Do you burned cardio calories?

LyssaRonnell
LyssaRonnell Posts: 182 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anyone else not log cardio workouts that add burned calories to their diaries? I do cardio along with strength training, but I would rather not have that added towards my availible calories. What are everyone's thoughts?

Replies

  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
    For me, it depends on how many calories it is. If it's 100-200 calories, I don't worry about it. If it's edging nearer to 400-500+, then I would log and eat back some of those calories.
  • sophia162
    sophia162 Posts: 115 Member
    edited May 2018
    If I'm feeling hungry, I log the workout out in order to eat back the calories, at least partially... sometimes completely.

    If I'm feeling fine, I don't bother logging the workout and kind of leave it as a fail-safe, in case I underestimated any food calories I logged throughout the week.

    I'm talking about short 20-30 minutes - moderate pace workouts though, nothing too intense.

    I think we all have to find our own way of doing our own thang. Within sensible and responsible guidelines, of course!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,225 Member
    If your weight loss rate is slow, and your exercise not long or intense, that's fine.

    If your weight loss rate is very aggressive, and your exercise is long and relatively intense, not eating back at least some of the calories isn't a good plan - equivalent to severely undereating, so unhealthy.

    In between those two extremes, it's a judgement call.

    I estimated mine carefully, and ate pretty much all of them back, while losing 50+ pounds in just less than a year.

    I'd recommend eating half of them to start, and adjusting after a few weeks if necessary.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I log them, they form the majority of my exercise cals and I go pretty hard so I need/want to be able to eat those back.
  • PokeyBug
    PokeyBug Posts: 482 Member
    I log it, so I can keep track of my workouts, and I log the guesstimated calories, because, well, I like to see how hard I'm working.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited May 2018
    My exercise is very high volume and very varied - eating back my calories in the MFP method works fine for me.

    You haven't mentioned your exercise volume or your rate of loss selected so there's no context. It could have little significance, it could be a huge mistake to ignore them. Exercise is a perfectly valid calorie burner and I don't really see why people see it as special or optional (unlike BMR and activity levels).

    As a general concept the idea that when you move more you need to eat more makes perfect sense and is a valuable life lesson. As is the obverse - when you move less you need to eat less.
  • LyssaRonnell
    LyssaRonnell Posts: 182 Member
    Thanks guys, everything you all said really helps. I've been strength training as well, so I see I really need to log my burned calories to really make sure my body is fueled through all of that and the cardio.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    I usually don't log "cleaning, light" or "cooking, food preparation", which are available entries, even though I do most of the cleaning, cooking, and food prep. I do log other outdoor chores and eat most of the calories I log.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    LyssaRonnell wrote: »
    Does anyone else not log cardio workouts that add burned calories to their diaries? I do cardio along with strength training, but I would rather not have that added towards my availible calories. What are everyone's thoughts?

    My thoughts are that if I didn't account for my exercise calories in one way or another then I would be substantially under eating most of the time.

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