Eating exercise calories and lots of running

paintedbison

I'm new here. About two years ago I made an effort to lose weight and lost about 35lbs. I have successfully kept it off. I did a bit of calorie counting and then just guesstimated portion sizes once I got a better idea of what I needed to be eating. I started running to give myself a few extra calories and turned into quite the running addict. I ran my first marathon last November.

I would like to lose another 10 maybe 15 pounds. Although I am much happier with how I look, I think my running would be better if I could slim down a bit more.

I have read some posts on here saying you should only eat back about half your exercise calories. The calorie counter for exercise on MFP seems high to me. I have been putting my weight/height/run info into mapmyrun and entering the calories counted back into MFP. I ran 5 miles this morning and mapmyrun gave me 774 calories burned. Should I eat back all of those? Half of those?

Also, some Saturdays I'm running 15 miles plus. I did 18 this last Saturday which gave me over 2000 extra calories. I sometimes feel nauseous after running that much, but I was STARVING the day after. Should I roll some of those calories to the next day? Have a huge deficit on long run days?

Thanks for any advice!

janejellyroll

Have you been eating back your calories so far?

paintedbison

Yes, at least most of them. A couple days I had about 200 left over, and then on Saturday I had about 1800 left.

3dogsrunning

I always went with the average of about 100 calories per mile (which is an average for 150lb person).
Now I go by my Garmin with HRM which is fairly close to that. MFP was also similar.
I eat most back.

There is no issue with rolling them over to the day after. You could even try eating some extra day before to help fuel the the run and spread the calories out.
Other find switching to TDEE which spreads the calories over the week helpful.

stealthq

Can't tell if that calorie burn is high without knowing your weight and what kind of terrain you were running. On the flat, the normal burn per mile for a 150 lb person is 100 cals. Keep in mind, that doesn't take into consideration the calories you would have burned in that time just by existing. To be really accurate, you'd need to subtract those out.

As far as eating exercise calories, you're following MFP, right? With the deficit already built in? Then you probably should be eating the calories back. At least most of them. You can spread that one or several days if you want. Won't matter as far as weight loss, just how you feel (hungry days or not) and that's an individual thing.

BTW - you may find like I did that the leaner you get, the more being a couple of hundred calories low for the day has a negative effect on your daily energy levels and your running performance when you're endurance training. Be prepared to need to reduce your deficit either by eating more or running less as you get close to your goal weight.

TavistockToad

if you're using MFP method to get your calorie count then yes, you should eat them back.

i couldnt not eat my running calories back, running makes me huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuungry!

paintedbison

I am following MFP. Hmmm. I think the mapmyrun calorie count is high too. Although not as high as as MFP, Bummer!

TavistockToad

paintedbison wrote: »

I am following MFP. Hmmm. I think the mapmyrun calorie count is high too. Although not as high as as MFP, Bummer!

i have found MFP cals to be pretty spot on for me - i eat them all back and am not gaining.

janejellyroll

I run (not at the distances at you do, probably around 4 miles a day) and I eat the majority of my exercise calories back. This has not impacted my weight loss so far. If I began to stall, that would probably be one of the first things I would look at. If you have had success so far eating them back, I would continue doing that. If you aren't losing weight, try scaling back the portion of calories you are eating back.

r5d5

Here's a running calculator I use to gauge my calorie burn:
http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/calories-burned-calculator
Of course, I'm sure there's some margin of error to it, but I think it's overall decent.
I don't run as much as you, just 3 to 5 miles, but if I burn say 300 calories running 3.3 miles, I only eat half. Now, since you're trying to fuel longer runs, I would say you can probably eat back 75% at least of the calories you burn running.
I'd keep track of your weight measurements over the course of a month; if you have continued loss, you're still in a calorie deficit. If you remain the same, you're probably eating as much as you burn, thus in maintenance. If you're gaining, well then, you're eating more than you burn. You might have tailor the eating back of calories specifically to what works for your body.
Overall, you want to be sure you're properly fueling your workouts and not putting yourself at too much of a deficit and fatiguing your body.
As others said, you can "roll over" your calories into the next day, some people even say they roll them over through a couple of days, and focus more on having a weekly, rather than daily, deficit.
But certainly, you should be eating SOME back!

