Question for about eating excercise Calories~!!

kknudson

Preface: I'm trying to eat my excercise Calories (or at least make sure my NET Calories stay above 1300) for a while to see if that helps me break out of this long, long plateau.

Last night there was an incident involving really sugary muffins that led to me being over my daily Calorie allotment by approx 1,000 big ones. It was a rest day, gym-wise, so I didn't work any of that off.

Today, I have a nice workout where I can guess my HRM will tell me I burned 500-600 Calories.

DO I:

A) Ignore yesterdays faux pas and stay on track (i.e. eat my all my excercise Calories)

or

Make up for yesterday by not eating any excercise Calories

or

C) Over the next three days or so, eat PART of each day's excercise Calories, to gradually make up for the accidental gluttony?

Does anyone know which is the best option? I'd really like some advice!!!

stormieweather

It probably won't help any (not like the calories are in limbo, they're either burned or converted), but I'd probably go a little light on my food for a few days because I track my average deficit by week/month/overall. That way I know if I'm doing well overall rather than focusing on one slip. Just how I'd do it .

ramseyrose

I have read in a health magazine that if the average calories over the week are ok, then you should still lose weight. So just cut back a little each day to allow for the muffin-fest.

tahoemads

The best thing to do for your body in instances like this is simply move on from your slip up. Don't try to overcompensate or overthink this whole process with your calories. Just work on not overeating again this week as your body rebalances. Basically you carb loaded (unintentionally). Return to your work outs with increased intensity (HIIT), and eat your exercise calories as normal. You could try to work off the calories you over-consumed, but messing with your caloric intake can be tricky.

My vote is to up the anty this week with your workouts, and stick to your eating plan again because the goal is to always keep your body properly fueled for that day and time. Sometimes the deficit we try to create from a binge doesn't work as well because of other factors: hormones, sleep, stress, etc.

Just my experience with getting back on track when I've fallen off the wagon...

CakeFit21

The best thing to do for your body in instances like this is simply move on from your slip up. Don't try to overcompensate or overthink this whole process with your calories. Just work on not overeating again this week as your body rebalances. Basically you carb loaded (unintentionally). Return to your work outs with increased intensity (HIIT), and eat your exercise calories as normal. You could try to work off the calories you over-consumed, but messing with your caloric intake can be tricky.

My vote is to up the anty this week with your workouts, and stick to your eating plan again because the goal is to always keep your body properly fueled for that day and time. Sometimes the deficit we try to create from a binge doesn't work as well because of other factors: hormones, sleep, stress, etc.

Just my experience with getting back on track when I've fallen off the wagon...

yep yep yep!

Just keep doing your thing and move on. It's all gonna wash out so to speak. You should drink lots and lots of water though. No doubt there was some serious sodium in those things. That will affect the scale more than the calories will.

travelgirl09

Yep, best to move on and not try to compensate. I've done that it and it seems to work out good.

kknudson

Thanks for taking the time to answer, everyone!!! I followed your advice, tahoemads, and stuck to the plan yesterday- it made sense the way you explained it. And I'm definitely going to add some intensity to workouts, and drink lots of water, just in case. Here's to hoping!

(Also, I would like to point out that it was two flippin' muffins @ 520 Cal apiece. I had no clue they were so calorie dense at the time. Well, I mean, I suppose the streusel crumbly stuff on top was a clue, but I didn't think about it )