Eating back burned calories worked for anyone here?
I have decided to try something new, i track my calories on livestrong.com , I've heard many people swear by it to help them out of a plateau and continuous weight loss...I'm going to experiment and eat back burned calories. I realize a lot of you dont do this and are still successful but I'm stuck in a plateau and need to do some changes . Theoretically this sounds absurd to lose weight as you eat the calories back you worked so hard to burn but here goes...
No real words of wisdom except to say, nope. The only time I eat more due to exercise is when my body starts complaining. I can tell when I haven't fueled myself enough. My workout suffers and I get light headed. Otherwise, what I eat is one thing and what I burn is quite another. I do not trust those calculators at all.
Oh wow. I just read over your "Waiting for the whoosh" thread in the support forum. I just don't know what to tell you. 3 weeks of being Perfectly on Plan, with plenty of excercise and dedication AND to not see a single pound lost would have to be very depressing. I really do feel for you. If that would have happen to me, I don't know if I would have ever been able to stick to it. Great job on not throwing in the towel. You get a big gold star for sticking it out!
Just a crazy thought, but what if instead of eating back calories burned, you just take a week off of burning them? What I mean is, stick to your same calorie/carb level but totally stop all structured exercise just for a week. Give your body a little recovery time.
When I was losing, it seemed that weeks I worked my butt off were weeks I saw the least weight loss. Just a thought.
Lori may have some good advice there. How long have you been exercising without any substantial break? I broke through a plateau by taking a week and a half planned break from exercise. I came back faster, stronger and lighter!
Be forewarned though, lifting was easier after the break, which surprised me. I could lift heavier. But cardio took a week to get back to where I had been. But since then I've made great strides.
Oh, and some people like Lori are lucky!! We don't all lose so linearly. There are those of us who stall seemingly forever. I don't count it as a true stall until it's been at least a month and I generally don't whine unless it's been two. That's how often I stall!
Just wanted to say I have always eaten back my exercise calories. If I don't I get tired, weak, cranky, and begin to feel sick. The times I've tried not eating more calories on my exercise days always ended up with huge binges within a couple weeks because I am ravenous.
That said, I have never eaten as much as the online calculators give me. I always lowered the amount by at least 100 and hardly ever eat more than 200 extra calories due to exercise. Depending on the intensity and duration I may add 100 or so to that. I recently bought an HRM and I lower those calories as well because while it is a more accurate estimation, it is still just an estimation (also, if you do use an HRM remember to subtract the calories you would burn during that time anyway).
I never ate back my exercise calories totally, but I would consume more on heavy exercise days. Sometimes it was in protein powder and milk, rather than more actual foodstuffs.
I am one of those lucky people who cannot workout really heavy because I get muscle really easy, So this time I am doing only speed walking and counting my calories. I do not eat my burned calories. Now this is my first week of putting walking back into my plan, If I don't see a little loss then I will drop the exercise altogether.
Lol, Boop. I know, eating more to lose weight- such a weird concept when I first heard that as well. You do need to fuel your body if you're working out especially if it's long and hard. Every body is different because they all react differently to exercise, food, etc.
I don't count calories much anymore since I'm on WW but we do earn activity points (AP) from our workouts. I don't always eat ALL of the AP, sometimes not at all, depending on my hunger and body that day.
GL and hope you get to break your plateau somehow!
Elian- How will not working out help me lose weight?
This whole concept is interesting, eating more to lose weight and not exercising to lose weight
why can't all this be easy LOL
LOL! Well, really it depends on how long and how hard you've been working out. That's why I asked. I went a full year with no break, so my break was much deserved! I have learned that a fair goal to aim for is to work intensely for a period of time, like 12 weeks, and then take a break. It keeps things fresh. It changes what the body has become used to, gives you a definable program, allows for some re-coop time and you can back invigorated. I see it as win-win if done right.
The weight loss happens because of the shake up in routine. Our bodies like routines a lot and sometimes hold on to weight to keep things the same.
Thanks Amandie- when you put it that way... it does make sense for a long work out. I am going to try this see if it works. At this point I can only experiment to see what may get me out of this stall
Ok if you estimate daily calorie needs based on low activity/ regular day - then yes, I would eat them back but what I do is take the number given on the cardio machine and subtract 30% to get the "safe" amount I can eat back as most cardio machines way overestimate calories burned.
If when calculating daily calorie requirements, you entered "active exercise 2-3 times a week" - then "no" as the calculator already included extra calories that you might need for exercise.
For example by basic calorie requirements to loose wight is 1,350 a day on a slow day but if into the calculator I enter that I exercise three times a week, it would tell me to eat 1,600 cal so if on top of that I eat back what I burned - then I am doubling up , makes sense?
Some say create 500 cal deficit by cutting back 250 cal and burning/workout out 250 cal so in this case, eating calories back does not make sense.
Eating back burned calories worked for anyone here?
We don't all lose so linearly. There are those of us who stall seemingly forever. I don't count it as a true stall until it's been at least a month and I generally don't whine unless it's been two. 
