Anyone else not eating their exercise calories
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I dont eat excercise calories.
Too much room for error0 -
So glad I found this forum! After I entered my exercises for today, mfp gave me an extra 600+ calories and I already am always under my normal calorie goal by like 600-700 and full so, I didn't get it. Will stick to what I am doing for now and maybe stop logging my exercises on here!0
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It depends on the amount of calories you have already intaken or need to intake.
For example, if I'm at the end of my day, and find that I only have 10 or so calories left, I might do some walking and bump that up to 110 calories left. It's a self-esteem/ego booster to see that you stayed under by that much; therefore, I wouldn't eat them back in this situation.
Most of the time, I exercise to give more leeway for my daily calorie intake (aside from exercising to tone up). I really don't specifically look at my exercise calories and go: "Oh, let's eat back half of this!" or "Yay, now I can eat exactly this amount of calories more!"
I just get a general sense of "okay.. I can eat a little bit more today", rather than THREE HUNDRED AND TWELVE CALORIES EATTTTTTTTTT
:laugh:0 -
I always under eat what it tells me to, otherwise I wouldn't loose anything. I loose about 1 lb a week and that is when I consistently eat about 500 less calories a day than this program tells me (but I never go under 1350 calories or so). I think what's important is what types of food you're using to fuel your body. Get lots of healthy food in you so you feel good and have energy. If I'm ever hungry or feel like I'm dragging, which isn't often, then I make sure I:
1) eat often enough.
2) eat good healthy food.
3) rest if I haven't slept well to recover after workouts.0 -
I have a personal trainer and because I'm always reading about people eating their excersice calories back I asked her about that and she told me if I wanted to maintain my weight then to eat the calories but if I'm trying to lose (which I am) then not to eat them
Did you also tell your trainer that MFP has a deficit built into what it calculates your daily caloric intake should be? )This is assuming you did the setup to lose weight and not maintan when you started this using the site.)0 -
No, I don't eat them, but I do let my 10 calorie coffee mate creamers and my 2 1/2 calorie sugarless gum go towards them. That way I don't record calories for them.0
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I do not eat the extra calories awarded for exercise. I figured, what would be the point of exercising at all...just to eat more? The point of exercising is to burn the calories I eat, not let me eat more.
I think that anyone eating the extra Cal's awarded would put on weight or just not lose any.
Good luck in your quest.
I exercise for health primarily, not so much to lose weight. I eat back 50-80% of my exercise calories, mostly because MFP has me eating 1360 calories a day so if I didn't eat them back, I'd be living on 860 calories a day, which isn't healthy at all
I never let myself get below 1200 but that is just a personal preference.
This! Me too. It is depriving your body of much needed nutrition to not eat back the majority of them!0 -
I dont eat excercise calories.
Too much room for error
Not if you are using a hrm!0 -
I am a certified trainer too. What if I told you that MFP already factors in your activity level. Everything you do extra like logging cardio is putting you in a deeper deficit.I have a personal trainer and because I'm always reading about people eating their excersice calories back I asked her about that and she told me if I wanted to maintain my weight then to eat the calories but if I'm trying to lose (which I am) then not to eat them. I don't eat them and I usually lose 1 pound a week. I've recently cut out potatoes, bread and pasta and I've actually lost 4 pounds in 5 days. I've been eating brown rice, gluten free pasta and just last night I baked a loaf of gluten free bread, I find it hard to have choices in meals by cutting out the bread or pasta so I decided to eat gluten free.
Also I understand that if you are trying to build muscle then you would eat back your excersice calories. With my personal trainer I have been building muscle, toning and losing.....1 pound at a time mind you, but they say it's better for it to come off slowly. So I have finally gotten my mind to focus on the overall weight that I've lost (which I am a 1/2 pound away from my half way point) rather than a substantial amount in a short peroid of time. Now that I'm almost half way there I'm excited to lose the second half and reach my goal.
