eating back cal?

XoSaraoX
XoSaraoX Posts: 97 Member
edited November 11 in Health and Weight Loss
so im new to this website, iv lost 46.2 pounds as of last weigh in, MFP has my cal as 1200 in a day, i usually eat that, but then i go to the gym 4 days a week, and dont leave untill iv burned 1000 or more cal. should i be eating my burned cal back? seems silly because i go to the gym at 8pm so eating another 1000 cal at that time of night isnt good for you, or should i eat them back before when i plan on going to the gym...
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Replies

  • XoSaraoX
    XoSaraoX Posts: 97 Member
    ...
  • sheerjay
    sheerjay Posts: 97 Member
    Id probably try to include at least 300- 400 cals extra on workout days, or else your net cals will be too low. To what Ive heard, if youre eating too little (especially too little protein) you'll be wasting away your muscles.

    I try eat about half- 3 quarters of my ex cals and it helps keep muscle, lose weight slow and steady :)

    Maybe try spreading the 300- 400 throughout the day.
  • sheerjay
    sheerjay Posts: 97 Member
    And great job on the progress so far! :)
  • sarahgloria115
    sarahgloria115 Posts: 13
    this is a concept i've been struggling with too. i work out afternoon time also. I hope to hear a lot of feedback on this.
  • XoSaraoX
    XoSaraoX Posts: 97 Member
    :smile: thanks for your input, i might try eating some back and see what happens. anyone else have anything to add that could help us out?
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Yes you should, and don't wait until you've already burned the calories. If you know you're going to exercise heavy, eat more all day to compensate. It's hard to eat an extra 1000 calories at the end of the day. It's not so hard to add a couple hundred extra to each meal and snack.

    1200 calories is the minimum ANYONE should eat, ever. Your body would burn more calories than that if you were in a coma. Add an extra 1000 calorie burn on top of that, and you're asking your car to drive cross country with only fumes in your gas tank.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LorinaLynn/view/exercise-calories-explained-206876
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Yes - eat your exercise calories back!

    The calorie deficit is already built in WITHOUT any exercise. When you exercise you make the deficit bigger. When the calorie deficit is TOO BIG, you will burn muscle during your workouts and not fat. The extra calories (added throughout the day) will FUEL your workout.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    As others said, yes you should eat them back. But also keep in mind the machines at gyms generally over estimate calories burned from 25%-40%. Also, hope you are doing some weight training to help preserve muscle mass.
  • XoSaraoX
    XoSaraoX Posts: 97 Member
    Yes you should, and don't wait until you've already burned the calories. If you know you're going to exercise heavy, eat more all day to compensate. It's hard to eat an extra 1000 calories at the end of the day. It's not so hard to add a couple hundred extra to each meal and snack.

    1200 calories is the minimum ANYONE should eat, ever. Your body would burn more calories than that if you were in a coma. Add an extra 1000 calorie burn on top of that, and you're asking your car to drive cross country with only fumes in your gas tank.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LorinaLynn/view/exercise-calories-explained-206876

    thank you that blog helped clear everything up, i guess i need to eat about 900 more cal a day then when i work out....

    yes the gym machines do over estimate the cal burned, i always lower that number by 30%. i do weights for my upper body arm ect everytime im at the gym aswell. doctor has cut me off of doing weights that involve my legs because i have torn all my ligaments in both knees doing sports.

    thank you everyone for your help :)
  • david081
    david081 Posts: 489 Member
    Whatever you have ALREADY been doing is working pretty well. I eat back about 25%, and bur 1000+ every day, with one or two rest days a month... Whatever works for you (except starvation of course) is okay...
  • KarenT45
    KarenT45 Posts: 23 Member
    I'm so glad that I saw this post! I've been on track for about 5 weeks now and didn't know if I should eat back the calories worked off or not. I'll start today and maybe more weight will come off quicket. Thanks again!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    I'm so glad that I saw this post! I've been on track for about 5 weeks now and didn't know if I should eat back the calories worked off or not. I'll start today and maybe more weight will come off quicket. Thanks again!

