Anyone eating back calories and still losing weight?

[318Robin]

Hi all, I am curious if anyone out there is eating back all their calories and still losing weight?  

Yesterday I was super active and according to the data sent by my Alta HR, my dashboard said I was supposed to eat 2400 calories (I'm set at 1350 with Sedentary).  It seems like SO MUCH FOOD! I'm all for lots of eating but I don't want to chow down and pay for it later.

Thanks for your input!

[Esya · Accepted solution]

I do, but I am maintaining and at times I still lose weight when hitting the green zone for my plan. But when your goal is to lose weight you can chose not to eat everything back. It will help your weight loss journey go a bit faster than the plan. Just don't eat too little (below your sedentary level) which I think you are not doing and you will be fine.

[318Robin]

Nice to hear because once I go into maintenance, I’m going to eat the daylights out of those exercise calories! LOL.

[A_Lurker]

With HR enabled trackers I'd suggest not eating back all of your exercise calories.  When I tracked weight loss with very food logging I found that it was off by about 10%.  I had crazy high burns (like up to 4000 a day) so I just kept a 1000 calorie deficit but stopped eating at 2500.  So if I was at 3300 I at 2300 for the day, but if I went up to 4000 I ate 2500.  There were times I was well over 4000 that I ate 2750 calories.  I lost a consistent amount of weight that way.

[Esya]

@318Robin

Because I keep losing while hitting the greens at times (not every time either), does not mean that might happen for you too. It seems my tracker is pretty correct about how much I burn, but they can be off by a bit and in general the HR enabled trackers overestimate the calories burned where the other trackers tend to underestimate them. If you log your food and your calories you can then compare the calories difference versus your weight change and it gives you a feel about how correct it is.

[318Robin]

All good points. I’m going to average everything out in a couple of weeks and see.

[emili]

@318Robin yep- weight loss is test and see - test again. We all react differently. I am in maintenance too and have been for years. If I eat to the green every day, I will gain weight. I have to be under at least 3 or 4 days in order to stay where I am comfortable.

[Dominique]

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@Esya wrote:

in general the HR enabled trackers overestimate the calories burned where the other trackers tend to underestimate them.

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In addition to which even HR-enabled trackers don’t necessarily estimate the same amount of calories, as you can see from the 11-day comparison I posted for Surge vs. Charge 2 vs. Alta HR.

[318Robin]

On a side note, can you tell me if the Charge 2 is taller than the Alta HR? Meaning how far does it stand up off your wrist?

[Dominique]

Thickness is the same. However, the actual unit (the rigid part the band attaches to) is slighlty longer on the Alta HR, which means the Alta HR may not be as snug a fit if you have small wrists.

[318Robin]

I have really small wrists and the Alta HR feels kind of gigantic and cumbersome.

[glitterNfunk]

I have a calorie deficit of 750 - 1000 calories.  My activity is pretty steady but even on days when I'm more active than others, I still stick to my calorie deficit.  I've lost 73 pounds in 15 months. 

If you're only super active once in awhile, it won't be a deal breaker no matter what you decide.  I find a few extra calories once in awhile keeps me from feeling deprived and keeps my body from getting stuck in a plateau creating rut......but that me......everyone finds success a little differently.

[PianoKitty]

I'm confused with the calorie calculator. I'm always deficit in terms of calories but I just feel lie it's letting me eat alot. It's saying for my weight and height (260, 5'4) I can eat 2500 calories a day. It also says that I burn about 3000 a day but I probably eat about 1800 to 2000 a day. I just think 2500 is really high. Are these numbers accurate?

[A_Lurker]

@PianoKitty- what type of deficit do you have set?  The HR-enabled tracker can be a little high for some people but 3000 calories burned a day isn't unrealistic.  I weigh slightly less than you at the moment and having only a medium active week I've an average calories burned of over 3000.  If you're aiming for a pound a week I'd increase the deficit to 750 calories a day.  Do that for a couple of weeks (at least 4) and see how it goes.  Adjust at that point based on results.

I've come down more than 100 pounds from last year and I've managed to do this eating well over 2000 calories a day (actually when burning 3500-4500 calories I ate between 2500-2750)

[PianoKitty]

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense. 

[A_Lurker]

It's just about learning what works for each person.  I would also encourage you to join one of the weight loss threads (the Memorial Day challenge will be replaced by something soon, or the weekly weigh in).  Just the accountability of posting each week can help with motivation.

[ReeceJ]

I was talking to my chiropractor about fitbit, running and corie counting. He said to me that in order to gain weight, a person needs to take in 3500 calories above what they spend, so if you spent 2000 in a day you would need to eat 5500 calories. He said that 3500 calories equates to a 1lbs increase.

[ReeceJ]

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@Esya wrote:

@318Robin

Because I keep losing while hitting the greens at times (not every time either), does not mean that might happen for you too. It seems my tracker is pretty correct about how much I burn, but they can be off by a bit and in general the HR enabled trackers overestimate the calories burned where the other trackers tend to underestimate them. If you log your food and your calories you can then compare the calories difference versus your weight change and it gives you a feel about how correct it is.

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It also depends on the type of activities you are doing to burn calories, at least that is what I think.

[Esya]

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@ReeceJ wrote:

I was talking to my chiropractor about fitbit, running and corie counting. He said to me that in order to gain weight, a person needs to take in 3500 calories above what they spend, so if you spent 2000 in a day you would need to eat 5500 calories. He said that 3500 calories equates to a 1lbs increase.

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Either he meant it differently or you need to look for a new chiropractor. You will gain weight by eating more calories than you burn, even when it is less than 3500 calories. Ofcourse the gain will be more slow when you overeat at a smaller rate. My weight increases way faster than 1 lbs per 3500 calories of overeating though.

[ReeceJ]

He was probably speaking in general terms, he said that most of weightgain is not permanent because and I forget the number he used; but a large portion of it is water weight. At least that is what I remember him telling me, he was said that becUse in one day I went from 152lbs to 160lbs.