Eat to exercise or exercise to eat: which describes you?

corinasue1143

I eat to exercise. I need the energy!

Safari_Gal_

Eat to exercise here.

penguinmama87

Fflpnari wrote: »

I finally fixed my mindset to food is fuel. Ive been in maintenance for about 2 months and my exercise is getting so much better. I got a PR on my Overhead squat, ran my fastest mile, box jumps are getting faster etc. Proper nutrition is everything. I workout because I love it. Fat or skinny I enjoy it 😄

I don't know; I think I want to push back on this a bit. I absolutely think it's true that many of us need to learn to appreciate food as fuel rather than merely as pleasurable, but I don't think the correction is to ignore the pleasure - that seems disordered too, just in the opposite direction. Imagine if we did that with sex or sleep, or even exercise (which can also be engaged in in a disordered way). These things have a fundamental purpose for the benefit of our body/species, sure, but arguably that's a big part of why we find them pleasurable, to make sure we do them.

I like "both/and" over "either/or," which I think describes my answer to the general OP, too - I eat both to exercise and exercise to eat, and both need to inform each other. At times one or the other may be more in the forefront of my mind, which is OK. I probably started with "exercise to eat," so maybe it matters a little bit where you hop on the loop, but as long as I'm still on it, then that's really the important thing.

Lietchi

Exercise (and activity in general!) to eat: absolutely, because without it my calorie goal would be too low. Especially the last few months - my body has ramped up my appetite, probably in reaction to my weight loss. The last few lbs are definitely the hardest.

Eat to exercise: not so much, because my exercise goals aren't particularly lofty or intense. I have increased my protein intake though, in light of my recomp/strength training goals.
When burning very high amounts of calories (e.g. training for a marathon, or simply a hiking holiday), I would/do prioritize eating sufficient calories to avoid an excessive deficit, since I'm aiming to gain muscle mass, not lose it.

It becomes problematic when I overeat and then worry about burning off those calories before the end of the day (or even the next day) telling myself I 'need' to do a long run/take x steps/... to compensate, especially if it starts to impede other activities. I'm aware that I sometimes have some 'borderline' thoughts, which I need to pay attention to. In my case, I would argue that I would be better off actually increasing my exercise and getting away from a certain fixation on my daily step count, which is contributing much less to my fitness goals and also inhibiting to a certain extent other meaningful activities in my life.

Aside from that, I obviously don't ONLY exercise to eat, I also want to increase my fitness level, increase my muscle mass and strength,... and I do exercise that I enjoy or at the least contributes to my goals. If I dislike a certain type of exercise, I won't do it, even if it burns 1500 calories an hour (or not frequently/for very long )

MaltedTea

Aiming to be @Gisel2015 when I grow up but, for now, I "eat to exercise" because that's what works for me.

I first heard of this concept - or a version of it - over a decade ago when I was marathon training and reading everything the Runners' World magazines had to offer. The question of whether to eat to run or run to eat has stuck with me since then.

janejellyroll

When I started with MFP, I was pretty inactive and I was in the "exercise to eat" camp. As I lost weight and being active felt better, I began to recognize the other rewards (like improved mood, better sleep, increased energy). I moved into the "eat to exercise" camp, which is where I still am today.

That said, I absolutely APPRECIATE all the extra calories I get to eat. I'm never going to be in the "food is just fuel" camp. Food is a pleasure, it's just that now exercise is also a source of pleasure.

I would consider myself to have a "problem" if I felt obligated to exercise more to "burn off" calories or if activity became joyless.

lx1x

When I started .. it was exercise to eat.. currently.. both.. but then again been slacking lately . 😐

Onedaywriter

Definitely started as exercise to eat. Now it’s both.

My maintenance calories without exercise are just not enough for me to enjoy life to its fullest! Exercise was a big effort because I was used to inactivity. But now that I’m working out a lot I’m really enjoying that as well.

heybales

Eat better to exercise well.

Every blue moon while doing a workout or starting a workout, I'll give a thought to how many calories I'd like to burn because of something with food later.

But usually my constraint is time, so I do what I wanted to do in time available, calories burned is merely one of the results and not the major one.

And then I eat to either help the workout the next day, or truly benefit from the workout I just did.

Dnarules

Exercise to eat!

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I love swimming, running, cycling, SUPing, rollerblading, hiking, and many other activities. Some of those need to be intentionally fueled (eat to exercise). For example, I can't go on a 2 hour bike ride on an empty stomach!

I also definitely appreciate the extra calories from exercise, particularly to allow for at least a little beer. (exercise to drink )

The hard part is when you have to miss workouts for one reason or another. Ugh! When I complain to my wife that something she wants to do is going to interfere with my workout schedule, she thinks I'm a nut! She also doesn't like that I always want to go farther and/or faster than her, limiting our ability to exercise together. I guess everything has costs and benefits.

Mellouk89

Both, I love eating but I also need a minimum of 3200 calories to maintain my bodyweight. A combination of physical job + 5 days a week of weight training.

watts6151

I enjoy weight training and trying to see just how far i can push my genetic limit.
unfortunately that currently means i'm on a basic see food diet, its fun for a short time
but constantly cramming down a minimum 5-6k calories every day becomes very tedious.
i much prefer fat loss phases as it forces me to become more creative in the kitchen.

