Eating back your calories - who does it???

Everything I read about eating back exercise calories makes sense. But I am still tempted not to do it.

Is there anyone out there who eats their calories back? What has your weightloss been like? Has it been steady and consistent??

Thanks :)

I found that when I did that, I maintained not lost

I didn't count calories during my weight loss, but I would probably say that no, I didn't eat back my calories when I was losing. I ate the same on the days I was exercising and the days I was resting, and I believe my calorie intake sat steady at between 1200 and 1500 cals a day whatever day it was. Some days I burned off 500 cals on my bike and I would not eat those back, as far as I'm aware. To be honest I actually couldn't eat those back with a well-restricted lapband, even if I wanted to.

I eat my exercise calories back now though because I don't want to lose weight anymore. So because I'm exercising for fitness, I try to make sure that after accounting for calories burnt, I still sit on about 1200 cals a day (Total cals - exercise cals), which, on an exercise day, means I eat about 1500 - 1700 cals for maintenance, which is doable on a loose lapband.

Also, remember, losing weight is essentially calories in < calories out. You have to burn off more calories than you're consuming. So to me, eating back your calories doesn't make sense.

I'm not 100% sure what eating back calories is.
I assume it's eating extra to compensate for calories burnt during exercise. No. Not deliberately. I always make sure that I don't exercise feeling hungry so that my body burns fuel not muscle. I always eat protein after weights so that my body has something to rebuild muscles with.
I don't eat extra just because I exercise - our bodies weren't made to be sedentary so they don't need extra fuel to exercise unless you are an elite athlete.

I'm not big on calorie counting - I work on a principle of 5 meals a day.

Thanks Threetimes, Sushee and Onyx :)

I tend to agree with you all. But then so much of what I read says the opposite...

When I log my food on Calorie King, it automatically deducts my exercise from the net total. So, today, for instance, I went for a three km walk. According to my heart rate monitor, I burned 316 cals. I logged it, as well as my breakfast of oats and blueberries and coffee. So, according to CK, I still have not registered a calorie toward my daily total...

I have to admit I don't like calorie counting too. It's so tedious. But what I did do when I was losing was pay attention to what sort of kj count was in the foods I was putting in my mouth. You will be surprised how much supposedly 'good' stuff isn't good for you. Lots of 'diet' products are often only marginally less kj than their non-diet products.

And I'd rather eat a 200g grilled steak and green salad and get 400 calories in that way than eat a meat pie and get the same amount of calories, fo instance. I know which one will keep me fuller for longer, but a lot of people think if you eat less and 'deprive' your body, you will lose. It doesn't work that way. It was paying attention to kjs that taught me that.

Once you get an idea of what good food is, it's easy to eat well, not feel hungry, and to not go into overkill with the kj. What I ate for breakie and lunch yesterday was equal in kj to what DP ate with one chocolate sundae, and he was hungry an hour later. It's not rocket science, and you shouldn't have to count cals forever once you get the knack of it.

As you know, I don't do it and Michelle Bridges (who's plan I'm following) tells us not to do it. It's not very productive to losing weight IMO. I survive on a 1200 cal diet with 500cals exercise per day and I've not once been ill, injured or felt so ridiculously out of energy that I've needed to eat more. May be different for different people though (and I will carb load to an extent before a long run - like before my 15km fun run last year, I had pasta for lunch the day before).

sorry n2l you posted as I was. All these sites will add your exercise cals burnt to your gross cals for the day. You would have set your goal weight and they will work out the amount of cals (gross cals) that you can eat in that day to acheive it at about 500g loss a week or so. They will work out the optimum calorie deficit from your BMR to lose at that rate, i.e. your BMR may be 2000 but they will put you on a daily intake of 1500, if that makes sense. So even if you eat back your calories and your net total for the day is 1500, you should still lose weight.

BUT having said that, I still didn't eat back my exercise calories.

I agree Sushee. I don't do diet, or 'low fat' processed food. I don't like artificial sweetener and don't eat it. Fat isn't my issue (I can easily stay within 30gms of healthy fat while 'on program') and I don't crave sweet. I crave 'flour' products - starches - bread, pancakes, pasta, biscuits.... Complex carbs :(

I log my food because it helps me stay on track mentally as much as anything. It keeps my mindset where it needs to be, As well as checking my nutrient levels.

n2l, as an asian woman, I can tell you that carbs are my weakness too. I think if I tried to do low carb, I would have failed. So I portion controlled my carbs instead. I still had carbs, but I ate less. And I savoured the taste of it when I did eat it. And I upped my protein to compensate.

There is no way I could have lived on 50g of carbs. I still can't. I still have noodles and rice and pasta often! Just not at every meal. :)

And, don't worry, I have tracked my food before. I dif it so I could learn about my eating habits, my hunger signals, and what works. Once I started to get familiar with what was good for me, and what wasn't, I didn't have to track anymore. So it's a good thing that you're doing it.