For those of you who don't eat exercise cals back

HELP!! What the hay is TDEE??? :drinker: :ohwell:

^^^ very much this! Why would I want to eat back the calories I burned!

I just remember that I can only eat X amount of calories and watch that I don't go over. Though, I think if you just added your exercise right before you complete the day that would work to.

I track my calories in MFP so I have an IDEA how many calories I'm burning on a weekly basis. There's that and MFP makes a pretty chart for dumb visual learners like myself.

I never eat my calories back though. Now that I'm planning my meals each day in advance, I don't really fear of "treating" myself for all of the hard work I've put in.

I also use a heart rate monitor to tell me how many calories I burn during each workout but MFP seems to be reasonably accurate within 100 cals or so (from my experience).

I don't exercise for the calorie burn, I do it to keep active and make sure my heart is getting exercise and my body stronger. I record it in my diary to know that I am staying active. If I eat them back, that's fine with me, but if I'm eating my fill and I don't quite get them back...so be it.

As someone who has done it both ways, I have to say it is better for ME not to eat them back. I can burn 1,000 fairly easy some days with my job (farming) and eating 3,000 calories a day teaches me nothing. It just teaches me that I can basically eat whatever I want as long as I do something, and yes I understand that is the very premises some people follow, but it doesn't work for ME.

I log my exercise but don't eat them back. I feel that if I'm eating back the calories I've burned, why did I burn them in the first place.

This. However if I've burned an insane amount like 600 cals that day, I will probably eat about 200 of them back.

However in saying that, I'm normally fine with not eating any more than I normally do on that day. But if i'm famished, I will definitely eat an additional snack.

I eat other people's exersize calories too!

haahahahahahahahahah This was Great!!!!!!:laugh:

Why is everyone so stuck on one pound a week? You can lose 2 pounds a week safely...why wouldn't you double your weightloss in the same amount of time? My doctor wants me to lose 2 pounds a week, and approved my exercise plan. She is also someone who lost over 100 pounds in a year (103 to be exact) and has kept it off for the past 7 years. So I don't think losing 2 pounds a week is any 'short term' solution that is bound to fail.

It's not. At least it wasn't for me, when I had 30 pounds to lose.

Now that I'm about 5 pounds from being in a "normal" BMI range, continuing to attempt to lose 2 pounds a week backfires on me, so I've retargeted to 1 pound a week, and I'm back to losing weight.

The key is experimentation, the important thing is to keep an open mind, and the way to success is to accept that what is working today may not work tomorrow so you have to be willing to go back to experimentation.

Why is everyone so stuck on one pound a week? You can lose 2 pounds a week safely...why wouldn't you double your weightloss in the same amount of time? My doctor wants me to lose 2 pounds a week, and approved my exercise plan. She is also someone who lost over 100 pounds in a year (103 to be exact) and has kept it off for the past 7 years. So I don't think losing 2 pounds a week is any 'short term' solution that is bound to fail.

1 lb is easiest to stick with long term.
I am not in a race but in this fight to win.
Good luck to you though.

Do you just not log your exercise, or do you log it at the end of the day? If you log it right after you complete the exercise does it get confusing when MFP says "You've earned 300 extra calories from exercise today" but you really haven't, so you have to keep a different number than it actually says in mind the whole day?

Just wondering because a lot of people are doing a cut from TDEE and not going by the MFP plan, but MFP is still going to add those calories in.

When I was losing weight, I never used to eat my exercise calories back - except 50 to 100. What I would do is log the exercise but although the total calories added to my food allowance, I just ignored that and stuck to my 1200 calories.

I believe we should eat ALL the food! I'm set for 1lb a week, just because when I switched from using MFPs exercise estimates to my HRM, I stalled a bit and realized I was eating too little. Now I regularly eat between 2000 and 2300 on most days (except for during this crazy hot spell we're in), and I'm losing pretty steadily (anywhere from 1-3lbs a week) and shrinking tremendously. I focus more on the shrinking than the losing.

Why is everyone so stuck on one pound a week? You can lose 2 pounds a week safely...why wouldn't you double your weightloss in the same amount of time? My doctor wants me to lose 2 pounds a week, and approved my exercise plan. She is also someone who lost over 100 pounds in a year (103 to be exact) and has kept it off for the past 7 years. So I don't think losing 2 pounds a week is any 'short term' solution that is bound to fail.

It's not. At least it wasn't for me, when I had 30 pounds to lose.

Now that I'm about 5 pounds from being in a "normal" BMI range, continuing to attempt to lose 2 pounds a week backfires on me, so I've retargeted to 1 pound a week, and I'm back to losing weight.

The key is experimentation, the important thing is to keep an open mind, and the way to success is to accept that what is working today may not work tomorrow so you have to be willing to go back to experimentation.

You two make the most sense to me!!

I don't understand why everbody is all bent saying if you lose the weight fast (2 pounds a week), you will gain it back.

Like there is no avoiding gaining it back.

Now, if you are at a 500 calorie intake only and taking pills, slimfast, etc. Ok. I get why'd you'd ASSUME the person would gain the weight back. But if someone has found comfort in 1200 calories and is eating when they are hungry and is working out reasonably, why would you flat out tell them they are going to gain it back? I've had countless people tell me I will gain it back, I'm wasting my time, blah blah. No, I have a plan, and it's my plan. I'll do like the above person- when I get closer to my goal, I will slowly start to increase my intake.

i log in all food cals and exercise bruns/per day. I like to know exact amount in a week and compare how many cals I need to burn to lose 1 pound. I eat some calories back but I eat 'healthy' cals not, say, 'pizza' or 'chip' cals... your body needs extra 'fuel' so I eat more fruit and protien on my heavy work out days. I dont think thats a back thing since my daily cal intake is only 1470. ALSO, doesnt MFP set your daily calorie intact base off of how active your are? With the initial sign up info they give you choices with how active you are, daily - low, medium, or high.....

Correct, and you can do one of two things with that (well, three, but two within the intended parameters of the design of the site):

1. Set your lifestyle to include what you think you'll do for exercise on a given week
- Do not log or eat back exercise calories, your deficit is set based on doing those workouts.

2. Set your lifestyle to not include workouts and specific exercise but to include only your basic lifestyle (sedentary for us office monkeys).
- Log all exercise above and beyond trivial things like walking from the car to the office (and even that if it's a LONG walk), eat back those calories.

3. (not within the design parameters of the site, but you can use it this way) Set your lifestyle to sedentary, exercise lots, use the calories used to accelerate weight loss.
- Please consider that this will tend to accelerate weight loss in the short term but may lead to changes in your metabolism, if you start struggling to lose weight after a few weeks of AWESOMELY fast weight loss, you may need to reconsider this strategy. Or it may work for you - but just remember that you at least need to make sure you're getting enough vitamins and minerals and at the very least proteins to support your body. Be mindful of how fast you are losing weight, and how you feel.

Ummmm......I don't worry that much about it. I very seldom eat all my calories back. I eat till I am full and stop. When I was doing weight loss, the idea was to loose weight. If you eat your exercise calories back you don't loose weight . Don't buy the "You got to eat your exercise calories back to loose weight faster" line.

The larger the calorie deficit the faster the weight loss.