How many "exercise calories" should be eaten?

gracienkaidens_momma

I just joined this site and have noticed since I've been adding various exercises to my exercise diary that I end each day in the green with additional calories left over. I know this is good, but how many exercise calories is too much to have? I always usually eat up to 1200 calories a day, sometimes over, but at the end of some days I may have a few 100 extra calories left over. I didn't know whether to force myself to eat those extra calories or leave them as my deficit. Any feedback on this topic would be appreciated.

jhandley

All of your calories should be eaten, inlcuding exercise calories!

Bluediesel

If you want to lose weight just make sure you burn more calories then you take in and your fine.

IbettR

So if I eat 1200 calories, that's how much I need to burn every day?!? :embarassed:

menjivas

In your case, you should definitely eat all your calories! If you are only eating 1200 calories and you exercise and lose, for example, 400 calories, then you are actually eating only 800 calories. Anything under 1200 calories is causing your body to go into starvation mode, which will, eventually, cause you to not lose any weight!!

If you were eating more than 1200 calories, I would say eat between 1/2 to 2/3 your exercise calories.

gracienkaidens_momma

Wow, I am doing it all wrong then! I'm trying to create a huge deficit to try and lose weight faster! I guess I am not supposed to do that.

gracienkaidens_momma

Like yesterday I ate 1,360 cals and burned 245 cals. That left me with 1,115 cals.

menjivas

So if I eat 1200 calories, that's how much I need to burn every day?!? :embarassed:

No. Your body burns about 1700 calories a day (for an average person), so eating 1200 calories is already causing a deficit in calories. The deficit in calories will be the reason you lose the weight.

I will say this again. Don't eat less than 1200 calories! Your body will go into starvation mode and you won't be able to lose any weight! In fact, you may gain it.

Yarnpiggie

Right, because your body requires you to burn a certain amount just to keep you alive. :-)

FunkBunny

Like yesterday I ate 1,360 cals and burned 245 cals. That left me with 1,115 cals.

You should have a starting amount of calories for hte day. ex. 1200. then you do your work out and you burn 245. those calories add to your daily allotment, which means you would up your calories for the day to 1445. That's what you should be eating that day.
the 1200 calories is already a 500 calorie a day deficit, so you don't want to eat less or else you'll be too far under. make sense?

Phatpatty

that explains what is happening to me!! I seem to not be eating "enough" of them!! whenever I eat them then i seem to loose more-- even tho it makes me feel HUGE!! like I am doing something bad because those extra ones I am not even hungry for--- so take it from me you should eat them and see if you have a greater success...

sara_xo

All of your calories should be eaten, inlcuding exercise calories!

I second Bluedieseal. If you want to loose weight calories burned should be larger than calories eaten.. you should always be in a defecit.

gracienkaidens_momma

This all does make sense. So if I exercise more and create a deficit, I need to eat those calories and definitely never go under 1200 (eating and exercise calories) or I may gain. thanks for the info!

vayax

I was about to ask the sam question....I always eat my 1200 calories and was trying to keep right there even if I excercised and burned 300 more..... I guess I was doing it wrong thinking the deficit was going to help me lose the extra weight. Thanks for the clarification!

♡MyCurves

lol no, to lose wight, you just have to create like a 500 cal deficit...this site tells you what you need to eat to lose that 2lbs per week..including your activities........but the body is a weird thing.......I've been plateauing and I've been working out like crazy.

♡MyCurves

In your case, you should definitely eat all your calories! If you are only eating 1200 calories and you exercise and lose, for example, 400 calories, then you are actually eating only 800 calories. Anything under 1200 calories is causing your body to go into starvation mode, which will, eventually, cause you to not lose any weight!!

If you were eating more than 1200 calories, I would say eat between 1/2 to 2/3 your exercise calories.

so true.

js775219

ITA, but I like to leave a FEW (just a few, not like 500 calories or anything) calories so I end in the green, just to you know...make myself feel better ...lol,a little ridiculous now that I've typed it!

PocketNaomi

I exercise so little that my exercise calories are pretty minimal, but I don't eat them. I stick to 1200 flat, every day... partly for convenience, partly because exercise is so hard for me that if I do a little of it successfully, the last thing I want to do is use it up in food! I'd rather it come off my waistline if I'm working that hard.

geneil37

So if my calorie intake is 1500 a day, what should I do or shouldn't do?

LotusF1ower

All of your calories should be eaten, inlcuding exercise calories!

For the first four months of my weightloss, I didn't touch any of my exercise calories and continuously lost weight, every week, never once going into any starvation mode.

However, now with just 3lbs to go, I am eating some of them so that by the time I get to maintenance, I will have a rough idea how many calories I need to maintain.

It is not a rule set in stone to HAVE to eat all of your exercise calories.

MisdemeanorM

So if my calorie intake is 1500 a day, what should I do or shouldn't do?

Your intake is set at 1500 based on your size, activity level etc. So eating less than that, for your body, is too little. Trust the site (though use some common sense like... did I log accurately, do those cal counts make sense? how do I feel? Am I eating when I am not hungry, and if so what?) in conjunction with listening to your body. I was eating what I thought was enough but I hit a wall and couldn't lose and was tired. I upped my cals and voila! Scale moved and I was not fatigued!

I tend to zig zag my calories a little. Sometimes I am over, sometimes I am under. I am also aware that depending on what i am eating my log is not 100% accurate. I dont weigh my food for example. If it says I ate 1473 calories - that # can really be 100 or more to either direction.

Being consistently under, especially by a large number, is what will cause problems. (Ie, you're burning 400-600 cals a day and not eating any back.) 100 cals here or there is really just margin of error.

PS, if you do light exercise like waking 20 mins a day, I'd say DO NOT eat (all) those calories back. Once you subtract the # of cals you would have burned if you had not walked the margin of error is really small. For me at least, things like that I let slide for the most part, to cover my margin of error, but I log (or at least eat back, i often log everything) hard exercises that have a major cal count. Ie, if I go to the fair and walk for 5 hours - if i log 5 hours of walking, I will be double eating many caloires that are already accounted for - so I might just eat 100 extra and call it a day. But if I go to ZUmba, then swimming, then do yard work, I know I burned about 1000 cals and I might eat an extra 500. if I go to a hard cardio class and burn 500 and have not been OVER my cals lately, I'll go ahead and eat them all. If I ate fast food the day before :blushing: there's a good chance I was over and I might not eat them the next day. This zig zagging for me, since it really averages out over the week - works well.

gracienkaidens_momma

Great advice mjtwomail. I'm learning so much on here about calories, exercising and weight loss!