eating back calories burned

shazahs
shazahs Posts: 2
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all, I am unsure whether I should be eating back the calories which I burn off. Most days I try to stick to only eating 1200 calories, despite any exercise I do. Is this doing my body harm and possibly 'starving' myself?
I have been told by some people not to eat them back if I can help it but not to feel too bad if I do!
Any advice would be great!
Thanks Shannon

Replies

  • Kristinemomof3
    Kristinemomof3 Posts: 636 Member
    Your answers will vary. I eat most of mine back, I feel better when I do.
  • Mom0fTwo
    Mom0fTwo Posts: 326 Member
    1200 calories is already a deficit, when you exercise it makes this deficit greater, for example if you burn 300 cals, then your body only has 900 cals to keep it going, so yes eating back your cals is the right thing to do
  • castle88
    castle88 Posts: 27
    You will probably find that eating them back actually helps you to lose more weight since your metabolism will still be high and any muscle you have built will be able to heal properly, boosting your metabolism even more since more muscle = higher BMR.

    If you don't eat them back, especially when you are only on 1200 cal to begin with, it will most certainly slow down your metabolism as your body tries to preserve all of its existing reserves for the 'starvation' it thinks its going through - it won't be letting go of any of that fat if it can help it!

    I really struggled to convince myself to eat them back because it feels like you are undoing all of the hard work you've just done, but i have been on so many ridiculous diets and high intensity exercise regimes and hardly lost anything, so this theory made sense - it was self sabotage, you don't actually need to punish yourself so much! Now that I've got into the habit of it, my weight is dropping lower than it ever has!

    So give it a go and see if it makes a difference - you certainly wont gain any weight eating them back so you may as well give it a try!
  • shazahs
    shazahs Posts: 2
    thanks everyone!! i just read a post explaining it all and have decided i should most definately eat back my calories! I also need to change my goals as my bmi is 26 so i should be eating more and slowing down my weight loss.

    @castle88 Thanks for sharing your story in regards to eating back calories! I feel if i eat that much food that I am for sure going to put on weight, and I know that my body is probably in starvation mode now, and thats why i have plateaud!

    As a result, from tomorrow I am going to try hard to eat more (YAY) but importantly more of the healthy stuff, not thinking that because i have 600 spare calories i can go to maccas. =D
  • junyr
    junyr Posts: 416 Member
    Hi all, I am unsure whether I should be eating back the calories which I burn off. Most days I try to stick to only eating 1200 calories, despite any exercise I do. Is this doing my body harm and possibly 'starving' myself?
    I have been told by some people not to eat them back if I can help it but not to feel too bad if I do!
    Any advice would be great!
    Thanks Shannon

    Enter your exercise here, and follow your calorie goals at the bottom of the food chart.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    It depends on how you setup your profile/goals in MFP. If you set it to automatically account for exercise, then you do not need to log your exercise separately and you don't need to eat them back. If you didn't (which is how MFP is intended to be used), then you do need to log your exercise and you should be eating the cals back.

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