I am a member of CalorieKing.com and this is always a major discussion on that website. There are plenty of success stories on both sides of this issue. So I agree with Kaplods that you have to find out what works for you.
The premise behind eating back your calories is that you have more nutrional needs the more you exercise. This was even discussed on The Biggest Loser. So you should eat back your calories to avoid getting your body into Starvation Mode.
I think there is some validity here for those people that exercise a great deal (like TBL) but for the average workout (say 1/2 hour elliptical or walking) - I don't think this is intense enough to warrant it.
I personally don't eat back my exercise calories. I use DietPower to track my food and they give you additional calories for exercise which you can bank. So I also do not freak out on the occasional day when I go over and use those banked calories - to me it is all about averages over time.
One other item to keep in mind. Recording calories is not a perfect science no matter how careful you are in weighing and recording everthing you eat.
If you chose to eat back calories it is best to leave a 200 calories margin. 100 calories for underestimating the calories you know you ate and 100 calories for overestimating the calories that you burned in exercise.
lori
I set my intake high enough 1200 to 1400 calories. High enough that even if I walk all day long while we are shopping or at the zoo, I have enough calories taken in to cover it. If I go over those amounts or under I don't worry about it. They are very lose guidelines for me.
Last edited by Shy Moment; 12-14-2007 at 07:47 PM.
I think we have threads over in the Exercise forum that talk about how inaccurate the calorie displays on most exercise machines are. They OVERstate calories burned sometimes by 30%. Now, given that, it's not hard to see how someone could think they can "eat back" the calories they have supposedly burned and not be losing weight.
In my case, as someone who is older and mostly sedentary (outside of exercise), FitDay tells me that I can maintain my weight at 1600 calories a day. Chickies, that is not very much. If I want to lose 1 pound a week, I'd have to routinely eat fewer than 1200 calories--UNLESS I exercise and burn more. So, that's why I exercise! So that I can eat maybe 1300 cals if i burn 1800 cals... and still lose weight.
As for nutrition, I watch my balance of proteins/carbs/fats, and I take multivitamins and calcium.
Sometimes it does make sense to eat them back, as in Jay's case. The point is to create a calorie deficit and this can be done with a combination of calorie restriction and exercise.
For me, when I'm losing, I don't eat back the calories. Now that I'm maintaining, I do eat them back. One of the reasons I keep exercising is that I want to be able to maintain my weight with a higher number of daily calories. I will also throw in an extra or longer exercise session if I've been eating over my maintenance calories or anticipate eating over my calories. It's a balance one has to learn to strike for oneself. But, on the whole, my feeling is that those who are trying to lose should avoid eating back all their calories: the calories-burned estimates on the machines are very incorrect and the point is to create a deficit with which to shed pounds.
I think that it's important to remember that the scale will ultimately give us feedback as to whether any choice is a valid one or not. The debates and discussions here are interesting and informative, but trial and error is the final judge.
I don't think I would encourage anyone to "eat back" calories, under most circumstances, but I realize that is also my bias. I also would advise against anally precise calorie counting (because it doesn't work for me). However, many here swear by it. The only advice I think I can give that would apply to everyone, is don't be afraid of weight loss. It isn't magical, and won't disappear forever in a poof, if you make a mistake. If you want to try something new for a week or two or three, go ahead. Yes, it might be a mistake, so don't be afraid of a short window of less than perfect progress, either. Watch the scale carefully, but not obsessively, and see what happens. Trust yourself to use good judgement (and then do so).
I'm close to my goal, and find that my calories isn't always enough to cover occasions when I don't have a ton of choice about eating high cal foods. For example, if I have a business dinner, it's often really hard to find low cal things. On those days, I always try to put in extra exercise before and after so that when I inevitably eat more than my calories for the day, I at least KIND of make up for it.
However, when I analyze my cals at the end of the week and weigh in and try to reconcile the two, I look at both total cals eaten and net cals after exercise. I find that the true answer is somewhere in the middle.
I definitely like to factor in the exercise though because there are some days when I just can't get to the gym, and it doesn't make sense to eat the same on those days. On Daily Plate, I set my activity level to sedentary, so exercise isn't factored in already.
For those sites that encourage eating back of calories (ie CK) the one thing I don't agree with is the idea that the calories need to be eaten in the same day that your exercised.
I have had far too many days where I had the best of intentions of working out and something (usually work) got in the way and derailed that plan. If I was eating back calories I would have started off the day eating more and hit my limit by the end of the day leaving me hungry.
For 9 months now I have averaged around 1400 calories per day. As a result, I have a real good sense of what a 1400 calorie day looks and feels like. This has given me great skills in keeping to plan regardless of whether I am at home, eating out or traveling. If my calories were all over the board based on my workout schedule, I think it would be much harder to develop a good pattern.
