Hi everyone,

I have a question that's been confusing me for quite some time.

Some quick stats: I'm 47 years old, 5' 5'', 170 lbs., goal 130 lbs. I go to the gym 4 days a week and burn 500 to 600 calories per session on treadmill and elliptical trainer combined. This is week 4 for me.

I'm not counting calories yet and have not started recording what I eat daily - I wanted to start with exercise and introduce calorie counting once exercise became a good habit . In 4 weeks, I have not lost a single pound but my body is getting stronger, I have more energy, I feel better in my clothes and sleep like a baby.

The websites I've consulted say I need 1500-1600 calories per day for a healthy weight loss. But if I'm burning 500-600 per gym session, should I eat 2000 calories a day on exercise days? If I don't, does that mean my body is only getting 1000 calories a day? I don't get the math.

Is there anyone who could explain it to me?

Much appreciated!
Dixie

There are several programs that basically say that you should "eat back your exercise calories" which means you would eat 2000 calories per day when you workout.

I am a member of CK and I use Diet Power software and both of these programs follow that rule. The premises is that the original calorie target already has the calorie deficit built in to it so you don't want to create any further deficit through exercise and risk losing weight too fast or create a "starvation mode" scenario. Don't forget that food is fuel for your exercise.

Now keep in mind that the calorie target and the number of calories burned in exercise are estimates and based on averages so don't treat them like an exact science. To some extent you need to do some trial and error to find out exactly what works for you. I have seen some suggestions that you could easily assume a 200 calorie error - approx. 100 for calories eaten and 100 for calories burned. So in his case you would only eat 1800 calories.

The difference between CK and DP is that CK encourages you to eat those extra calories on the same day that you exercise while DP lets you bank calories and is more concerned with averages overtime. I have followed the DP approach with much success.

I believe you should do what feels best for yourself. At the start I did not eat back all my calories but as I get closer to goal and my exercise intensity has increased I have found that I need to eat more.

My stats are currently very close to you. I am 47, 5'6" and burn about 600 calories 4x or more per week (per my HRM). I just recently increased my calorie target (weekly average) to 1700.

Best wishes.

Amazing results Lorilove! Congratulations !!
Thanks for the information. It makes lots of sense.
I was thinking of taking about 2000 calories I burn per week and spread them out over 7 days, so that would be 1700-1800 per day.
I'll start with that and tweak it as I go along.

Great input.
Thanks again.

LOL - I just got finished posting I'm having a really hard time with this....I would suggest that you start counting calories - 1500-1600 is probably a pretty good place to start. Until you really know what you are taking in, it's hard to tell why you haven't lost on the scale.

The fact that you feel better is a great sign that you are on the right track. on your new exercise habit!! Have you got a heart rate monitor? The calorie counters on treadmills and ellipticals are notorious for counting more calories than actually burned. (It's marketing...)

Great info!
I have been struggling for a while to lose weight:
I would eat about 1500 calories a day, and work out. Then I would binge on the weekend (eating about 2500- 3000 calories a day), and then eat 1300 calroies the next day. OVer and over again.. i lost 2 pounds but i have little engergy. My body feels like crap, and it seems is holding on to the weight. I need to get serious about this, as im getting more and more miserable.
Im 5'7, 183 pounds size 13, ...the calculators tell me to eat 1600 calories a day based on my goal and activity level (with out exercise). So, TODAY, I ate 1900 calories, and will go to the gym.. more than likely i will burn 400-500 calories. I hope this works!

One thing to think about as far as eating back the calories you burn through exercise is how accurate your calories burned amount is. What method do you use to find out how many calories you burn through exercise? I use a heart rate monitor and I find that it varies greatly from the readouts on the machines at the gym. I personally err on the side caution and try not to eat back quite all the calories that I burned through exercise - especially because I want to use the exercise to create a bigger calorie deficit to lose weight a little faster. That said, I do think it is important to eat something more when you work out that much. I just don't think you necessarily have to eat back all the calories you burned.

Exercise is the only way that I can come up with a decent calorie deficit without going below 1200 cals a day. But I don't eat them all back if I'm trying to lose. The calorie estimates on the workout machines vary a LOT--and usually the wrong way.

When I'm actively trying to lose, I eat around 1350 cals a day and burn around 1900, including exercise calories (based on the machine readouts). This comes out about right. Of course, I don't lose a pound a week every week... That varies also.

Jay

I've just started working out at a gym on an almost daily basis and I haven't figured this one out yet. I know I've been starving lately. A couple of days ago I ate 2,000 calories which is something I haven't done since I started counting calories (not counting planned off days). I was aiming for 1,400-1,600 calories a day. On days I work out, I make sure I eat 1,600 calories and if it was a heavy work-out and I'm still hungry, I go ahead and eat. I try and cut off at about 1,800 calories. This might be slowing my weight loss down a bit, but I would guess it is preventing ugly binges.

I've also been under huge stress, midterms and interviewing for an internship, so I am having trouble how much of my hunger is excercise and how much is stress. I am going to keep playing and tracking until I feel comfortable with what I'm doing.

No answers, just how I am approaching the problem.

Thanks to everyone for their wonderful input.

I'm glad to report that I've been counting and writing everything down since Monday morning, I went to the gym Monday and Tuesday after work (60 minutes on elliptical).

I've kept my calories both days at just under 1800. I'm not hungry, have lots of room to make sure I'm getting enough of everything.

And this morning **drum roll please** 168.6!

I know that the past month of working out has helped me feel less bloated and I was starting to feel it in my clothes, but seeing that number to down really encourages me.

Have a great week everyone.