Eating all calories back?

selfm0tivated
selfm0tivated Posts: 15
in Health and Weight Loss
I don't see how I'm ever going to lose weight if I have to eat my calories back. My BMR is 1400. I burn about 400 cal a day. I realize 3500 excess cal= 1lb but I don't ever eat excess calories. So how am I going to ever lose weight if I have to eat my calories back?
Thanks for all the help in advance!

[EDIT]
I dont quite understand all these terms... Net? TDEE?

Replies

  • lovetobethin86
    lovetobethin86 Posts: 202 Member
    how many calories are you eating?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    So how am I going to ever lose weight if I have to eat my calories back?

    Fundamentally, by eating less than you expend.

    Your BMR is you say 1400, so your daily life probably uses at least 20% more ie 1680 total and then on top you are exercising 400 calories - total out = 2080 calories a day.

    Sound about right ?

    Take 500 off that and eat 1580, for a 500 calorie/day or 1 lb/week deficit.

    If you like to think of it that way, it's an 1180 calorie target with 400 calories of exercise "eaten back". But either way you're spending 2080 and eating 1580.
  • DeborahStanley
    DeborahStanley Posts: 90 Member
    I was exercising and not eating calories back and my weight plateaued. I've not been able to go to the gym for the past few weeks and I haven't changed my eating but my weight is now going down.

    I was eating 1200- 1400 cals, exercising about 400 cals per day, 5 days per week. Now I am eating 1200 - 1400 cals & not exercising, I haven't changed anything else.

    When I return to the gym I will be eating back some of the calories I burn off.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    If you're netting at or above your estimated TDEE, and the estimate is accurate, you won't. I've seen people complain about gaining weight when they're eating to few cals, I wouldn't suggest going there. If you're eating at or slightly below your TDEE, and the estimates are a little off, then I'm going to go with yes. I managed to get to my goal weight eating TDEE and eating my exercise cals back. MFPs are usually over exaggerated, so I try to eat at least half of them. If you're doing straight out cardio, a HRM is great. If you're doing weights, then you'll have to estimate them also.
  • Ondreacrandall
    Ondreacrandall Posts: 43 Member
    I personally have a really hard time eating my calories back when I've exercised hard. You have to eat a whole lot of the right stuff in order to eat that many calories. I refuse to eat junk just to eat back calories. I just eat the healthier stuff until I can't eat anymore.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    I don't think anyone should eat **all** their calories back for 2 reasons:
    1) the calorie burn estimates are really rough estimates. Even if you use an HRM it's still just a best guess based on an algorithm of empirical evidence, not a guaranteed formula to work for everyone. If you burn less than you think you're burning and you eat all the calories back, you're going to have a positive net!
    2) Calorie estimates almost never subtract your BMR- meaning they give you a number of TOTAL calories burned for a time period, so you're double counting your BMR calories. If you have a BMR of 1200, that works out to 50 calories an hour. That means if you go for a walk for 1 hour and burn 400 calories, you really should only add 350 calories to your log, because 50 calories of those 400 have already been counted for this time.
  • lovetobethin86
    lovetobethin86 Posts: 202 Member
    OK so I read your other post about "what are you doing wrong?" I would say if you do exercise that much I would eat back as many exercise calories as you can, to t least mke your net 1200, I would go with your BMR amount though. I'm not sure how you feel about eating more calories but if you're burning them off anyways its a good idea. You dont want your body to think its starving and hold on to the calories you eat as fat. That may be hat happened when you say you lost some and then gained it back, because your body thought it as starving so at first u lost weight then when you ate more your body held onto it....does that make sense?? Basically I would make sure you have a net calorie intake of your bmr. As you lose weight keep adjusting your intake to your new bmr amount:) Also what kind of meat do you eat? If you do want to eat alot of meat I would stick to lean meats like chicken or seafood. Or you could have tofu and tempeh which is even better!!
  • stephyy4632
    stephyy4632 Posts: 947 Member
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo


    read the above thread its even sticked here at the top for newbies it will explain everything
  • Ondreacrandall
    Ondreacrandall Posts: 43 Member
    I don't think anyone should eat **all** their calories back for 2 reasons:
    1) the calorie burn estimates are really rough estimates. Even if you use an HRM it's still just a best guess based on an algorithm of empirical evidence, not a guaranteed formula to work for everyone. If you burn less than you think you're burning and you eat all the calories back, you're going to have a positive net!
    2) Calorie estimates almost never subtract your BMR- meaning they give you a number of TOTAL calories burned for a time period, so you're double counting your BMR calories. If you have a BMR of 1200, that works out to 50 calories an hour. That means if you go for a walk for 1 hour and burn 400 calories, you really should only add 350 calories to your log, because 50 calories of those 400 have already been counted for this time.
    I've never considered this concept before. My BMR is 1532. I should be subtracting 63.8 calories if I do an hour of cardio exercise. This makes me feel better knowing that I never eat enough calories back.

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