    IF MFP is calculating them, eat back 50-75%. MFP tends to be high for many people.
  • angelic2032
    angelic2032 Posts: 5
    I have been at this for about a month and recently invested in a personal trainer. What he told me is that as long as you're eating SMALL meals often (every few hours), your body won't go into starvation mode because it's constantly getting food. I try to keep my meals between 100-200 calories of nutrient-rich foods (beans, lean proteins, green veggies)- not things like the 100 calorie "snack packs" which will end up giving your body nothing and it will keep storing fat. With that said, his advice was that if I'm hungry - EAT. If I have burned 400 cals in a day and still have 600 left and I'm hungry, I should eat. He is a nutritionist and also informed me that MANY of the diets he's put himself on include eating up to an hour before bed. I always thought you had to give yourself at least 3 hours before bed, but he says that's a myth. If you're burning 1000 calories though and not consuming at least 1000 in a day, your body has nothing left. While that might be awesome now (and by the way you are doing GREAT), in the long run, if you ever stop working out so much your body might pack on calories because it's "scared" you're going to use them all up again! My trainer told me that burning more than a few 100 calories a day will get you there and loosing 1-2 lbs per week is the healthiest. He also said that it is MUCH more important what you are putting into your body than what you are doing to work out. The foods you eat will determine whether or not your body builds muscle or stores fat. So for some, they may be loosing weight - but it might be muscle instead of fat if you aren't getting the right nutrition. All this advice is with a grain of salt though - if what you are doing is working for you - keep doing it!!!!

    Lol sorry this post is so long - but hope it helps!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    I have been at this for about a month and recently invested in a personal trainer. What he told me is that as long as you're eating SMALL meals often (every few hours), your body won't go into starvation mode because it's constantly getting food. I try to keep my meals between 100-200 calories of nutrient-rich foods (beans, lean proteins, green veggies)- not things like the 100 calorie "snack packs" which will end up giving your body nothing and it will keep storing fat. With that said, his advice was that if I'm hungry - EAT. If I have burned 400 cals in a day and still have 600 left and I'm hungry, I should eat. He is a nutritionist and also informed me that MANY of the diets he's put himself on include eating up to an hour before bed. I always thought you had to give yourself at least 3 hours before bed, but he says that's a myth. If you're burning 1000 calories though and not consuming at least 1000 in a day, your body has nothing left. While that might be awesome now (and by the way you are doing GREAT), in the long run, if you ever stop working out so much your body might pack on calories because it's "scared" you're going to use them all up again! My trainer told me that burning more than a few 100 calories a day will get you there and loosing 1-2 lbs per week is the healthiest. He also said that it is MUCH more important what you are putting into your body than what you are doing to work out. The foods you eat will determine whether or not your body builds muscle or stores fat. So for some, they may be loosing weight - but it might be muscle instead of fat if you aren't getting the right nutrition. All this advice is with a grain of salt though - if what you are doing is working for you - keep doing it!!!!

    Lol sorry this post is so long - but hope it helps!


    The only thing I wouldn't believe is the thing about small meals. There are have been several studies from the NIH that indicate there is no benefit if you eat 5 meals or 1 meal. Your body still burns the same amount of calories metabolism and breaking down the food. The only benefit from multiple meals is reduce cravings.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    If you're burning 1000 calories though and not consuming at least 1000 in a day, your body has nothing left.

    And you have to keep in mind that your body is constantly burning calories. You'd burn more than 1000 calories even if you stayed in bed all day, and another couple hundred by just living your normal life. Add 1000 calories of exercise on top of that, and you've got a colossal deficit.
  • fitniknik
    fitniknik Posts: 713 Member
    eat a portion of them back or you are going to hit a plateau that will feel like it goes on forever!
  • Kellyklug
    Kellyklug Posts: 3 Member
    I agree
  • Mom0fTwo
    Mom0fTwo Posts: 326 Member
    I decided to do an experiment the last 2 weeks to see if it was helpful, i had 14 lbs left to lose and i raised my goal to .5lbs/week started eating even more and at first i gained 2-3 lbs and this week it slowly started going down, today i weighed and i have lost all the gain plus 2 lbs, so my experiment is more = better :) also been trying to eat a little cleaner this month and i feel AWESOME!

    feel free to add me the more the merrier!!
  • Sweet_Potato
    Sweet_Potato Posts: 1,119 Member
    I'm skeptical that you're actually burning 1000 calories. Are you running for 2 hours straight or something? How do you come up with that estimate?
  • natacha305
    natacha305 Posts: 117 Member
    eat.. eat my child.

    Indulge in something, give yourself a reward. 1000 a day is awesome.

    Oh if only i had the time to burn 1000 in day the things i would eat. Id probably reward my self once a week. OOORRRR id tweak my daily meals to add a little bit more of what i like. dressing, cheese, butter, strawberry cream cheese (all low fat of course) lol or maybe just eat more of the healthy stuff.

    arroz con frijoles, tostones, platanito madurooooo yum. lol
  • heathermarie517
    heathermarie517 Posts: 105
    This is the million $$ question!

