Do you eat the calories that you burn?

maddiemadkins

Do you lose more or less weight (in your opinion) by eating calories burned during a workout?

NorthCascades

Yes, of course, why in god's name wouldn't you?

maddiemadkins

NorthCascades wrote: »

Yes, of course, why in god's name wouldn't you?

hahaha, I definitely do, but there are some days that I don't feel like eating, (few and very far between those days) haha!

janejellyroll

Assuming you're measuring your intake/outtake correctly, you will lose less if you eat back your calories (you'll lose according to your goal, not more rapidly). But you'll be fueling your activity, help preserve muscle mass, potentially avoid cravings, and ensure that you're meeting your nutritional needs.

ValleyHooper

Yes, it's always good to eat after a workout which can be hard for me at times. Your body will automatically use the calories you eat for good (repair and recovery) and not bad (fat storage). In fact, research shows that your body's ability to refill muscle energy stores decreases by 50 percent if you wait to eat just 2 hours after your workout compared to eating right away.

I like to eat cottage cheese and fresh fruit, grab a glass of Dark Chocolate Almond milk ( You can drink cow chocolate milk.. I just do not like cow milk), protein shakes, etc. It's important to eat before a workout as well. Just make sure you're eating the right types of food.

I usually have oatmeal with flax and chia seeds before I start my morning workout. Other pre-workout foods include banana with 1tbsp almond butter or natural peanut butter ( I use Adam's Natural PB), apple slices with sprinkled cinnamon or sometimes I squeeze lemon or lime juice on my sliced apples (really good!!), natural raw almonds, etc.

NorthCascades

maddiemadkins wrote: »

NorthCascades wrote: »

Yes, of course, why in god's name wouldn't you?

hahaha, I definitely do, but there are some days that I don't feel like eating, (few and very far between those days) haha!

If you don't feel like eating, don't. (Some of the exercise I do takes hours, and then a few more hours to drive to and from, so I wind up burning a ton of calories plus skipping a meal. Can't eat all my calories that day. The hungries from the exercise usually hit the next day, though, and it's great to have some "banked" away for this.)

You asked earlier if you'd lose weight faster if you didn't eat them. You would. You'd also lose weight faster if you had surgery, or even just amputated your arm. Obviously it would be a really bad idea to cut your arm off just to move the scale, don't do that. The same thing is kind of true (to a way lesser extent) about losing weight too quickly. More isn't always better. Some bad stuff that happens to a lot of people when they run too big deficits: super duper hunger that leads to binging, loss of muscle, etc. Slow and steady, middle of the road kind of weight loss is best for your health and it's what makes you look best when it's all said and done.

JeromeBarry1

My Reports record of daily weighing for the most recent 90 days indicates that I've lost about 4 lb in the most recent 10 days when I've been calculating and eating 50% of my exercise calories. Before that, I did not make the attempt to calculate 50%, but did occasionally choose to have about 10% - 20% of particularly high exercise days. I lost control and binged approximately once each month.

Interestingly, my Reports indicates that I had reached my lowest weight by following the prior method. Furthermore, it shows that on 2 of the 3 days following that I binged and greatly exceeded my calorie goals, and gained 8 lb. Mostly water, I know.

On my current method, consuming 50% of the exercise calories, I'm able to log over 1000 calories burned most days, eat an extra 500 calories those days, and have not noticed any cravings or weaknesses. I believe that my recurring monthly binges were the result of an excessive calorie deficit. Each binge would set me back 2 weeks. If eating back half my exercise calories can shut off the monthly binge, I can reach my weight loss goal faster.

TimothyFish

Yes, I eat what I burn. Otherwise I would lose weight. And probably make myself ill while I was at it.

maddiemadkins

NorthCascades wrote: »

maddiemadkins wrote: »

NorthCascades wrote: »

Yes, of course, why in god's name wouldn't you?

hahaha, I definitely do, but there are some days that I don't feel like eating, (few and very far between those days) haha!

If you don't feel like eating, don't. (Some of the exercise I do takes hours, and then a few more hours to drive to and from, so I wind up burning a ton of calories plus skipping a meal. Can't eat all my calories that day. The hungries from the exercise usually hit the next day, though, and it's great to have some "banked" away for this.)

You asked earlier if you'd lose weight faster if you didn't eat them. You would. You'd also lose weight faster if you had surgery, or even just amputated your arm. Obviously it would be a really bad idea to cut your arm off just to move the scale, don't do that. The same thing is kind of true (to a way lesser extent) about losing weight too quickly. More isn't always better. Some bad stuff that happens to a lot of people when they run too big deficits: super duper hunger that leads to binging, loss of muscle, etc. Slow and steady, middle of the road kind of weight loss is best for your health and it's what makes you look best when it's all said and done.

That makes a lot of sense...at this stage in the game, I'm in it for health reasons, not so much to fit into 10 yr old silver jeans...lol
Thanks for you input NorthCascades!