"I feel like a Snickers, so I'm gonna run 2 miles..."

nxd10

I just got back from a long walk because I'm going to make a really nice tea for my family this afternoon. I know I'll be over calories if I don't take my normal after-dinner walk and it's been raining on and off. I want to make sure I get out at least once today. I think that's healthy because it's basically just time management.

I don't think it's unhealthy, but I do think if you say it all the time, it makes it easy to overeat over time and regain your weight. You eat more than you should because you say you'll exercise it off. Then you don't quite balance your calories. Same thing as being good all week and then splurging on the weekend. It's not unhealthy. It's just easy to indulge more than you bank.

Just my opinion. It may work for you.

dalguard

If I exercise, I need to eat more to replace the calories I burned. If I plan to eat more, I can exercise to earn the calories I'm going to eat. What difference does it make which comes first, thought-wise? Action-wise, I need to do the exercise first because I can't run with a bunch of calories sloshing around inside me. But intention-wise? My body doesn't know the difference.

sfbaumgarten

Eh it works for me...

QuietBloom

If I want a snickers I eat a snickers. What matters to me in the end is the calorie balance of a week. If I over indulge one day, I cut back the next, or even a few days later. If I base what I eat on exercise, what happens if I get injured and can't? I was running almost every day, but with plantar faciitis I have had to curtail my exercise. Even walking or cycling is exacerbating it. So I am not eating nearly as much as I was then, but I am less hungry as well.

vjohn04

uh.... If I want to eat a Snickers, I'm just going to eat a snickers.

SoDamnHungry

As long as I'm not obsessive and have a healthy calorie goal, it's fine to go work out for extra food.

It's also ok to just eat the damn Snickers and sit on my couch watching cartoons with no regard for calories at all.

rainbow198

I had this mentality when I first hit maintenance. It worked for a while, then I started to become a little too obsessive and my thought process became unhealthy.

Now I look at calories on a weekly basis instead of daily like before. I save some calories during the week and during the weekend I'll indulge in something higher calorie. Not only I have "earned" those calories but I do workout daily as well so it all balances out and I don't gain weight.

eddiesmith1

I look at my whole week so if I want a snickers i have one as long as it is within my goals. I use TDEE method now so I'm not earning back by doing more exercise. I know the level of exercise i calculated into my TDEE # if that changes significantly for a consistent period I'll adapt (up ot down) otherwise i just eat/ drink what i like and watch my running weekly total (Saturday for instance i blew out drinking sangria and eating Hummus with Pita. It was fun (and was in fact the first alcohol I've had since December 21st) Sunday I had a big Dim Sum feast but scaled back the rest of the day and I'm nicely back on target for the week
enough so that i may have a snickers bar later :laugh:

weightlossfeb2014

last night i wanted a cheese sandwich, i walked 30 mins to burn off enough calories so i didn't feel guilty xx

WhyLime113

I feel that eating something you enjoy and then 'punishing' yourself with exercise is unhealthy. It promotes an unhealthy relationship with food. Personally, I find it much better to exercise first and 'buy' a snack of some sort. I want food and exercise to be positive in my life, I want food to be thought of as a reward for doing something good (exercise) rather than see exercise as punishment for doing something bad (eating).

RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle

I haven't done this. I don't think of exercise as a means for me to lose. I think of it as a way to be stronger and sculpt muscle. I eat "junk" when it works with my macros and calorie goals.

Funny you mentioned snickers though. Years ago when I was doing the "clean eating" thing, a snickers was the chocolate bar I chose over all others. I considered it the best because it had a little more protein with the peanuts in it.

RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle

We've all said something like that before. Either proactively or reactively.,, we've run off a slice of pizza after the fact, or worked out ahead of time in anticipation of a snack or meal.

Is this healthy and effective for a maintenance lifestyle? No facetiousness.

I would imagine that if you are measuring and hitting your marks with these adjustments, then it's fine. I also would think that the thought process of action/consequence as it relates to junk food and exercise is a good balance. Yet... I dunno... Something about the philosophy seems almost unnatural.

Do you subscribe to this approach? Has it made you snack more? Have you maintained? Any thoughts to add?

