Do you eat your exercise calories?

half_moon

I start eating back my exercise calories slowly when I reach closer to goal weight. That way, when I am at goal, I am eating what to me seems like a lot of food, and it becomes a lifestyle and no longer a diet. But I like to give myself a jumpstart so at the beginning, I don't eat them back. Everyone is different though! I say if you are hungry, eat. Ignore the calories. Just ensure you are eating healthy and clean food. You should be fine.

MercuryBlue

I eat about half, but that's largely because I cannot eat more than that. My target is 1650 per day and I'm eating at 40/40/20, so the protein is super filling. Half my exercise calories brings me to about 1900 (or more) per day, and when you're eating mostly nutritious foods, those calories stretch pretty far.

When I was doing all cardio and targeting 1200 calories per day, I ate every exercise calorie because I was constantly STARVING.

ElJefeChief

Usually I eat back all of them. Today was different for some reason. Ran a 10K, had a small lunch, then a big salad and a BLT wrap for dinner (packed with lettuce and tomato) and I was still left with 800 calories for the day. Just didn't have the interest. If I was hungry, I would have went for it.