Eating my exercise calories

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mandie919
mandie919 Posts: 55 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So this week I am going to try and eat more and hope something happens! I have not been eating back my exercise calories and not only did I not lose weight,I gained! Hope eating more works for me like it has for others!
I have my breakfast, lunch, and snacks packed for work tomorrow and it seems like SO much food!

Keeping my fingers crossed!!

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  • newday332
    newday332 Posts: 54 Member
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    I have the exact situation. Lost 8 pounds but have been stuck for 2 weeks now. Eating exercise back now to see what will happen. Wish us both luck!
  • Jen8np
    Jen8np Posts: 50 Member
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    I increased my calories to 1500 this week plus I burn at least 600 a day and eat most back. I started this this past week. I posted the same thing and u will see a post like this everyday on mfp! People stop losing under 1200 a day at some point because the body goes into starvation mode. Then the body leaves your fat alone and feeds on your muscles to survive. Who wants to lose muscle? Not me! We all want to take it off fast but I have been told be the people who maintained goal for many years that slow and steady wins the race. Be ready to gain a bit back the first week but that's ok! Stay off the scale for 2 weeks and be patient. I have soooo much more energy now since increasing and my workouts feel amazing. We need to change our life forever so what's the rush? Someone told me u will never see someone post about eating 1,700 a day NET and not losing, that tells u something there!!
  • mandie919
    mandie919 Posts: 55 Member
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    So Jen-
    Is your net calories 1500 or your consumed 1500? Even with all my foods packed and my exercise logged, I am still only netting 1300 calories..... do you think that is still too low??
  • Hoakiebs
    Hoakiebs Posts: 430 Member
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    Read #141 here! http://www.fat2fitradio.com/
  • Hoakiebs
    Hoakiebs Posts: 430 Member
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    I have the exact situation. Lost 8 pounds but have been stuck for 2 weeks now. Eating exercise back now to see what will happen. Wish us both luck!
    Listen to Audio file #2 Breaking the Weight Loss Plateaus here http://www.fat2fitradio.com/
  • Jen8np
    Jen8np Posts: 50 Member
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    So Jen-
    Is your net calories 1500 or your consumed 1500? Even with all my foods packed and my exercise logged, I am still only netting 1300 calories..... do you think that is still too low??


    Girl I am still learning myself! But I do think I stopped losing because my net had often been below 1,200 a day. I have been doing intense cardio and underestimating calories burned. Then started getting fatigued so I am still playing with numbers and may even increase to the 0.5 lb loss per week because the last 10lbs often is the hardest. I do feel like I am eating a ton now and it for sure no longer feels like a diet. I try to net 1,500 or maybe just over. Yesterday it was less cuz I just wasn't hungry. But I am thinking I am going to increase more. Check this out... http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/calorie-intake-to-lose-weight.php
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    So this week I am going to try and eat more and hope something happens! I have not been eating back my exercise calories and not only did I not lose weight,I gained! Hope eating more works for me like it has for others!
    I have my breakfast, lunch, and snacks packed for work tomorrow and it seems like SO much food!

    Keeping my fingers crossed!!

    That happened to me. It really stinks, BUT there is good news! See my profile for the story and how I ate more and lost weight!

    Here's an old post of mine from similar topic:

    OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

    It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

    It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

    1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

    2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


    That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

    Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

    Are you getting the picture?

    EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.

    blessings.

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