So, eat your calories back if you care about keeping LEAN BODY MASS. Which is much more important then weight dropping on the scale.
So true! Thank you for posting this. It freaks me out to see how people deprive their bodies of proper nutrition!0 -
Always. But I am trying to gain muscle mass while losing fat. I'll let you know how it goes. I have lost 8 lbs in less than a month am VERY conservative in the amount of calories I credit myself back from exercise though. MFP over estimates a lot of exercise calories... I research and make sure it's correct, and then even go a little under.
I also am basically trying to just lose a tubby belly, not an extreme amount of pounds. For those trying to lose over 50 lbs or so, I cannot comment. It might indeed be better to just lose those pounds. Eventually though, it will need to be about maintaining muscle mass IMO.0 -
I wasn't eating back any of mine and recently started. Why? Because without them I was only netting about 600-700 calories a day which wasn't feeding my body properly. Granted I only eat back a portion of what I exercise off but not netting at least 1200cals is unhealthy and puts your body into starvation mode. I will let you know how this works out in a few weeks but right now, I haven't noticed any gains at all.0
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I agree. So ppl have success eating back calories, but I didn't. I lost inches, clothes fit better, but didn't lose any weight. I now either don't eat back my exercise calories or just eat back some of them and I can still lose.0
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i try really hard to not eat those calories back.... imo you should be burning as much as you are eating off... of course i never get there but i dont eat back the 300-500 cals i worked of dont see the logic in that.0
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I used to NEVER eat back my exercise calories. I would burn between 700-1000 calories a day and maybe eat back 100-200 of them. My net calories would be between 300 and 700 calories. And then I just stopped losing weight and was exhausted ALL THE TIME. My body literally couldn't function. So, now I try to net at least 1000-1200 a day, which means I eat back most of my exercise calories when I exercise.
I say whatever works, do it. Not eating them back worked for me for a while (50lbs), but I had to adapt as my body adapted. Good luck!0 -
i dont holla!!!!! 20lbs in 5 weeks.....it obviously worked!!!
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I agree. So ppl have success eating back calories, but I didn't. I lost inches, clothes fit better, but didn't lose any weight. I now either don't eat back my exercise calories or just eat back some of them and I can still lose.
So your scale weight is more important than being healthy and fit? You said you were losing inches and clothes fit better.
Who cares what the scale says, you're becoming more fit and losing body fat% and that's what it's all about.
People put WAY TOO MUCH stock in the scale number.0 -
I eat the amount that grants weight loss, usually averaged across the week.0
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When I started eating them back, I started losing. If I'm hungry, I eat, but if I have a lot left over and I'm not hungry, I won't eat.0
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I try not to go into those. I do eat some of them but I try not to.0
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The key to figuring how much to eat is not just your exercise calories but also knowing your BMR, so eating your exercise calories is not necessarily counterproductive but I definitely would not eat more than 50% of them, but if you're hungry, eat just be reasonable. I a portion of my exercise calories back and I've lost 25lbs since early december, I also use a "fitbit" so I have a more accurate count of my daily calories burned and my activity level, not just exercise.0
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I'm making sure I eat around 1200 calories a day. I exercise. Then if I'm really hungry I'll have something to eat. It's working for me.0
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Yes and No depends on if I am hungry or not I try to limt myself before going to bed. Some say you should others say you shouldn't. I do what I feel is right for my body0
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I agree. So ppl have success eating back calories, but I didn't. I lost inches, clothes fit better, but didn't lose any weight. I now either don't eat back my exercise calories or just eat back some of them and I can still lose.
So your scale weight is more important than being healthy and fit? You said you were losing inches and clothes fit better.
Who cares what the scale says, you're becoming more fit and losing body fat% and that's what it's all about.
People put WAY TOO MUCH stock in the scale number.
Everyone's different, not eating them has worked for me. I have had success in both inches and on the scale. If people find motivation in the scale, its better than no motivation!0 -
A couple of days a week maybe, but not often.0
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Everyone acts like it is a static number. Mix it up.
