Anyone else not eating their exercise calories

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  • baycat107
    baycat107 Posts: 165 Member
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    I did the same thing. Set my calories to 1800, and I don't log the exercise. I think MFP over estimates the calorie burn.
  • munchkinhugs
    munchkinhugs Posts: 278 Member
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    I love eating my exercise calories back &I've still managed to lose weight :)
  • ashleab37
    ashleab37 Posts: 575 Member
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    To people who gained when trying eating back your exercise calories;
    How did you claculate your exercise calories? MFP estimates are way off and yeah, I'd gain too if I went based on theirs. Invest in a $100 HRM.
    How long did you try it for? Most peoples bodys don't adapt in 4 days... Try it for 3 weeks or so.
  • TNoire
    TNoire Posts: 642 Member
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    I did the same thing. Set my calories to 1800, and I don't log the exercise. I think MFP over estimates the calorie burn.

    smaller you are less you burn harder to lose but gotta keep going
    heavier you are more you burn easier to lose but still.. gotta keep going

    a lot of those where put in by us if I remember right the people that use the site
    easy way to tell is try a outside tracker
    for most part on mine its accurate :)
  • tasha72
    tasha72 Posts: 5 Member
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    I am trying not to eat back my calories but almost feel a bit panicked that all those warnings 'if you don't eat enough your body will actually hold on to your weight even tighter' will come true. When I am supposed to eat 1200 a day and sometimes burn 2500 through exercise classes and sports (they can fall on the same day at times) I do worry. It has been great reading all of your posts stating that for many of you, eating back the points, even though you exercise a lot, hasn't been a good plan. I think perhaps on my heavy exercise days I will just endeavour to not go into a deficit. :happy:
  • LadyBeryl
    LadyBeryl Posts: 344 Member
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    I'm not. I like the knowing that I have so many extra calories (at least 900 daily) available. It enables me to indulge when I'm out with friends without actually falling off the wagon.

    MFP says I can eat 1700/day but I never eat more than 1400 - usually 1200. It is like money in the bank. :drinker:

    Once I lose more of the excess weight, I'll probably eat a more of my allocation.
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    my group does not eat the extra calores awarded for exercise. We ignore them, i like you ate the extra calories and gained a few lbs, nevver again.
    Stick to your normal calories and you will be all good.
    Me:drinker:

    How did you calculate the calorie burn... ?
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    I'm not. I like the knowing that I have so many extra calories (at least 900 daily) available. It enables me to indulge when I'm out with friends without actually falling off the wagon.

    MFP says I can eat 1700/day but I never eat more than 1400 - usually 1200. It is like money in the bank. :drinker:

    Once I lose more of the excess weight, I'll probably eat a more of my allocation.

    No, it's not like money in the bank. Your body doesn't work that way. It's like underfuelling your body.

    The OP's proposal sounds sensible to me. He'll be eating a decent amount of food to fuel his activity. What you're doing there really isn't the same thing at all.
  • maycasson
    maycasson Posts: 2
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    if i go over my calorie i exercise it off and half the time i do eat back the calories i burn off, probably why i am not losing weight. it is so very hard to eat only 1200 cals a day though :'(
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    if i go over my calorie i exercise it off and half the time i do eat back the calories i burn off, probably why i am not losing weight. it is so very hard to eat only 1200 cals a day though :'(

    You're probably not losing weight *because* you're trying to eat 1200 cals a day... You look pretty slim already. Your deficit will be HUGE. If you have only a few pounds to go, you need to take your cals closer to maintenance, with just a small percentage trimmed off.

    Edited to add:

    Actually, scrap that. Looking over your diary to try to offer some help, I see you're actually regularly going over calories quite significantly. Please don't think I'm being rude, but assuming that you're logging accurately, and that's a true reflection of the state of play in your dietary life, I suspect that's why you're not losing....
  • MyFeistyEvolution
    MyFeistyEvolution Posts: 1,015 Member
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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.
    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.

    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!

    I second this!
  • HollyRutledge
    HollyRutledge Posts: 250 Member
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    :grumble:
    my group does not eat the extra calores awarded for exercise. We ignore them, i like you ate the extra calories and gained a few lbs, nevver again.
    Stick to your normal calories and you will be all good.
    Me:drinker:

    Ditto here...I gained a few lbs back also:grumble:
  • realsolarina
    realsolarina Posts: 23
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    I worked out my basal metabolic rate (BMR) for my height, weight and age and then multiplied using a set equation to allow for light exercise (up to three times per week moderate stuff) which probably slightly underestimates what I do but better that than over.

    Using that formula, my maintenance calories would be 2,000/day - on here, I'm set at 1,200. I definitely eat my exercise calories back, because otherwise I would probably be on under 1,000/day and no way is that healthy. I want to maintain or even build my lean muscle mass, because that's the engine which burns calories as fuel.

    I guess you have to adjust for what works for you. If the weight isn't coming off for me, then I'll up the level of exercise I'm doing and perhaps totally strip out the treats like a square of dark chocolate that I currently allow myself! But I know I couldn't do the work I do (running a 15-horse livery stables, helping out on OH farm etc) if I was not eating a decent amount of quality protein-based food
  • Trinketona
    Trinketona Posts: 190
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    bump
  • Cross_fitter
    Cross_fitter Posts: 30
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    I just don't eat the exercise cal's - i only log them for my own interest. Professional advice has told me that you have to be pretty lean to be able to eat them!! :)
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    Professional advice from whom?
  • gwcharley
    gwcharley Posts: 5
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    I don't eat my exercise points. I don't need to, and I always feel like I have achieved something if I have burned more than I've taken in. I am losing so I don't want to do anything different.
  • crawpapa
    crawpapa Posts: 156 Member
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    Not me. Of course, not everything I eat is considered "clean" or the healthiest. But I have been losing weight and getting stronger.
  • alisha232
    alisha232 Posts: 43 Member
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    i used to religiously eat back my excercise calories. after a month of maintaining weight i switched it up. i decided to try to avoid eating those calories as long as my defecit wasnt too low, and i am continually loosing weight noe.

    i understand the importance of lean mass, but the scale DOES matter. i am active duty Army and just had a baby. if i dont meet weight requirements i can loose my job.
  • TNoire
    TNoire Posts: 642 Member
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    I haven't eaten back my calories EVER

    Proof it works

    Ive lost 7lbs since Feb 3rd 2012 to today =)

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