Best of luck to you.

4legsRbetterthan2

Check out the TDEE method so you can average your calories throughout the week, when you do distance running the large swings in intake can just be too much to handle.

ETA: When I was training for a half I ate a little extra the day before my long run and the day after. Gave a little extra energy for the run itself and helped spread the huge dose of extra calories out some.

TimothyFish

Calorie burn estimators are guaranteed to be off one way or the other. To get a more accurate number, start at the estimate and track your weight loss/weight gain. If you gain weight, then you need to eat less. If you lose weight more quickly than you want, then you need to eat more.

paintedbison

Okay... I did figure out I was calculating running wrong on MFP. I was putting that I was running a 5.5 minute mile when I was wanting a 5.5 treadmill speed. I'm an idiot, apparently. I fixed it and it seems to be giving me much more realistic calories burned. Thanks for the advice for how to handle long runs!

SergeantSausage

I usually do a "refeed" the day of and the day after a long run (anything over 15k (9-ish miles) up to Full Monte Marathon (26.2), where the refeed can be up to 4 or 5 days).

It has nothing to do at all with exercise calories for me - I don't pick a number and eat, say 50% of the exercise calories. I just eat until that drained feeling goes away. Some days that's 400 extra calories. Some days it's 1000 extra (or more). Occasionally it's a 3000 calorie gorge-fest.

No guilt - eat what you know you need to keep fueled for the long runs.

It's pointless if you're Bonked before even starting the run, right?

bostonultd1

I read a few times on another website that you shouldn't eat back the calories you burn during exercise and stick to your original calorie goal. For endurance exercise, such as running, you'll probably benefit by fueling your body with some carbs while running. Easy sources would be gummy bears, pixie sticks or a post carb drink with dextrose. It's definitely recommend for those 15 mile days you do, you should even start sipping on a post carb drink about halfway through those 15 miles to maintain energy and carb levels. While exercising your body is using the carbs stored in you muscles (glycogen) to give you energy. 30 minute high intensity workouts usually deplete roughly 30-40% of your carb storage. If I remember right, 60-90 minute workouts will deplete roughly 60%+. You want to restore those levels asap so your body burns fat instead of muscle. Higher muscle % equals higher metabolic rate. Stick to your goals, feed your muscles and don't eat back what you burned.

TavistockToad

bostonultd1 wrote: »

I read a few times on another website that you shouldn't eat back the calories you burn during exercise and stick to your original calorie goal.

MFP Is set up so you SHOULD eat back exercise cals

cwolfman13

SergeantSausage wrote: »

I usually do a "refeed" the day of and the day after a long run (anything over 15k (9-ish miles) up to Full Monte Marathon (26.2), where the refeed can be up to 4 or 5 days).

It has nothing to do at all with exercise calories for me - I don't pick a number and eat, say 50% of the exercise calories. I just eat until that drained feeling goes away. Some days that's 400 extra calories. Some days it's 1000 extra (or more). Occasionally it's a 3000 calorie gorge-fest.

No guilt - eat what you know you need to keep fueled for the long runs.

It's pointless if you're Bonked before even starting the run, right?

I don't run really (nothing beyond 5K)...but I ride a lot and pretty much follow the above philosophy after a long ride.

Rlavigne93

I try to stick with eating back half of my exercise calories to be safe. Some days I don't eat any of them back, though, because I just don't get hungry. As long as you feel well and not sick or hungry or anything, there shouldn't be any harm in not eating them back to boost weight loss.

3dogsrunning

TavistockToad wrote: »

bostonultd1 wrote: »

I read a few times on another website that you shouldn't eat back the calories you burn during exercise and stick to your original calorie goal.

MFP Is set up so you SHOULD eat back exercise cals

This.

