Eating Back Exercise Calories

enterdanger

I find that when I don't eat back my exercise calories the day that I exercise, I eat like crazy the next day.

Sunday, I had a net around 800 calories. I did more exercise that I had anticipated and was super active that day.

Yesterday I went over my calories by about 600. I just couldn't say no to a big dinner and a soft pretzel in the morning. I was hungry all day!

I usually eat back at least 50-70% if my exercise calories. The only times I don't are when I go to the gym at like 9pm because it is the only time I can fit it in. I don't like to eat more calories in advance, because what if I don't make it to the gym? I hate to eat right before bed though, so...you'll see weird, low Net calories one day and then a large overage the next in my diary sometimes.

Not trying to starve. I love food. There is a reason I've lost 35lbs and have 40 more to go.

jbuck123

Here is a really good article that explains "eating back exercise calories".
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/eating-back-calories-burned/

shonako

jjinteso wrote: »

Over the past few weeks I have done quite a bit of research on this topic. There are posts on this website that state that you can, don't have to and should. There are "professional" websites that contain contradictory information.

Here is what happened to me and why you may NEED to eat at least PART of your exercise calories back.

I started my diet in mid April. At the end of May, I found this site. By the middle of August, I had lost just over 50 pounds. I was leading a completely sedentary lifestyle. Then I found a message board on here with weekly challenges. I started doing them. I even went out and bought a pedometer. I started walking a minimum of 3.5 miles per day and doing the challenges. By the end of August, I bought a Fitbit Flex. It started showing me how many additional calories I was burning per day. I did not change the sedentary settings on MFP or Fitbit to show being more active.

As my weight continued to drop, so did the number of calories that MFP told me I could eat if I wanted to maintain my current weight loss goal per week (2 pounds per week). I am now "allowed" 1380 calories per day. I was eating close to (but not over) that number each day.

Over about a 2 week period, things started changing with my body that I either attributed to losing weight or just really didn't notice. 1. I was starting to get cold very easily 2. Muscles were sore 3. Got constipated 4. Lost less weight than I should have

There were several other things as well. Last Thursday night, on my way to going out to dinner, I went to a bookstore to buy an exercise book. I got extremely lightheaded and felt like I was going to pass out. I felt better after dinner but not 100%. I had similar results the next day. I checked both blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Both were normal. After much research, reading and studying, I came to the conclusion that you NEED to have a MINIMUM of 1200 NET calories.

What is a NET calorie? If you take that calories that you consume in a day and subtract out your exercise calories that is your NET calories. This is actually shown on the top of your "My Home" area on MFP. Do NOT believe posts or websites that tell you unequivocally that you do not need to eat back your exercise calories. You MUST have a minimum of 1200 NET calories per day to stay functioning properly. I realized that I was eating way too few calories. There were days that I had 83 and 131 net calories. I averaged 762 net calories over a 2 week period leading up to last Thursday. I have also adjusted to only lose 1.5 pounds per week to give myself a larger margin of error.

You can view graphs of your gross and net calories, under the Reports section on this site. I learned everything the hard way. Although it could have been much worse.

I know that I will get quite a few comments about how stupid I am, but I feel that this post is worth the negative comments.

Thank you so much from posting this!!

donnamwebb39

One thing that people don't seem to be considering here is the nutritional content of the calories they are eating. If you are eating your calorie allotment and getting the nutrients your body needs, then it isn't necessary to eat your exercise calories back. Lack of nutrients can be causing the dizziness, weakness, and muscle pain. I believe you would need to look at both net calories and nutrition when deciding if you should eat them back.