Asked my Trainer re eating back calories

acidosaur · April 2012

interesting read...thank you!

Masq · April 2012

Very well put, and I love that she mentions to not eat back a bunch of junk. The key is to eat back your calories in 'good for you' food. :-)

JTHRONES · April 2012

Bump for later!

LizKurz · April 2012

The answer she gives is right for the question asked HOWEVER you didn't tell her that MFP already sets you a deficit. I'm sure her answer would have been totally diferent then.

Ask again and this time give her the full story

How so? She's saying to eat most of them back. She acknowledges that 1200 is a deficit and probably too much for some people., then states that if you burn 600 and don't eat them back, you're asking your body to try and exist on 600 calories a day if your calories are set at 1200.

Translation, she DOES get that you're at a deficit and she DOES advocate eating most of the exercise calories back.

I did say the trainer was correct in what she said (the usual 1200 statement that gets thrown around) but I thought it was a personal letter to her trainer and her answer should have been more involved than that. She might also have been told she shouldn't be eating below her BMR for example.

Aren't we ALL eating below our BMR on here? At least those of us on here for weight loss (as opposed to maintenance or gaining)? Seems like 1200 is likely below most average adults' BMR.

No? I'm not. I eat around 2100 a day, and burn around 500-600 a day. My BMR (as best as I can calculate without expensive machinery and MD's,) is around 1400. I'm netting more like 1600. And I might even take that up a notch when I get my thyroid figured out at the endo tomorrow.

ironanimal · April 2012

The answer she gives is right for the question asked HOWEVER you didn't tell her that MFP already sets you a deficit. I'm sure her answer would have been totally diferent then.

Ask again and this time give her the full story

How so? She's saying to eat most of them back. She acknowledges that 1200 is a deficit and probably too much for some people., then states that if you burn 600 and don't eat them back, you're asking your body to try and exist on 600 calories a day if your calories are set at 1200.

Translation, she DOES get that you're at a deficit and she DOES advocate eating most of the exercise calories back.

I did say the trainer was correct in what she said (the usual 1200 statement that gets thrown around) but I thought it was a personal letter to her trainer and her answer should have been more involved than that. She might also have been told she shouldn't be eating below her BMR for example.

Aren't we ALL eating below our BMR on here? At least those of us on here for weight loss (as opposed to maintenance or gaining)? Seems like 1200 is likely below most average adults' BMR.

No? I'm not. I eat around 2100 a day, and burn around 500-600 a day. My BMR (as best as I can calculate without expensive machinery and MD's,) is around 1400. I'm netting more like 1600. And I might even take that up a notch when I get my thyroid figured out at the endo tomorrow.

Me neither. My intake is around 2700 a day (2500 in diary to leave wiggle room for condiments etc) and my BMR is a little over 2400.

thilyer · May 2012

bump

dejatyja · May 2012

Thanks for posting this. Very much needed

BimBamBomBum · May 2012

My BMR is 1200 (yes, I am short!). I eat six small meals a day and am never hungry. My net calorie intake is about 1100, and the weight is coming off nice and steadily.

drusilla126 · June 2012

Thanks for the post. I'm doing all this to lose weight so the concept of "eating back your exercise calories" seemed completely backwards to me but yeah I guess that does make sense. Yikes I've been eating as close to 1200cals as I can for the past few months PLUS exercising. Despite trying to so hard not to I've been putting myself in starvation mode without realizing it!

LaurenC619 · June 2012

Thanks for posting this!

babgrl · June 2012

So how do you find your real BMR?

drusilla126 · June 2012

After reading a bunch of threads today I came across two sites that will give you your BMR. http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators.html
was one and unfortunately I can't find the other again. Both said mine is around 1800 which I find to be high.

dad106 · June 2012

After reading a bunch of threads today I came across two sites that will give you your BMR. http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators.html
was one and unfortunately I can't find the other again. Both said mine is around 1800 which I find to be high.

MFP also gives you BMR... Just go up top to tool and click on BMR.

kelleymj · June 2012

Thank you so much for posting....I have been working out quite hard for the past 5 weeks....45 ~ 90 minutes cardio and strength training 3 x a week. For the past two weeks, I have been extremely tired. I am suppose to get 1290 calories a day that is before exercise and I haven't been eating back my exercise calories...my net has been between 500 and 900 calories a day....NO WONDER I am EXHAUSTED!!! Thank you for posting!

DeeVanderbles · June 2012

This is great information! My net is much lower than it should be. I'm glad I found this so early in my journey. The rough part is that I find it difficult to eat even the 1200 calories that MFP says I should be eating and I burn 350-500 depending on the workout. This is going to take some real thought.