Should you eat the calories you gain after a workout?

Mrtibbz1926
Mrtibbz1926 Posts: 5 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I workout first thing in the morning and gain about 600+ extra calories to consume on those days. Should I eat those gained calories or stick to the normal intake limitation? I don't have a lot of weight to lose now and am more interested in building muscle.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Yes. Eat them.

    If you don't have much weight to lose, you should also set your Goals here at "Lose one pound per week". Anything more aggressive than that will backfire.

    This site is set up much differently than other methods. You NEED to eat back those exercise calories if you use this site's calculator.
  • belgerian
    belgerian Posts: 1,059 Member
    If your more interested in building muscle you should actually eat above by around 500 your total calorie expenditure or more depending on your goals and physical activity.
  • Faery_Dust
    Faery_Dust Posts: 246 Member
    If you are using MFP guidelines to set your calories then yes, you should eat them. The deficit for you to lose weight is already build in so calories you burn are extra to eat back.

    If you calculate TDEE and then set calories to say 20% less than TDEE, and the activity is part of your regular exercise that you used to calculate your TDEE then you wouldn't as activity level is included in TDEE.

    Hope that makes sense!
  • CLFrancois
    CLFrancois Posts: 472 Member
    Yes, eat them.
  • ajaxe432
    ajaxe432 Posts: 608 Member
    bump
  • howardheilweil
    howardheilweil Posts: 604 Member
    If you are looking to build muscle, you shouldn't be eating at a deficit....So, yes, eat those calories back and then some!
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    Your MFP recommendation has ~500 calorie deficit built in. If you're trying to build muscle, you need to eat your exercise calories back +700-1000 calories.
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
    Your MFP recommendation has ~500 calorie deficit built in. If you're trying to build muscle, you need to eat your exercise calories back +700-1000 calories.

    how do you know what MFP recommended to the OP?

    You realize that the settings are variable, right?

    Only a person who was set to lose 1 lb per week would have a 500 deficit built in, other goals would have different deficits.
  • feelin_gr_8
    feelin_gr_8 Posts: 308 Member
    Thanks for posting this, was wondering myself :D (though I'm trying to lose weight, different goal, same question ;) )
  • escloflowneCHANGED
    escloflowneCHANGED Posts: 3,038 Member
    If your more interested in building muscle you should actually eat above by around 500 your total calorie expenditure or more depending on your goals and physical activity.

    This...
  • RGv2
    RGv2 Posts: 5,789 Member
    Your MFP recommendation has ~500 calorie deficit built in. If you're trying to build muscle, you need to eat your exercise calories back +700-1000 calories.

    how do you know what MFP recommended to the OP?

    You realize that the settings are variable, right?

    Only a person who was set to lose 1 lb per week would have a 500 deficit built in, other goals would have different deficits.

    This " ~ " is used as an approximate sign, so rather than typing in approximately 500 I can type ~500.

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