Hi all hoping you can maybe settle and internal debate I've been having of late.
Is there anything wrong or of concern to get into the mindset that it's okay to excercise to enable you to eat more? Something does not sit well in my mind and I worry that as I continue in weight maintenance, my exercising has shifted more from the health aspect to the "I wanna have a beer and pizza so I'd better run 10 miles"
Unfortunately my desire to eat more has increased in maintenance so I'm therefore running much more. (Have got quite good at it infact) and I enjoy the increased flexibility that running affords me.
Views, opinions and sciencey things welcome.
Replies
Eat your beer and pizza or whatever... and just less of other stuff, or less later, or however you want to do the math. If you use the calorie banking method, it's easy to "shift" it all around.
Also, this:
Maybe you're undereating anyways? Or maybe your macros aren't very satiating. It can be hard to dial in.
Anyways, there's my cheap, and possibly worthless opinion.
The other thing is that I really enjoy working out! I mean, sure it's hard and sometimes the last thing I want to do, but for the most part I love it. I definitely don't want to ruin that by making it a punishment for having eaten too much or by making it the way I earn my food. It's to make myself stronger and faster and bendier and healthier!
Now, don't get me wrong, I eat all my exercise calories back and enjoy every one of them, but that's just a perk of working out, not the point of it!
If you're super hungry, I second what @feisty_bucket said.. maybe you're not eating at true maintenance or maybe not getting enough fat or protein. Maybe your maintenance has changed or MFP isn't correct. I follow what they tell me is maintenance, but I think I'm really in a very slight deficit, although that could be due to other factors, like having my activity level set wrong or not logging my exercise calories burned exactly right.
Personally, I have suffered from this in the past, but these days I treat my work outs as a tool to become fitter, stronger, increase my ability, and for health and think of my food as fuel for those work outs and a source of enjoyment.
Plus it creates a larger deficit without having to eat less. Win, win.
I love food and I love exercise so it's perfect for me. Doesn't mean it's right for everyone of course.
But my exercise routine isn't to lose or maintain weight - it's a big part of living an enjoyable life and getting fitter, faster, stronger etc. I train just as hard at maintenance (if not harder) as when I'm losing weight.
Agree with the point @feisty_bucket makes about "calorie banking" - far more flexible and less restrictive to work on a weekly allowance rather than trying to balance your account on a daily basis. To me happy and successful maintenance means your diet (noun not verb) has to enable you to live a normal life including eating for pleasure and social events without guilt or stress.
When I was losing my goal was to achieve it half by cutting calories and half by working up to more activity, and I didn't find that a problem--the two worked together and being active helped me want to eat better.
Look - we all love food. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being able to enjoy more of the thing we love based on our level of activity. Same rules apply - CICO. Bang out an hour or two on the bike in Zone 2/Zone 3, and enjoy the ability to eat more that day.
This is maintenance. You adjust your calories and exercise so the equation works out for you to maintain the weight. Exercise more - eat more. Exercise less - eat less.
It's pretty simple. Use the scale, fine tune your activity level, and enjoy the food you do get to eat.
That's a healthy relationship one can maintain. Plus the health benefits of exercise is icing on the cake as you work out to eat more.
Yep. It also, 9 times out of 10, helps me keep my mental health more manageable. So, to eat more food and feel more mentally balanced. That's enough to make me like it. Like @yesimpson, I see it as a mutually beneficial arrangement rather than a punitive one. The net effect is the same, but the mental gymnastics are different.
At the same time, I still want to continue to learn ways to manage my calorie intake level. I won't always be able to exercise as much as I do now or at the same intensity, and I may not always have the same level of interest or motivation, either. I'm dependent on the exercise right now and don't necessarily feel that is unhealthy, but at the same time I don't want this to always be the case. I'd love to have the flexibility to maintain on an average intake of something like 1500 calories, if necessary.
Many thanks to all that have taken the time to reply.
I think spending hours exercising just so you can binge eat thousands of calories more than your maintenance level of calories daily is a problem. Your whole world revolves around exercise and food. You'd be better off adjusting to your maintenance calories, moderately exercising and living a more full life.
I think being active and exercising because you like it and simply eating enough calories to fuel your body properly for that lifestyle is smart and healthy.
After losing 98 lbs and taking up running, I joke about how I run so I can eat more cause I love food. I really run because it's good for me / my heart, etc. But also because it enables me to be able to splurge on the occasion - have something sweet on the daily - etc. It's both.
I prefer to work foods into my day than push myself to exercise in order to accommodate those foods.