Should i eat back my exercise calories?

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tenzinlodoe40
tenzinlodoe40 Posts: 15 Member
edited January 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
So today I walked about 4.75 miles and shovled snow for about 125 min. And I was wondering if I should eat back the calories I burned because am feeling sore and fatigue. I usually ate about 1500 calories a day. My Maintence is 2200 calories.

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  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
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    tenzinlodoe40 wrote: »
    So today I walked about 4.75 miles and shovled snow for about 125 min. And I was wondering if I should eat back the calories I burned because am feeling sore and fatigue. I usually ate about 1500 calories a day. My Maintence is 2200 calories.

    If you can get an accurate estimation of the number of calories your activities burned, yes.

    Even while losing weight, it's important to fuel your body appropriately.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
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    If you're using MFP's calculations then yes, especially if you already have a large deficit. Just be conservative with the estimate of calories burned.
  • tomteboda
    tomteboda Posts: 2,171 Member
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    I find it helpful to eat back about 50% of my exercise calories, sometimes a little less, very occasionally a little more. I let my hunger help guide me. This helps me avoid getting so hungry that I obsess about food later.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    1800 fine.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Depends on what your goal is. If maintenance is 2200, does it include exercise? Either way, in my opinion, if you're very hungry, there's nothing wrong with having a smaller deficit.
  • sunnyazgirl
    sunnyazgirl Posts: 271 Member
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    I have had several long stalls in my weight loss journey of 125 pounds as of now. After losing 90 pounds I looked on these boads for help with my first big plateau of 8 weeks and I was challanged to start weighing all of my food in grams. Did that and I stepped off the plateau and started losing again.

    15 pounds later, I started thinking that if my weight loss is good, why don't I make it better and not eat all of my calories? I have MFP set at "Lose 1 pound a week" (I still have 35 pounds to go) and Sedetary. I wear a FitBit and I let the FitBit give me extra calories based on my activity. My base calories for my age, gender and height are 1200, according to MFP. So, I started eating only 1,000 - 1,100 calories a day and still walked my 10,000+ steps a day. My steps usually give me about 300 additional calories over my my 1200 base. Well, I stalled once again! After about two months of losing and gaining the same 2-3 pounds on 1,000 - 1,100 calories a day I started to eat not only my full base calories of 1,200, but half of my exrcise calories as suggested on these boards. And now I have stated to lose once again! I don't understand it. But, I know that eating that little bit more is working for not only my weight loss, but my general disposition, too.

    Sometimes we all have to find what works best for us with trial and error. Be patient with the process. Good luck on your journey!

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