Work out at night..Calorie dilemma

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BYEBYEBELLY
BYEBYEBELLY Posts: 53
in Food and Nutrition
Here's my dilemma, I work full time and have 2 little kids. My work out schedule is sporadic. Some days I work out in the middle of the day, other days I work out at 9 pm when my girls go to bed. When I do this, I am stuck with "work out calories" to eat at 10 or 11 at night when I go to bed soon after. Should I eat them (300 to 400 calories) or leave them?

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  • BYEBYEBELLY
    BYEBYEBELLY Posts: 53
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    Here's my dilemma, I work full time and have 2 little kids. My work out schedule is sporadic. Some days I work out in the middle of the day, other days I work out at 9 pm when my girls go to bed. When I do this, I am stuck with "work out calories" to eat at 10 or 11 at night when I go to bed soon after. Should I eat them (300 to 400 calories) or leave them?
  • Kimosabe
    Kimosabe Posts: 71
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    I personally wouldn't eat to replensih, because u r going to b going to bed. I would drink a few glasses of water and hit the hay for a new day. But hey at least u r getting a workout in. :wink:
  • yoginimary
    yoginimary Posts: 6,783 Member
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    I would eat a little something before the workout. It should help your workout as well.
  • Helawat
    Helawat Posts: 605 Member
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    Yeah, I would amp up my calories pre-workout to cover the workout calories. I would add almonds to my cereal, eat peanut butter for a snack, etc.

    Only problem with this- if you don't workout at night you're up a creek without a paddle.
  • dulceluva
    dulceluva Posts: 728 Member
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    eat if u are hungry....easy as that :wink:

    If you get hunger pains at night then have a fruit and a glass of water and go back to bed.

    Don't over complicate things.... excess calories and hungry = eat, excess calories and not hungry = don't it.

    :flowerforyou:
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,971 Member
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    eat if u are hungry....easy as that :wink:

    If you get hunger pains at night then have a fruit and a glass of water and go back to bed.

    Don't over complicate things.... excess calories and hungry = eat, excess calories and not hungry = don't it.

    :flowerforyou:

    I respectfully disagree AGAIN with dulceluva. She has been on this site for five months and continues to give this advice despite all PROOF to the contrary. dulceluva has not lost any weight - by her own admission.

    You have to try to eat most of those calories. Hot chocolate - made with milk and protein powder, a handful of walnuts - eggs with cheese, whole wheat toast with cheese, cottage cheese with fruit. You need protein after you work-out. Within 45 minutes after your workout.

    Please educate yourself and don't take the advice of members who- by their own admission - have lost no weight by "Eating when hungry". PLEASE read these posts:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions?page=1

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6832-eating-all-of-your-calories-bmr?page=1#posts-47129

    Dulceluva, you need to read these too.
  • yellow_pepper
    yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
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    It IS important to eat workout calories, but 300-400 calories at night is probably not a good idea.

    Try to eat 200-300 1-2 hours before you work out, in a more digestible form. This is a great time to eat carbs, since you'll be using them during your workout, and they'll enable you to move farther and faster!

    After your workout, get the last 100 calories from protein, and even a little fat to satiate you and ready you for bed. Suggestions: lean turkey, low-fat cheese, yogurt, skim milk ... Just keep it to 100 calories!

    Good luck!
    YP
  • Helawat
    Helawat Posts: 605 Member
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    Ouch :embarassed:
  • BYEBYEBELLY
    BYEBYEBELLY Posts: 53
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    Thank you everyone for your honest advice. I have been struggling with the idea to eat extra calories, but all the the research that cmriverside included makes a lot of sense. And I am happy to see that she has seen great results. This is such a great website, I was so excited to see all of this great feedback so quickly!!
  • bodibykelli
    bodibykelli Posts: 135
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    Hi! It REALLY is important to get those (or most) of those calories consumed....to avoid a dreaded standstill in weight loss, not to mention that you won't feel your "best" when you wake up to a brand new day! What I do is plug in what I can REALISTICALLY expect myself to do at my evening workout, first thing in the morning, so that I can spread those calories out all day long. I guess only YOU can know yourself well enough to decide whether or not you will actually be working out as planned! For me, although I love the gym, it keeps me motivated to keep that workout "promise"!
  • persian_dancer
    persian_dancer Posts: 110
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    I would leave them because those are not calories that you technically need to eat. The way I look at those calories is if I wanted to have something special like sushi at the end of the day then I can go ahead and go a little over and not feel guilty about it. The other way to look at those calories is you could theoretically "save them" and have a cheat day and basically use up some of those calories that you've accumulated over the week.

    Just some thoughts to help you out! Good luck! :smile:

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