One of my favoirte past times is going to a movie theater and eating "movie food". Normally I have:

2 hot dogs
Small popcorn (no butter)
Nachos with cheese
Milk Duds
Diet Pepsi/Coke (to save those last few calories!)

This usually adds up to about 1600 calories. The day I go to the movie, I usually do a 30 minute run and some other cardio for another 30 to help offset the calories a little. Is it a big help? Eh. I save maybe 700 calories from the exercise, but I DO feel better about scarfing down all that food.
I've done this for YEARS and my weights stayed within 10lbs-15lbs give or take.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

^i love this!
I used to be able to eat that much food, but now just reading that makes me feel nauseous
It goes to show, we are all different, and when we figure out what works, we're golden:)

verptwerp

If I know that I'll be eating BBQ or pizza or birthday cake on any given day, I make DOUBLY sure to get in a good workout.

I like to eat without guilt :drinker:

kristenveganvixen

I think WhyLime113's approach of doing the exercise first and seeing the food as a potential reward is probably the most sensible approach. Using exercise as punishment can contribute towards either learning to hate exercise and falling off the healthy lifestyle wagon, or lead to an eating disorder.

LeanButNotMean44

I read an article (wish I had saved it so I could share) which spoke about a study of runners... basically said that runners have been found to have worse body fat than others (can't remember the control group they used) because they fall into that "I run so I can eat whatever I want" line of thinking...

I'm trying to lose weight to avoid the blood pressure, obesity and diabetes that runs in my family, so that article was truly an eye opener. Yes, allow yourself to indulge in a treat if you want, and if you're trying to lose/maintain weight then burn if off if you want... but don't fool yourself into thinking that because you work out your diet is a free-for-all.

It's still all about moderation.

I used to be this way. "Back in the day" when all I did was distance running, during group runs we would talk about what treats we were going to scarf down that day. For me it was usually a Blizzard or some other sweet treat. My mindset was that I "deserved" it and that I had already run it off. Now I think back to those days and wonder how much faster I could have been had I followed a more nutritious diet. Oh well.....

Now (10 years later), I indulge in treats rarely. As some others have stated, I know myself well enough to know that sweets will ALWAYS be my weakness, so I really try to stay away from them to avoid the bad habit(s) that I know would follow, i.e. "Just this once" turning into a daily occurence. This is my version of moderation.

Mischievous_Rascal

Personally, constantly rationalizing food vs exercise like that would cause some seriously disordered eating on my part. For me, exercising to eat a chocolate bar would be a form of punishment. No thanks!!! I exercise because I like the way it makes me feel and look. I eat because I need to and, realistically, because it's part of how we with interact socially with people. I pay attention to my macro and micronutrients so I can eat Snickers just because I enjoy them. But I don't eat them everyday, because I know having that sort of thing daily would make me feel lethargic after a while. Moderation is amazingly liberating and rewarding!

litsy3

I don't really see it this way (as rationalising the food with the exercise). The way I see it is that (some) people who enjoy exercise enjoy it for the sensual pleasure you get from using your body and energy in particular ways. Those same people who exercise to enjoy the feel of their bodies are pretty likely to also enjoy the sensual pleasure of eating delicious food. And what's even better is that both forms of physical pleasure complement each other and the more you do of one the more you can do of the other. A win-win situation.

ChrisM8971

As the basic premise of MFP is to eat back any calories you burn through exercise then why not use those earned extra calories for a snickers bar.

How is it any different to having the occasional snickers using the TDEE method which includes exercise calories and takes your word for it that you will earn those extra calories by exercising x times per week?

smittybuilt19

My wife and I have been remodeling an old house and I have no guilt in ordering and consuming an entire large pepperoni pizza when I work an entire day on it because I know (even only using half the calories MFP says I burned) I have burned enough to afford it. (ex. push mowing the 1 acre lot, weed eating, tree/stump removal, removing walls, chopping wood, tearing down old storage buildings).


Not sure if my post can relate to OP, however, no one in my RL has any interest in weight loss or calorie burns so I wanted to share how awesome I am.

Pin a rose on my nose.

smittybuilt19

I do suppose, as with almost everything, it depends on how well the individual can handle this approach both physically and mentally.