calorie deficit after exercise

aprilh47

Do I should I, be eating my calories back after exercise. Usually I dont log my exercise until the end of the day, therefore bringing me under my limit by a way. my calorie goal is 1740 and most days i have around 1600. I am true to my intake but do not really record drinks.
Iam taking part in a variety of exercise varying in calories burned, started C25k, which burns approx 370 per work out, ive been walking more but I also do kickboing and Karate. at around 700-900 per session.
The only time I eat my claories is when ive gone over my limit and I use exercise to bring me back under.
So far I have lost 14lb, but have a long way to go.

Any suggestions/comments would be appriciated.

Rayman79

If you have your target set to weight loss (ie 2lb loss per week) on MFP settings, then yes you should eat back your exercise calories (or at least a reasonable portion of them).

If you log them at the end of the day, and you are pretty consistent with your level of exercise, you might want to set your calorie level based on your TDEE and eat at that consistent level (and not recording your calorie burns from exercise). As an example your goal is 1740 but you burn an extra 500 cals with exercise each day. Instead of 'eating back' these calories, just adjust your daily intake to 2240.

The important thing is that you take in enough to fuel all this activity and enough to be satisfied (and adhere to your eating plan) without feeling deprived. If you are doing this and losing between 1-2lb per week then you are doing it right. If you lose more than this then up your intake a little, if you stall, then decrease by 10% and give it a month to see if that is the right calorie level.

coragoldoleary

IDK, but i would love to hear what the answer is!!

dswolverine

Some people will say they eat back all their exercise calories, some will say they eat back none. You will see a range of replies. It all depends on what you find works for you. You definitely should make sure to eat a sufficient amount to fuel what work outs you do, but at the same time make sure your calorie burn is accurate. Nothing worse than thinking you're burning 700 calories only to find out it's closer to 450 or 500. Congrats on the loss so far!

scottYBRIDGEWATER

Do I should I, be eating my calories back after exercise. Usually I dont log my exercise until the end of the day, therefore bringing me under my limit by a way. my calorie goal is 1740 and most days i have around 1600. I am true to my intake but do not really record drinks.
Iam taking part in a variety of exercise varying in calories burned, started C25k, which burns approx 370 per work out, ive been walking more but I also do kickboing and Karate. at around 700-900 per session.
The only time I eat my claories is when ive gone over my limit and I use exercise to bring me back under.
So far I have lost 14lb, but have a long way to go.

Any suggestions/comments would be appriciated.

What type of drinks??? Unless they are no cal, you should be logging them too. Don't eat back calories initially. What is your weekly deficit and does it match your projections (whatever they are) of what you should be losing. There is nothing wrong with excercising and losing more than a pound or two a week. People on these forums always advocating to eat eat eat. Geez, take advantage of the calorie deficit that the excercise is causing and get a bigger weight loss!!!!. 1600-1700 calories a day is fine for a women.

Phill2488

I think it's important to eat back you're exercise calories because if you don't you could crack and end up over eating. I made this mistake when I first wanted to start losing weight

RllyGudTweetr

MFP's numbers assume you're eating back your exercise calories. If you're using MFP's calculations, you should be eating at least half of them back. . . and arguably eating all of them back.

As an aside, you should probably also record what you're drinking, unless it's all zero calorie beverages without added nutrients.