Calorie goal on running days

roberthaddan

I've been wondering something for awhile and my research isn't turning up the answer, so I wanted to get the community's thought: Let's say my daily calorie goal is 1,700 calories. My typical run burns about 900 calories according to my Garmin. Should I try to replace those 900 calories in my daily intake (i.e. 2,600 calories that day) or stay toward the goal of 1,700?

From what I've read, I'd lean toward trying to replace the calories so my body doesn't go into mini-starvation mode, but I'm not sure. I try to run three times a week with strength training on twice a week.

67mirunner

Oh, definitely DEFINITELY put those calories in. Even better, put the time and pace you run into MFP and let it tell you the calories that you burned (Garmin isn't always as accurate).

I will tell you, from personal experience, that if you don't replace your calories from running AND operate at a deficit, your running will suffer.

SingingSingleTracker

roberthaddan wrote: »

I've been wondering something for awhile and my research isn't turning up the answer, so I wanted to get the community's thought: Let's say my daily calorie goal is 1,700 calories. My typical run burns about 900 calories according to my Garmin. Should I try to replace those 900 calories in my daily intake (i.e. 2,600 calories that day) or stay toward the goal of 1,700?

From what I've read, I'd lean toward trying to replace the calories so my body doesn't go into mini-starvation mode, but I'm not sure. I try to run three times a week with strength training on twice a week.

I wouldn't replace all of them. Why? We tend to underestimate how many calories we actually eat, and overestimate how many calories we burn via exercise.

A good safe place to start is to eat back only 1/2 of the calories you burn in exercise. If that leads to losing weight and you don't want to, then adjust to eat more than 1/2. If it leads to gaining weight, then eat back fewer.

queenliz99

SingingSingleTracker wrote: »

roberthaddan wrote: »

I've been wondering something for awhile and my research isn't turning up the answer, so I wanted to get the community's thought: Let's say my daily calorie goal is 1,700 calories. My typical run burns about 900 calories according to my Garmin. Should I try to replace those 900 calories in my daily intake (i.e. 2,600 calories that day) or stay toward the goal of 1,700?

From what I've read, I'd lean toward trying to replace the calories so my body doesn't go into mini-starvation mode, but I'm not sure. I try to run three times a week with strength training on twice a week.

I wouldn't replace all of them. Why? We tend to underestimate how many calories we actually eat, and overestimate how many calories we burn via exercise.

A good safe place to start is to eat back only 1/2 of the calories you burn in exercise. If that leads to losing weight and you don't want to, then adjust to eat more than 1/2. If it leads to gaining weight, then eat back fewer.

Yep. Or you could eat the extra 900 calories and see if your weight shifts or not, then lower by 200 or so calories.

lyttlewon

I use TDEE so I don't usually change my daily calories. I only will if I'm feeling really hungry or if I'm running higher miles than normal. I increased after long runs towards the end of my half marathon training, but not much.

allieallieoxenfree

It depends on where your daily calorie goal is coming from. Are you using it straight from MFP? If so, that's your BMR, or basal metabolic rate--the number of calories you burn without doing anything other than living your regular life. If that's the case, then you should definitely eat back some or all of your exercise calories, depending on your goal.

If you're using TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), those calculators typically ask you to put in the number of times you exercise per week. They'll spit out a single number of calories for you to consume every day. If that's the case, you don't want to eat back your exercise calories, since they're already accounted for.

I personally do TDEE. When I do long runs, I will eat at my calorie goal but also add in a Gu packet every 45 minutes or so of running. I often find that I am extra-hungry the following day, so I will sometimes eat an extra 1-200 calories the following day too.

roberthaddan

Good feedback everyone! I'm using MFP's recommended daily intake as my daily baseline. TDEE might not be the best bet for me right now since I'm not sticking to a particular schedule (running for fitness, not training for anything at the moment). I think I'll try eating back half of the calories as recommended above and see what that does.

SonicDeathMonkey80

The calories provided by your Garmin are a little high. I am 5'10" and use a Vivofit, and my "baseline" calories are 1800ish (I set a little under because Vivofit counts a lot of false steps). Most of my days I run 6-10 miles, and I eat around 2500-3000 calories. Sometimes I'm just not hungry, who knows. The whole "mini starvation mode" and starvation mode altogether is not going to be an issue with you or 99% of the people on this site.

roberthaddan

Could be, but the Garmin (I assume...?) takes into consideration my walking AND running pace (I do 12:30 run/3:00 walk intervals) in calculating calories where the MFP calculation always calculates a lot higher than the Garmin. I'm mostly trying to get a general idea of calories in/out. And, I should have put "mini starvation mode" in quotes

What I really wanted to know is if I didn't replace the calories and operated at a 900 calorie deficit three times a week, would it impact my weight stability? I'm at the point where I'm more interested in managing my weight than losing lbs.

SuggaD

Eat a high percentage of those calories back. It took me a long time to realize it. I've been doing so much better since eating back most my of exercise calories. I wouldn't suggest 100%, but 75% or so (to factor in overestimate of most programs) is good.