Eating back exercise calories - trial and error?

HM2206

I only have very few lbs to lose and I'm eating about 1600-1700 calories a day.

I work out at Barry's Bootcamp a few days per week - for those who are unfamiliar, it's a combination of cardio and strength training, about 50/50.

I find it tricky to get a right estimate on burned calories - especially for things like weight lifting and squats. Usually I try to stay 'safe' by only eating back the cardio calories. So if the treadmill says 300, that's what I eat back, and nothing more.

However, I get extremely hungry after the gym, even if I make those 300 calories all protein, healthy fats and vegetables. I'm thinking maybe I should add a bit more, but I am also very afraid of overestimating the amount of calories burned.

How do you find the 'sweet spot' where you eat back enough so that you don't get dizzy and tired but still make sure you end up in deficit? Is it just trial and error where you see what works in the long run?

pebble4321

Yup, trial and error.
All the numbers we are working with are estimates. Take your best guess and then adjust things as needed.

drawaimfire

Agreed on the trial and error, I haven't been eating back my exercise calories and hope that won't be a mistake but I am sated and energetic, if that changes, I will adjust my diet to reflect that. Your body will tell you what it needs, just be patient and monitor yourself.

Best of luck and great job on the Boot-camps!

capaul42

I was quite skeptical of my calorie burns at first. I have a fit bit and when I started I would only eat back half of my logged exercise, not half of the adjustment sent over. So, say fitbit sent over 2000, my workout was 250 of that. I would eat back half the 250.

I found that my weight loss was going faster than my goals. So I started eating back half my whole fitbit adjustment. Still too fast. I now eat anywhere from 75-90% of my whole adjustment and have found the weight loss is almost exactly to my goal.

This took months of looking at the data though. Play with the numbers for at least 3-4 weeks and see if your loss is closer to your planned loss. You'll find the sweet spot eventually