Find out what works for you. I have broken all my plateaus by boosting my calories for a couple of weeks, then I bring it back down. I am down 117 pounds so far and still going.
Your body will adapt to anything. Keep it guessing.0 -
I exercise to look good, feel good and to cause a deficit, not so that I can eat more!
I eat MAYBE 50-100 cal more on exercise days. And normally that really isn't too much over my regular allocated calories anyways0 -
I have been eating my calories back. I think I will stop logging exercise until I'm ready for bed so that I have no choice but to stay under. If I start seeing calories in the red like I see my sodium in the red then I will change my habbits.0
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I have a personal trainer and because I'm always reading about people eating their excersice calories back I asked her about that and she told me if I wanted to maintain my weight then to eat the calories but if I'm trying to lose (which I am) then not to eat them. I don't eat them and I usually lose 1 pound a week. I've recently cut out potatoes, bread and pasta and I've actually lost 4 pounds in 5 days. I've been eating brown rice, gluten free pasta and just last night I baked a loaf of gluten free bread, I find it hard to have choices in meals by cutting out the bread or pasta so I decided to eat gluten free.
Also I understand that if you are trying to build muscle then you would eat back your excersice calories. With my personal trainer I have been building muscle, toning and losing.....1 pound at a time mind you, but they say it's better for it to come off slowly. So I have finally gotten my mind to focus on the overall weight that I've lost (which I am a 1/2 pound away from my half way point) rather than a substantial amount in a short peroid of time. Now that I'm almost half way there I'm excited to lose the second half and reach my goal.
Did you explain to your trainer that your calorie allotment does not include any exercise activity in its calculation. Thus it would have you losing weight without exercising at all? If you are obese, this is not a big deal, if not, you may run into problems. I used to think this way, no longer. I eat my exercise calories most days and lose consistently.
The other option is set your calories including your expected extra calories, then take off the amount you need to lose your 1 pound or so a week and eat that every day, which is what I think the OP is saying he does, 2000 calories no matter what exercise he does. The multipliers are:To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:
If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9
Using this will give you a good estimate of your maintenance calories (BMR can be calculated here on the site) Basically if you exercise daily, or even 3-4 times a week, you would never be considered sedentary, you would be at the very least lightly active, but most here would be moderately active. Then you subtract some calories from that for your deficit maybe 15-20% and don't eat exercise calories, but shoot for that amount daily. For me that would put me about 2173 which is about what I eat once exercise is factored in.
The final option is set your calories on maintenance and exercise yourself into a deficit. That actually is supposed to be the best way to lose weight, although when I read that the people saying it don't cite studies, they simply state it as fact which make me suspicious.0 -
I agree. So ppl have success eating back calories, but I didn't. I lost inches, clothes fit better, but didn't lose any weight. I now either don't eat back my exercise calories or just eat back some of them and I can still lose.
So your scale weight is more important than being healthy and fit? You said you were losing inches and clothes fit better.
Who cares what the scale says, you're becoming more fit and losing body fat% and that's what it's all about.
People put WAY TOO MUCH stock in the scale number.
Everyone's different, not eating them has worked for me. I have had success in both inches and on the scale. If people find motivation in the scale, its better than no motivation!
You're exactly right, but we're not talking about you. I'm speaking to her directly, who was seeing gains in her body composition in measurable, tangible ways, but opted to deprive her body of nutrients it was using properly to get those gains just to see the scale drop. Sure doesn't seem like the most healthy choice IMO.
That's all it is though it my opinion. Do what you feel is right for yourself.0 -
I never eat back my calories I burn
I find I flat-line with no weight loss or I gain weight
as a guy min you should be eating is 1800 a day
you might wanna open your diary so we can see what your eating
I done a full write up on weight loss plateau's I did here
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/387166-questions-about-weight-loss-plateau-s-why-do-they-happen-w0
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