I guess to answer the question i eat solely to reach exercise goals

glassyo

My boss loves to show me this video. We don't watch the whole thing because, you know, work but just the thought....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjneYS3LTfE

sweetdaisy13

That's a tough question and think I'm both. I'm unable to lose/maintain my weight merely on diet alone, I'm quite active and do some sort of exercise everyday and it's the combination of both which helps me manage my weight.

I'm a trail runner and also do rebounding and strength and conditioning workouts on my 'non-run' days. I eat to fuel my body to help me recover from my exercise routine and to reduce the risk of injuries, but I also don't eliminate any food groups, so it's never the case that if I run a half marathon I've earned myself some treats.

In terms of food, I eat what I like in moderation from all foods groups and in terms of exercise, it really helps to keep me mentally healthy and it's good headspace for me.

So in a sense I 'eat to exercise' in that I try to get as much goodness out of the foods I eat so that I have the energy I need to continue to workout and I also 'exercise to eat' in that it gives me a clearer head and I make better food choices when I'm not stressed.

sijomial

I love exercise and I love eating plenty of good food so it's a virtuous circle.

Primarily I exercise because I enjoy my exercise and simply enjoy feeling fit and strong as a result of my exercise routine. It's a huge bonus that it makes my food allowance much bigger and means my needs match my wants so weight maintenance long term is pretty easy. Most of my adult life my wants exceeded my needs so I had to restrict myself to avoid weight gain.

In general I don't regard food just as fuel, it's very enjoyable and a social focus too. But on days like today (3hr+ brisk ride) some of my food and drink intake is definitely just fuel, I will eat and drink for sports performance and not pleasure before/during/after a long ride.

To answer the headline question, both I guess.

glassyo

I have such a love/hate relationship with exercise. I like it because of the extra calories (duh) and, because it's primarily walking, gets me out of my apartment. I hate it because it I have NEVER gotten injured so much since starting to exercise! Even in my own apartment. I also do a walking dvd and I had a case of water sitting on the floor and every time I passed it I was like, "I should move this" but I never did and ended up tripping and having to go to the emergency room with a broken finger... And I now have a RBF and death glare because of drivers who don't care about pedestrians, or how I have to run into the street to get away from the dogs (that's mostly on me, tho, I'm not an animal person and I don't trust most dog walkers to keep them away from me).

But, hey....cookies!

wunderkindking

glassyo wrote: »

I have such a love/hate relationship with exercise. I like it because of the extra calories (duh) and, because it's primarily walking, gets me out of my apartment. I hate it because it I have NEVER gotten injured so much since starting to exercise! Even in my own apartment. I also do a walking dvd and I had a case of water sitting on the floor and every time I passed it I was like, "I should move this" but I never did and ended up tripping and having to go to the emergency room with a broken finger... And I now have a RBF and death glare because of drivers who don't care about pedestrians, or how I have to run into the street to get away from the dogs (that's mostly on me, tho, I'm not an animal person and I don't trust most dog walkers to keep them away from me).

But, hey....cookies!

Oh god, this is fair. I've only had one 'serious' injury - sprained ankle - and even that wasn't exercise related, I just tripped over a root.

But I have more cuts, scrapes, scratches and bruises than I have had since I was about 12 years old and trying to learn to rollerskate.

I love my activity level and it is all just pain for me but holy crap maybe I was only being active with dogs because, clearly, if it's not a dog sport I'm going to fall down, fall over, or run into absolutely anything in my path.

goal06082021

I exercise to eat, 100%. I've come to realize that in order to eat how I want to (or keep up with the 6'-tall man I married, food-wise, as a 5'3" woman and foodie), I need to move a lot more. If I want my CI to be X and my weight to be Y, my CO cannot be 0, the math simply doesn't work like that.

The fact that I've found exercise I enjoy doing is really just icing on the cake - that sure makes it easier to get my *kitten* out of bed at 6 AM every morning to work out. (Mmm, cake.)

glassyo

wunderkindking wrote: »

glassyo wrote: »

I have such a love/hate relationship with exercise. I like it because of the extra calories (duh) and, because it's primarily walking, gets me out of my apartment. I hate it because it I have NEVER gotten injured so much since starting to exercise! Even in my own apartment. I also do a walking dvd and I had a case of water sitting on the floor and every time I passed it I was like, "I should move this" but I never did and ended up tripping and having to go to the emergency room with a broken finger... And I now have a RBF and death glare because of drivers who don't care about pedestrians, or how I have to run into the street to get away from the dogs (that's mostly on me, tho, I'm not an animal person and I don't trust most dog walkers to keep them away from me).

But, hey....cookies!

Oh god, this is fair. I've only had one 'serious' injury - sprained ankle - and even that wasn't exercise related, I just tripped over a root.

But I have more cuts, scrapes, scratches and bruises than I have had since I was about 12 years old and trying to learn to rollerskate.

I love my activity level and it is all just pain for me but holy crap maybe I was only being active with dogs because, clearly, if it's not a dog sport I'm going to fall down, fall over, or run into absolutely anything in my path.

LOL yup! I've taken so many headers while out walking. Some more bloody than others. And, oh god, there was a lot of blood a few of those times too.

Broke a couple fingers there too. The one is still wonky.

I'm actually REALLY shocked I haven't busted a kneecap or anything during one of my falls. I go down hard.

What was so weird, tho, was that time a car ran over my foot, I was fine. I limped the rest of the way home (yeahhhhhh, maybe I do have a problem with exercise ) but was ok the next day.