Eating Back Calories....I JUST DON'T GET IT.

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Replies

  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    These are my MFP stats today:

    Cal Carbs Fat Protein
    Totals 1,548 137 38 177
    Your Daily Goal 2,295 315 76 86
    Remaining 747 178 38 -91
    *You've earned 915 extra calories from exercise today

    My goal upon sigh up to loose 2lbs per week is 1380 cal per day. So far I've lost 6kgs from 01 Feb 12. Do I stand to lose more if I eat back the 747, for eg? I doubt. Last week I saved a total of 5236 cal by not eating back my remaining cals.

    probably not, in fact you'll probably lose less, the reason why we try to keep within the range (and consequently eat back exercise calories) is to make it more manageable for you and to keep you fed so that your body doesn't begin slowing down metabolically. That might not happen right away, but eventually, keeping a large deficit will become harder, and that leads to people "falling off the wagon" keeping your deficit more reasonable makes it much more easy to sustain it for life instead of rollercoastering. Sure it may take 8 or 10 months instead of 5 or 6 to lose the weight, but it'll STAY off this way, and you won't need to come back and do it all over again a year or two from now.
  • redmichelle67
    redmichelle67 Posts: 49 Member
    I;m so condused with all this ..I just try to do what it tells me to on here other wise im going be fat forever ....maybe someone knows how all this works ,I sure dont .....Mine set for 2 lbs a week at 1440 cal a day ...gym 3 days a week but i go about 5 days a week .....So question is should I eat the cal back or not ?
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I;m so condused with all this ..I just try to do what it tells me to on here other wise im going be fat forever ....maybe someone knows how all this works ,I sure dont .....Mine set for 2 lbs a week at 1440 cal a day ...gym 3 days a week but i go about 5 days a week .....So question is should I eat the cal back or not ?

    Read this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/506349-women-who-eat-more-than-1800-calories-a-day

    And this thread: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395881-people-who-lost-weight-eating-more

    And the posts in this group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/34-women-eating-2-000-calories-per-day

    And check out the profiles of the women who eat a lot (ie, eat their exercise calories). They're achieving or have achieved their goals.
  • memega
    memega Posts: 73
    These are my MFP stats today:

    Cal Carbs Fat Protein
    Totals 1,548 137 38 177
    Your Daily Goal 2,295 315 76 86
    Remaining 747 178 38 -91
    *You've earned 915 extra calories from exercise today

    My goal upon sigh up to loose 2lbs per week is 1380 cal per day. So far I've lost 6kgs from 01 Feb 12. Do I stand to lose more if I eat back the 747, for eg? I doubt. Last week I saved a total of 5236 cal by not eating back my remaining cals.

    probably not, in fact you'll probably lose less, the reason why we try to keep within the range (and consequently eat back exercise calories) is to make it more manageable for you and to keep you fed so that your body doesn't begin slowing down metabolically. That might not happen right away, but eventually, keeping a large deficit will become harder, and that leads to people "falling off the wagon" keeping your deficit more reasonable makes it much more easy to sustain it for life instead of rollercoastering. Sure it may take 8 or 10 months instead of 5 or 6 to lose the weight, but it'll STAY off this way, and you won't need to come back and do it all over again a year or two from now.

    Thank you for taking time to reply. Really appreciate it. I understand your point and think its probably the better way to keep those extra pounds away for good. I need to learn a lot!
  • raevynn
    raevynn Posts: 666 Member
    I completely agree, eating too little is detrimental to your health and you wont have the energy to exercise/will feel lethargic and hungry etc ....but what about very obese people who go on LighterLife or get a Gastric Band? They are eating vastly below 1,200 and yet lose tonnes of weight? x

    That's totally monitored!
    And they have enough fat to lose tbh...People on gastric bands are severely obese, where the weight is more detrimental than them cutting back the calories as well, if they are on gastric bands, then obviously, they are at risk of death already.
    Um, yeah. and, guess what, about 5 years later they are gaining it back, and they have lost, along with the fat, (which one study showed averages about 100 lbs, regardless of their starting weights), a whole bunch of their muscle, which further lowers their basal metabolism.

    I work with one of these people, and it ain't pretty. I have another one that just recently had her surgery, and her "monitored" nutrition is pretty darned crappy. Not nearly enough protein, no vegetables, and her doctor is "so happy" with her progress.

    20 years ago, it was "doctor monitored" liquid protein diets, and people DIED. 15 years ago, it was Fen-Phen, and people DIED. Any sort of ultra low calorie weight loss regimen is inherently dangerous, doctor "monitored" or not.

    You'll miss your muscle mass - really, you will.
  • CoryIda
    CoryIda Posts: 7,870 Member
    Food = Fuel
    Think about it this way. You fill up your car with gas. It has enough gas to get you 200 miles. You end up making a detour and need to go an extra 50 miles. If your car only has enough gas to get you 200 miles, you're in trouble unless you fill it back up again.
    MFP gives you a set goal with a healthy deficit. You need to eat what it tells you in order to adequately fuel your body. When you exercise, you use up more fuel, so you need to add more fuel.
  • hiker282
    hiker282 Posts: 983 Member
    Food = Fuel
    Think about it this way. You fill up your car with gas. It has enough gas to get you 200 miles. You end up making a detour and need to go an extra 50 miles. If your car only has enough gas to get you 200 miles, you're in trouble unless you fill it back up again.
    MFP gives you a set goal with a healthy deficit. You need to eat what it tells you in order to adequately fuel your body. When you exercise, you use up more fuel, so you need to add more fuel.

    Dang it....was going to ask what there isn't to get, but Cory pretty much laid it all out.

