Vets-Do you eat "back" the calories you burn through exercise?

[Kalimomof3 613]

I want to lift weights/weight train but the gym here is ... a deployment gym' date=' hyper macho testosterone etc. and, have you ever heard the exp<b></b>ression "undressed her with his eyes"? Yeah, I always thought that was just a figure of speech ... it gets really uncomfortable, and when you stop and thing about the positions we have to be in to do a lot of the exercises ...[/quote']

Where are you at? I like that kind of gym so much eye candy lol

[Globetrotter 1,340]

Afghanistan, I'm deployed as a civilian (NOT a contractor) with the Dept of Defense and GURL - let me tell you - that eye candy exists, but not as much as you might think! = All these young soldiers should be really fit, with sculpted shoulders, rock hard biceps, flat stomachs, but even though there are a couple like that that I see at the gym, it's not common. Plus I am really there to work out and I just want to do so in peace and work on myself - I don't have time for the drama that accompanies a "locationship" aka, deployment relationship. Now, having said that, when I see one of them doing pull ups, their bicep and back muscles quivering with the strain ... pass my a fan, I've got the vapors!

[M2G 1,836]

Sorry GT, that sucks. My husband and I both go to exercise class roughly 3x a week and it's ALWAYS full of women with about 2-3 men total. lol. Now if you go downstairs to the "weights" area it's like 100% men.

I had a really bad eating day this week (about 1,700 calories) but thankfully I did burn an extra 350 cals on the treadmill at home. Ugh! I just never intentionally eat back my cals. I'm always trying to keep them low.

[clk 3,519]

I want to lift weights/weight train but the gym here is ... a deployment gym, hyper macho testosterone etc. and, have you ever heard the exp<b></b>ression "undressed her with his eyes"? Yeah, I always thought that was just a figure of speech ... it gets really uncomfortable, and when you stop and thing about the positions we have to be in to do a lot of the exercises ...

Ugh. I HATED walking around Manas to run errands or mail a box out or anything. If I wanted American food and went to the DFAC it was so painfully awkward. It's about 98% men out there and when entire tables swivel their heads to track you walking by - even when I had my kids in tow! - and I'd have to just keep my eyes ahead and pretend dozens of sex-starved men aren't eyeballing me like I'm dinner. It's just so unnerving. I can't imagine trying to get a decent workout in with the same thing happening!

I really feel for the women deployed with a lot of those groups because especially in the combat arms you'll see men that haven't worked with more than a handful of women for an entire deployment.

~Cheri

[Stef 264]

Every day MFP changes the calorie count I'm "supposed" to be eating because I exercise, but like you, it seems counter-productive to me

Yup. I ignore that too. I don't change my target numbers just because I went to the gym. Like Fiddleman, I might have a shake after I get back from the gym, but not if it knocks me over my target for the day.

[Sassafras 136]

I found this in an article called "8 Reasons Why You're Not Losing Weight" on sparkpeople. I remembered this question and thought I'd post it here.

#1 You're eating back all the calories you burn.

When you work out, you're burning extra calories. That's why exercise is so important in the weight-loss equation. But a lot of people overestimate how much they burn—and even use the "I exercised today" excuse to later overeat, overdrink (think alcohol) or overindulge. How many times have you faced a food temptation and thought, "Well, I worked out today, so it's OK this time." Or even, "I'll have this now, but work out extra hard tomorrow to burn it off." If that sounds all-too-familiar, this is one major reason why you're not losing weight. For the exercise to help you lose, you can't re-eat all those extra calories you burned. And in most cases, we overestimate how many calories we actually burned and underestimate how many calories we're actually eating, which means using that 3-mile walk (240 calories burned) to justify that restaurant meal (1,000+ calories, anyone?) leaves you in a worse position than if you may realize: at a calorie surplus. The Takeaway: Exercise can help you lose when you're really using it to burn extra calories, not as a reason to eat more.

[Kalimomof3 613]

Afghanistan' date=' I'm deployed as a civilian (NOT a contractor) with the Dept of Defense and GURL - let me tell you - that eye candy exists, but not as much as you might think! = All these young soldiers should be really fit, with sculpted shoulders, rock hard biceps, flat stomachs, but even though there are a couple like that that I see at the gym, it's not common. Plus I am really there to work out and I just want to do so in peace and work on myself - I don't have time for the drama that accompanies a "locationship" aka, deployment relationship. Now, having said that, when I see one of them doing pull ups, their bicep and back muscles quivering with the strain ... pass my a fan, I've got the vapors![/quote']

I know all about locationships lol. My husband has been AD Military for 18yrs and the stories he tells about these guys is crazy. He was deployed at Leatherneck last year and would tell me about the single guys(his lift partner) trying to hook up at the gym or at chow or basically anywhere he could lol.My husband is one of those people who is like I am here to work out so quit getting distracted lol.

[Kalimomof3 613]

I found this in an article called "8 Reasons Why You're Not Losing Weight" on sparkpeople. I remembered this question and thought I'd post it here.

#1 You're eating back all the calories you burn.

When you work out' date=' you're burning extra calories. That's why exercise is so important in the weight-loss equation. But a lot of people overestimate how much they burn—and even use the "I exercised today" excuse to later overeat, overdrink (think alcohol) or overindulge. How many times have you faced a food temptation and thought, "Well, I worked out today, so it's OK this time." Or even, "I'll have this now, but work out extra hard tomorrow to burn it off." If that sounds all-too-familiar, this is one major reason why you're not losing weight. For the exercise to help you lose, you can't re-eat all those extra calories you burned. And in most cases, we overestimate how many calories we actually burned and underestimate how many calories we're actually eating, which means using that 3-mile walk (240 calories burned) to justify that restaurant meal (1,000+ calories, anyone?) leaves you in a worse position than if you may realize: at a calorie surplus. The Takeaway: Exercise can help you lose when you're really using it to burn extra calories, not as a reason to eat more.[/quote']

Yes I agree that is why I will eat back some if I am really hungry but I never use all or even half and if I know I am going to treat myself later I work out extra hard Before and not After lol. My neighbor is one of those people she started exercising walking around our neighborhood that makes a 1/2 mile loop and she did 2 laps.After that she texted me from La Madeline asking if I wanted anything bc she was treating herself to a bagel bc she worked out and I said no thanks but I really wanted to say something about the calories in a bagel vs. those burned in a 1 mile walk but couldn't think of a nice way to say it :/

[feedyoureye 3,087]

I would never recommend anyone use exercise as an excuse to lose accountability for their calories in-calories out ratio. As part of total accountability, eating exercise calories back can be part of keeping on top of this ratio. That is all I am saying. I don't want to deprive myself of nutrition or calories unnecessarily. I am cutting this deficit really close right now... I am close to maintenance... with some regain pounds to whittle off... so I am eating/exercising with a small deficit and have managed to edge down five pounds so far over a few months...after a year of gaining and not losing...while eating less.. this all with eating back most of my exercise calories. On days I don't get out and work it, I have to eat less. I also eat bread (a little), sweets (chocolate almost every day...a tiny amount)a drink now and then (maybe once a week or less. I also do not drink with meals,I weigh and/or measure my food, weigh myself every day, use a fitbit to log ALL exercise, list weights twice a week, walk at least twice a week and dance twice a week + gardening or whatever. Its the whole picture for me. I am not a person who wants to write everything down normally... but I HAVE to to make this work from my experience. When you don't eat your exercise calories, are you still logging them into your myfitnesspal or whatever? Are you accountable for that energy expended? Do you know how much energy expenditure you have? Just curious... I used to not count my expenditure, or eat back calories... but was out of touch with my expenditure at that time.