Eating back exercise calories

harrietharrison
harrietharrison Posts: 1
in Fitness and Exercise
Heres a twisty one that I would really appreciate some help on!!
I've done a lot of research into it once I heard the term 'eating back' calories-I had no idea what that was all about!!

So far I have heard:
1. You must eat them back so your body does not go into starvation mode, you need to replace the energy your body has just put out and reload your muscles with glycogen and protein for renewed energy and repair.
2. If you eat them back you will a)gain weight b) not lose any weight
3. EXERCISE ACTUALLY PROMOTES WEIGHT GAIN! (wtf, right?!) apparently there are 'medical experts' out there saying you are more likely to overheat your calorie goal if you exercise because your body will be fooled into thinking it needs more food than it does.

So let's put this in perspective and if any of you have any advice I would so badly appreciate it because I'm going a bit mental about all the misinformation out there.

I'm at my goal weight and VERY into fitness.
I dont want to lose any more weight but I certainly don't want to put it back on either!
At my BMR my body needs 1,200(ish) to survive.
I expend around 300-500 calories a day on high intensity workouts.

If I eat my 1,200 calories but exercise to end up with a deficit of 500 that makes my overall calorie consumption 700 calories per day.

If I was wanting to lose weight many of you say this is ok... Except that I am not looking to lose, only maintain and be Functioning and performing in my everyday activities and workouts to the best of my ability.

I have always been under the impression that if you expend the calories in the form of exercise it's as though they never went in in the first place! So as long as you are eating your daily goal you should maintain your current weight and remain healthy, happy, strong and energetic!
I'm so confused and find that if I DON'T eat them back I get very fatigued, but everything people are saying out there is scaring me out of bloody wanting to eat ANYTHING! There's always SOMETHING that's bad for you or SOME hidden weight gain trap or falsity about calories and energy expenditure etc etc. ugh.

Please help fitness pal!!!

Replies

  • gatorginger
    gatorginger Posts: 947 Member
    I'm not an expert but I would say you should eat at least half of those back. What I would suggest is give it a trial run and see how it goes. I don't exercise as much as most people on here I just walk 4 days a week for about 25 minutes and I just started doing 2 minutes of jump rope so in all I'm only burning 82 calories so I haven't been eating them back. But today I decided to increase my calories to 1100 from 1000 which to many on here will say that is too low but it has worked for me. What I'm saying is you need to test out what works for you. I don't think you will gain any weight from eating your exercise calories but one way to find out is test it out. Look at it this way you can quit eating them back any time you want but I would give it long enough to see

    Hope this helps
  • Princess_Sameen
    Princess_Sameen Posts: 284 Member
    Tis confuses the hell out of me! researched it several times! spoke to my friends she said make sure my net value is 1200 as I exercise quite a lot...how right that is I have no ide :ohwell:
  • osugirl96
    osugirl96 Posts: 3 Member
    This is the first time I have ever heard the term "eating back exercise calories", but it seems to me if you don't replenish some of the lost calories burned while exercising either you would lose weight and go below your target weight or your metabolism could slow down, "go into starvation mode" and you could possibly gain weight. I always try to eat some kind of carbs and protein after exercising for recovery. I think if you are hungry, you're not doing yourself any favors by not eating. As long as you don't use your exercise as an excuse to go crazy with your eating, I think eating the same number of calories you have burned will not make you gain weight. But to be safe you could do what someone else suggested and try eating 1/2 the calories you have burned. Good luck!
  • jaqqii
    jaqqii Posts: 11
    I think I'm in the same mind set as you! I've always been told by any fitness instructor that your body works on calories in and calories out it.... allegedly as simple as that.

    I would say that if you stick to 1200 calories a day then I would say you are consuming less calories than you need and if you are burning up to 500 calories a day then you are definitely going to continue to lose weight. What you need to do is calculate your RMR (resting metabolic rate) http://www.restingmetabolicrate.net/ and this should the amount of calories you use at rest, if you were to go below this rate you will lose weight and if you go over this you will gain. I am not expert but there are a lot of websites out there that explain this.
  • willismack2
    willismack2 Posts: 84

    If I eat my 1,200 calories but exercise to end up with a deficit of 500 that makes my overall calorie consumption 700 calories per day.

    If I was wanting to lose weight many of you say this is ok... Except that I am not looking to lose, only maintain and be Functioning and performing in my everyday activities and workouts to the best of my ability.

    I have always been under the impression that if you expend the calories in the form of exercise it's as though they never went in in the first place! So as long as you are eating your daily goal you should maintain your current weight and remain healthy, happy, strong and energetic!
    I'm so confused and find that if I DON'T eat them back I get very fatigued, but everything people are saying out there is scaring me out of bloody wanting to eat ANYTHING! There's always SOMETHING that's bad for you or SOME hidden weight gain trap or falsity about calories and energy expenditure etc etc. ugh.

    Please help fitness pal!!!

    The only weight gain trap is eating more calories than you burn. If you are accurate in tracking your calorie expenditure you should be able to maintain your current weight.
  • mandylooo
    mandylooo Posts: 456 Member
    I think I'm in the same mind set as you! I've always been told by any fitness instructor that your body works on calories in and calories out it.... allegedly as simple as that.

    I would say that if you stick to 1200 calories a day then I would say you are consuming less calories than you need and if you are burning up to 500 calories a day then you are definitely going to continue to lose weight. What you need to do is calculate your RMR (resting metabolic rate) http://www.restingmetabolicrate.net/ and this should the amount of calories you use at rest, if you were to go below this rate you will lose weight and if you go over this you will gain. I am not expert but there are a lot of websites out there that explain this.

    If the OP sticks to 1200 calories a day, after she has eaten back her exercise calories, she will continue to lose weight.

    1200 calories is less than what your body needs just to stay alive and have a sedentary lifestyle ie have an inactive job and do no exercise. It already has a built in deficit of typically 500 cals if you're trying to lose 1lb a week

    If you exercise you need to eat the 1200 cal + the cals to cover your exercise or other activities, soif the OP eats around 1700 calories a day, based on the 500 calorie burn, she will still carry on losing weight.

    There aren't really opinions on this, just misunderstandings of what the 1200 calories covers (ie 500 calories fewer than you need to stay the same weight.)

    OP - to stay the same weight, you need to set your goal to "maintain current weight", which is probably going to be 1600 - 1700 cals a day, AND eat back your exercise calories.

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