    I'll just add that it isn't pointless to eat back your calories. Your body needs the fuel in order to keep from either wanting to go for the muscles rather than fat, and you'll be able to stay energized when you're eating right. Otherwise you'll burn out. Eat as if you're not on a diet, but as you want to eat for the rest of your life. Just don't go crazy!

    Eat well to look good with clothes on, exercise to look good naked. You won't look good naked if you are skin, bones, fat, and no muscle.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Another thing, about people who've had weight loss surgery... They don't get their sleeves or bands and eat 500 calories for the rest of their lives. The severe calorie restrictions are temporary. The first few weeks, it's a liquid diet while their surgery site heals. The ones who succeed are fanatical and meticulous, making sure each and every calorie is nutritious.

    A friend who had it over a year ago, who tried every possible way to lose weight without it and was diabetic with high blood pressure, is now 120 pounds at 5'2, perfect blood pressure, no longer diabetic, and is still losing, but now at a slow (normal) rate, and eating as much as most MFPers.
  • lisa91263
    lisa91263 Posts: 49
    bump
  • 189andFalling
    189andFalling Posts: 58 Member
    I agree with this. My view is you should 'eat back' about 30% of the exercise calories because:

    1) Your body will have burnt some of the calories during exercise from fat mass.
    2) Your BMR still ticks over so you need to take off (assuming 1 hour workout) 1/24th of your BMR from the calories burnt.
    3) Your body will replenish the glycogen stores from fat.
    4) After exercise is a good time to eat high GI carbs and proven to replenish the muscles (hence the 30% recommendation). Depending on your deficit you do still want to get some energy back during the day and feed your body a little extra protein to repair itself over non exercise days.
  • Casey1982
    Casey1982 Posts: 18 Member
    Perfect explanation! Although I would just add that you don't HAVE to "eat back" the calories your burn...you can always opt to just have a bigger deficit (the one MFP gives you and the one you get from exercise). I normally do eat my calories back because I'm always hungry :wink: But you don't have to as long as you're eating at least 1200 calories per day.
  • JayByrd107
    JayByrd107 Posts: 282 Member
    I finally reasoned it out this way: when you stretch before working out, you make small, slight tears in your muscles. Your body must repair the tears by making new muscle. In order to make those repairs, it must have good nutrition so that your body can make effective repairs. When you exercise, again you're building muscle and again your body needs that nutrition to build the new tissue.

    If you don't eat your calories back using nutrient rich food (not junk - candy, fast food, etc) your body can't repair the muscle tissue.

    You do want to build your muscle up because it takes more calories to support the newly repaired and developed muscles, not only when you exercise but also all the rest of the day to. That means your base burn rate is higher - you burn more calories naturally which helps you lose weight faster and more effectively and once at goal, helps you stay there.

    Not true. Stretching doesn't tear your muscles - lifting heavy objects does. The building/repair phase is when you are at rest afterward. You are correct in that this requires fuel (calories) to do so. Ideally, proper nutrition involving sufficient lean protein.
  • Jme2012
    Jme2012 Posts: 106 Member
    bump
  • keden7
    keden7 Posts: 12 Member
    Sometimes eating calories back can be difficult, but I always do it and have lost 14 pounds so far (in two months). A tablespoon or two of peanut butter or almond butter can help you take in the calories MFP requires. I often have that at night because I usually exercise until 8pm, have my dinner, and then feel so full I cannot eat much anymore. I do enjoy a bit of peanutbutter on a spoon though and it is pretty easy to get down with a smile! Good luck and best on moving towards a healthier life!

    In my experience, eating back your calories works, as long as you are logging calories accurately.
  • kimmrdodge
    kimmrdodge Posts: 190 Member
    Personally I don't eat my calories back. Just doesn't make sense to me. Never has.
  • Jolene8992
    Jolene8992 Posts: 127 Member
    I ts real simple when I explain it this way. If your baseline awas 1200 per day, and you burn off 100 calories walking. This will put you under 1200 which will put u in starvation mode. Now that I have increased my calories to 1310 I just make sure that I eat back enough to keep it above 1200.
  • tree5981
    tree5981 Posts: 18 Member
    All I am saying is you need to be careful.1200 calories is safe, but not if you burn 1200 calories a day exercising. Your body needs a minimum calorie amount each day to function. For me, it is 1900ish calories a day. I ate 1200 and exercised a lot and succesfully lost weight. I also developed electrolyte imbalances because for me the deficit of 1200 calories plus burning off 700-900 additional calories a day was too much and my body went into starvation mode. My friend DIED because her potassium (an electrolyte) was below 2.0 meq. I KNOW this is not about eating disorders, i just wanted to share my VERY PERSONAL story as a caution of cutting calories too low and exercising too much and the life threatening damage they can cause. Sorry I forgot the to name the website with the info but I was in a hurry. I just want people to be educated about the dangerous effects of very restrictive calories and excessive exercise. There are many more websites out there that accurately explain the definition of potassium and other electrolytes and the dangers of imbalances. Potassium IS maintained purely by diet and high potassium foods.(green leafy veggies, tomato products, potatoes, bananas etc..) there are supplements but levels too high are dangerous too. Maintain proper electrolyte balances through healthy diet and enough calories a day to maintain a proper healthy and balance. This was just a warning to make sure you eat enough, that is all. Despite my friend eating healthy foods she wasn't eating enough and suffered a fatal heart attack. This happened to Karen carpenter and many others. Just make sure you eat enough if you are exercising. That is all I am saying, and it is medically proven accurate. Good luck to everyone Loosing weight is such a long hard road, just please be safe about it.

    This is very true. And to add to this....many people lose electrolytes during exercise from sweating and only drink water only which further dilutes them causing hypokalemia
  • Hendrix7
    Hendrix7 Posts: 1,903 Member
    This is why I just eat the same calories and macros every day.

    Simple.

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