    In fact, I just posted a comment about this yesterday. For this week, I'm going to stick to my 1360 calories, and not eat my logged in activity points. I had a slow loss over the last 6 weeks (3lbs.), and am hoping to throw a wrench into my body. Every BODY is different. Try different things out as you journey into your weightloss. You never know what will work for you!

    Looks like you have already climbed a moutain with your spectacular weight loss....CONGRATS!!
  • kimknerr
    kimknerr Posts: 5
    not exactly true, when your blood sugars are constantly going up and down your metabolism will not stabalize and burn like you want it to when your loosing weight. Eating small meals every few hours helps to stabalize blood sugars and increase metabolism.
  • XoSaraoX
    XoSaraoX Posts: 97 Member
    I'm skeptical that you're actually burning 1000 calories. Are you running for 2 hours straight or something? How do you come up with that estimate?

    well 3 to 4 days a week start out with 30 mins on the treadmill at home(5:00am) starting with a 3.0 for the first couple of mins and then going to a jog then a 5.5 or 6.0 run for the last of it then back down to a walk.. then i go to work , then i go to the gym around 7pm start on the cybex elipitcal looking machine (sryy no clue what it is) usually do that for 40 -45 mins with a resistance of 80 + and the incline at 10. then move to the treadmill there and do the same as above but not as long usually with cool down is 20 mins. then for 15 mins plus cool down i use the eliptical, then depending on the time i will go on the bike . followed by weights. i always take what the machine says i burned and minus % off because they are offf. well regardless of how many cal i burn its worked for 48 ibs now.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    not exactly true, when your blood sugars are constantly going up and down your metabolism will not stabalize and burn like you want it to when your losing weight. Eating small meals every few hours helps to stabalize blood sugars and increase metabolism.

    This isn't true. Keep in mind, your body is suffocated enough to adjust as long as there isn't a medical condition preventing that. Also, there have been studies that suggest interim fasting can provide benefits to fat burning, over and above that of eating more frequently.


    http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494



    XoSaraoX - I feel your pain on bad knees as I tore my MCL. My question is, how can you do all this crazy cardio but you can't do minor leg workouts with weights? Most of those machines put my stress on your knees than stuff like lunges. Also, building your leg muscles will prevent your body from relying on ligaments and tendons, which improves knee function. Just curious.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    XoSaraoX - I feel your pain on bad knees as I tore my MCL. My question is, how can you do all this crazy cardio but you can't do minor leg workouts with weights? Most of those machines put my stress on your knees than stuff like lunges. Also, building your leg muscles will prevent your body from relying on ligaments and tendons, which improves knee function. Just curious.

    This. :smile:

    I always had knee, ankle, and hip problems because I'm hypermobile, but since I've strengthened my muscles, my joints are much more stable.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    or should i eat them back before when i plan on going to the gym...

    this
  • gaberieger
    gaberieger Posts: 69
    It's a numbers game. Simple really. 1 lb = 3500 kcal. If you have -7000 kcal deficit for the week, you lose 2 lbs that week.

    Work on weekly data, not daily- but keep an eye on it. The body is smart, it'll let you know when hungry.
  • hedgiie
    hedgiie Posts: 1,226 Member
    maybe your looking for living proof, I would say yes and i gain muscle mass, losing fat and losing weight!
  • XoSaraoX
    XoSaraoX Posts: 97 Member
    i tore all of anterior cruciate ligaments in both knees when i was in grade 7, its been 10 years since that and this fall im finally having surgery. iv been soo use to the pain that comes with walking running jogging since iv done sports (rugby, soccer, and volleyball) since that happened,. i can handle the pain when it comes to the treadmill and eliptical, it when more weight gets added i find tears running down my face, and end up with bruises that take for ever to go away. dont get me wrong i sleep with icepacks on both knees every single night.
  • marvold13
    marvold13 Posts: 5
    Eating BACK calories is not the way to look at it. You don't say oh i just burned 500 calories i'll go eat it. You need to NET the calories in the day. your net is what you burn (living a healthy life you need at least 1200 calories, and work out) - what you eat = 0 ... CALORIES IN EQUALS CALORIES OUT. all you have to remember. and plan ahead. If i know I have a hard work out that burns 500 calories I never wait till 8pm to consume those even if its when I just burned that.
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