eating back excersise calories doesnt work for me :(

I've recently increased my exercise and am monitoring how much of my exercise calories I eat back as there are so many different opinions...
It's looking more and more like I'm going to be one of those people who can't eat their exercise calories back in order to loose weight, so I understand your frustration

Bump

Check that you are recording your intake of calories and your expenditure of calories correctly. You can only gain if you eat more than your burn, or your body is seriously holding onto water

How long did you eat the exercise calories?

Sometimes, it can take up to a month for your body to feel comfortable with the extra calories and register a difference.

eating back exercise calories doesn't work for me either, i use a HRM so i know that what i burn is as accurate as can be, i can get away with eating a small amount of them back if i do a big burn, say if i burn 1000 cals it doesn't seem to make much difference if i eat 2-300 of those back but otherwise i gain weight or stay the same.

Doesn't work for me either Yasmine. I'm guessing my age has something to do with it for me. I have a fairly hectic workout schedule and will consume some additional 100-200 cals on top of my 1400 but that's about my limit - if I don't I put on weight and get fatter. (my workouts generally burn from 600 - 1000 cals) It's a shame because I love food. I am concentrating more on macros now though so some good has come from it. I also allow myself one spike day - so you could argue that on that day I am eating back my exercise cals! I am happy with this balance so it's a good long-term plan for me.

Don't be disheartened though there is a lot of good advice on here about it and the one thing that is repeated over and over (and over) is that you need to be sure that you have given it a fair crack before throwing in the towel and to be sure that you have your calculations done accurately and been seriously honest with your diary and weighing of food.

strength training isn't a bad thing...it can help speed up your metabolism. start light with 12-15 reps....and don't forget u have to eat to lose too...every 3 hours which breaks down to be 3 meals & 2 snacks.......& water........DON'T FORGET THE WATER!! GOOD LUCK

Everyone is different and changing up your lifestyle through diet and exercise takes time to show - like give it a couple of weeks. I have a very sluggish metabolism and although I am up to about 800 cals a day in cardio - 6 days a week and eat only 1200 calories a day (faithfully for over year now) I still only average about 2 lbs. a week loss That is NOT eating back calories except for one day a week. Give it time and remember it took a while to gain the weight you want to lose even if it's a small amount.

I'm one of those people too and it is really frustrating. I've come to realize that I have horrible metabolism! After literally years of trying to "watch what I eat" and being very active (I have four kids and I'm a runner), I've learned that I need to stick to around 1200 calories per day regardless of whether I exercise which definitely took some getting used to but, honestly, now that I'm several weeks into this routine and I've seen good progress, it's much easier to just eat my 1200 calories and go to bed a little hungry.

To get down to simply eating less, I suggest eating 5-6 small meals a day and make sure each meal has a good amount of protein. It's more work and it takes planning but this is the only way I have found that my body will lose weight so this is what I do. HTH

Just like the title says, I gained doing what others swear by. So..does this mean I am one of the people who can only lose weight by eating little? Really frustrated right now

Last time I lost weight, my weightloss slowed as I got closer to my goal. I would lose perhaps 0.4lbs here and 0.2lbs there. I was at a loss until my husband pointed out that I had, in effect, gone onto maintenance early.

When I looked at my food diary, I realized I was eating back all exercise calories and rather than help, it had done the opposite and slowed my weight loss RIGHT down. It may work for some people, but it definitely did nothing for me whatsoever!

No, you are not alone, nor unusual, friend me if you want, I do not eat back my exercise calories, except sometimes I may go into them by 100, but that is not always a hard and fast rule.

I guess for some people it does work, for me it definitely didn't, so you are not alone. I am on 1200 calories per day and providing I eat no junk, I stay satisfied and do not feel starving and have enough energy to live my day-to-day life and exercise which is running.