the program worked in my deficit and now has me eating 1630 a day. When I work out, I tend to burn between 400-600 calories, so if I eat them back I'm eating between 2000-2200 calories and I'm averaging 1.8-2lbs a week loss. If I did not eat them back I'd only be giving my body between 1000-1200 calories a day - WAY too little for a girl my size trying to build muscle.

I should also note that most of the time I use a heart rate monitor to get an accurate reading of my calories burned which is usually less than the listed calories burned for exercises on MFP. I don't know why that is, but I err on the side of caution and go with the lower number. Someone smarter than me probably knows the answer this!

I think the way MFP works and the whole "eat your exercise calories" throws people off because it sounds wrong. If you remove MFP from the equation and just do a calculation for how many calories your body type and average activity level require or what your nutritionist recommends, it'll be very close to what your MFP calories + exercise calories actually ends up being.

Everyone is different, but it is also important to consider that not fueling your workouts properly can lead to muscle loss instead of fat loss, but will come out on the scale looking the same.