Eating more when you exercise???

sweetpea11043683

I'm really confused by the whole...'eat the calories you burn of during exercise' advice. Does this actually help with weight loss even more and do you have to eat soon after exercise?

Kat120285

It works for me. My base is 1640 and once I add exercise that goes up to around 2400. I have my goals at half a pound a week so I've got 250 calories to play with. If I'm really hungry that day then I'll eat all the calories, if I'm stuffed then I can leave as much as 250 and be fine but usually don't leave more than 100.

You eat them back because of the way that MFP is set up. You still have a deficit at the end of the day even after eating back those calories.

Your body needs those calories so it can use them to function properly. When I first started and was set at the 1200 mark, I lost a few pounds and then stopped. Once I changed my activity level and the calories upped, I lost again and as of this week I am 1.8 pounds away from my final goal.

You have to see what works for you but always keep in mind how important it is to fuel your body and any work outs you do. I got down to the weight I'm around right now but in a very unhealthy way. I'm now getting the right amount of calories and have gotten back down to the weight I feel comfortable but in a much healthier way.

MyNameIsNotBob

To lose weight, you need to keep a calorie defecit somewhere between survival (about 1,200) and maintenance (about 2,000). I'll use 1,500 as an example.

You can do this by exercise alone (eat 2,000 calories, burn 500 = 1,500 net, or a 500 calorie defecit).

You can do this by exercising and eating less (eat 1,800 calories, burn 300 = 1,500 net, or a 500 calorie deficit).

Or, you can do this by eating less alone (eat 1,500 calories = 1,500 net, or a 500 calorie defecit).

The best part of exercising is that you get to eat more and still have a safe, healthy calorie defecit! In all of the exercise examples above, the person gets to eat more while still having a 500 calorie defecit! Isn't that awesome?!

You can do one of these one day and another another day. You don't have to be all or nothing. What you DO have to do is eat a minimum number of calories to be healthy, and not exceed your maintenance calories to keep losing weight.

sweetpea11043683

Thanks guys!! That's really helpful!! :happy:
Think I'll need to rethink how I'm doing all of this to be honest!
Really good of you to help me out though!!

Thank you!!