Do you eat the calories you earn through cardio exercise?

smashley_mashley

I wear a HR monitor so I have a pretty accurate idea of how much I burn while exercising. How many of you consume those calories and how many of you use them as a calorie deficit?

CyberEd312

I eat them........ :drinker: I worked my *kitten* off for them.... lol

Mrsmonas

Yea I eat them, I love my snacks!

FoxyLifter

I eat 50 - 80% of them.

Eselte

Great timing, I was about to ask the same thing. So I guess I'll eat them.

helengetshealthy

I keep seeing on here that you should eat back your calories, so I do! Maybe I leave 200 or so at the end of the day or something, but never really more than that, especially if I've burned those calories through like a gym session or something, i.e. a concerted workout effort!

Don't forget, if you've set your MFP profile accurately and have a goal of 1 or 2lbs per week loss, MFP factors the necessary calorie deficit into your daily goal, so even if you're over your goal by a 100 calories or so, you'll still be at a loss.

Sonja1211

My trainer tells me to eat them, especially as fruit (but he doesn't particularly mind if I have a handful of chips, also).

smashley_mashley

Do you only eat the cardio calories or the ones you burn from strength training too? (I add the calories burned from strength under cardio because my hr monitortells me how many I have burned and fitness pal doesnt add calories from strength).

FindingAmy77

sometimes yes, and sometimes no. depends how hard I worked out. if I worked out hard that day then I tend to be more hungry. Then I can have an extra snack and not feel guilty. It all depends on my stomach rumbling or not.

BlitzClipz

I try not to eat all of them but I usually end up eating some of them. I ate about 50% back today.

Sobus76

I dont plan to eat them back but i do a lot of times on days when im going out to eat and i've worked out that day.

fatcity66

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, sometimes I go over. Since I cut back on starches and sugars, I just eat when I'm hungry and don't really worry about the calories much. I am only tracking them at this point for my own information, and to prove to others that watching carbs works, and allows you to eat more calorie-wise. (At least for me)

Soccerg1rl1987

Do you only eat the cardio calories or the ones you burn from strength training too? (I add the calories burned from strength under cardio because my hr monitortells me how many I have burned and fitness pal doesnt add calories from strength).

I wouldn't use your heart rate monitor to measure your calories burned during strength training - I think they're only supposed to be accurate for steady-ish state cardio, not for other activities. At least, that's what I've been told. It's possible I'm wrong

brower47

georgiagreeneyes

Do you only eat the cardio calories or the ones you burn from strength training too? (I add the calories burned from strength under cardio because my hr monitortells me how many I have burned and fitness pal doesnt add calories from strength).

This answer really differs for everyone... If you find yourself eating those calories back but your weight loss stalls then try reducing that intake until you find that happy medium. Protein is your best friend if you're trying to build muscle!

Another thing you can try with your HRM is to measure your "afterburn"... aka how much your body burns in the hour after you stop working out. Eating a post-workout snack that matches that afterburn in calories is a great way to start replenishing those energy stores that were depleted in your workout! If you're not going to eat back your exercise calories, I recommend at least doing that!

MeanderingMammal

I add the calories burned from strength under cardio because my hr monitortells me how many I have burned

Your HRM will be overestimating the calories burned in resistance training as the asusmptions made in the algorithms are based on operating in the aerobic, tempo and threshold ranges. When you go anaerobic the algorithms break down.

YamaMaya1

It all depends on the mood I'm in and if I'm out with friends or at home. Usually I leave around 300-100 calories at the end of the day, sometimes more if I've worked my butt off and no matter what I can't seem to eat enough. Never thought I'd ever have days like that :P

buffalospiritdancer1

Wait.. What? Isn't that WHY we work out? )))
Yeah, I eat them. I try to leave a little defect, but I eat most of them anyway. Although I only eat the cardio, I don't add in strength training calories.

hmaddpear

Nope - I cardio for wine. :laugh:

Seriously, yes - I do consume most of my exercise calories - 75-80% - it would be all, but there's inherent inaccuracies and that seems to be what works for me.

ExpectantHope

I eat half of them