And to add, other websites may be talking about the TDEE method. You wouldn't "eat back" your exercise calories with TDEE because they are already accounted for.

It's one thing to not eat exercise calories back when you are doing light to moderate exercise a couple of days a week. 15-18 mile runs are a whole different thing. Some carbs along the way just aren't going to be enough if you are on a deficit.

esjones12

3dogsrunning wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

bostonultd1 wrote: »

I read a few times on another website that you shouldn't eat back the calories you burn during exercise and stick to your original calorie goal.

MFP Is set up so you SHOULD eat back exercise cals

This.

And to add, other websites may be talking about the TDEE method. You wouldn't "eat back" your exercise calories with TDEE because they are already accounted for.

It's one thing to not eat exercise calories back when you are doing light to moderate exercise a couple of days a week. 15-18 mile runs are a whole different thing. Some carbs along the way just aren't going to be enough if you are on a deficit.

This x10. Your deficit is already calculated in. You should be eating most of your calories back in order to fuel your performance and training efforts. Trying to find the right balance or which calorie burn to follow is a bit of trail and error. General rule of thumb is if you are losing at the desired (and healthy/safe) rate and don't feel tired/hungry/worn down all the time then what you are doing is working.

sjbuescher

With running, if you're not wearing a HRM to get your calorie burn, then I would take the burn you get from your running app and then either eat all of that back or take that -20-30%, at least for your standard mileage runs. But, if you're upping your mileage then you need to fuel your body to both cover the distance and to feed it for recovery. For my long runs (for me are about 8+ miles) I eat back everything I burned and if I'm still hungry I'll try to snack on healthy snacks. Sometimes I don't feel starved the day of and just eat according to my appetite, and then use many of my burned calories for the next day. A lot of it depends on what time I run.

lemurcat12

paintedbison wrote: »

Okay... I did figure out I was calculating running wrong on MFP. I was putting that I was running a 5.5 minute mile when I was wanting a 5.5 treadmill speed. I'm an idiot, apparently. I fixed it and it seems to be giving me much more realistic calories burned. Thanks for the advice for how to handle long runs!

That resolves the only thing that I was wondering about, since the count did seem high.

When I used to use MFP method and was training for a half marathon, I'd eat back most of my exercise calories from running. Specifically, almost all from shorter runs (6 miles or less) and somewhat fewer from longer runs, both because I'd not be able to and because I think those are more likely to be overstated, as you would burn calories during the 2 hour period of the run anyway. But I'd also feel comfortable to go over on occasion given I had some extra room from the uneaten calories (and this is why I ended up switching to TDEE, but that's a separate issue).

During that period of time I lost really well, always what MFP was predicting or more.

paintedbison

bostonultd1 wrote: »

I read a few times on another website that you shouldn't eat back the calories you burn during exercise and stick to your original calorie goal. For endurance exercise, such as running, you'll probably benefit by fueling your body with some carbs while running. Easy sources would be gummy bears, pixie sticks or a post carb drink with dextrose. It's definitely recommend for those 15 mile days you do, you should even start sipping on a post carb drink about halfway through those 15 miles to maintain energy and carb levels. While exercising your body is using the carbs stored in you muscles (glycogen) to give you energy. 30 minute high intensity workouts usually deplete roughly 30-40% of your carb storage. If I remember right, 60-90 minute workouts will deplete roughly 60%+. You want to restore those levels asap so your body burns fat instead of muscle. Higher muscle % equals higher metabolic rate. Stick to your goals, feed your muscles and don't eat back what you burned.

I do use Gu and Gatorade and sometimes pretzels on runs over about 13 miles. Sometimes I'll drink Gatorade on runs over 9 miles if I feel like I need something. So, I am taking in some calories on really long runs. For my last 18 miler, I did two Gus and a Gatorade, which was probably about 350 calories. But, I'm guessing I burned around 2000 during the run.

paintedbison

I do have to be careful about taking in too much sugar on a run or I start to feel pukey.