Eating Back Calories Question

kevneedham

Aplogies if this has already been asked and answered, but ...

Appreciating the need to eat back at least some of the calories burnt off through exercise, does it make a difference if those are eaten back before the exercise? I dont get home from work till 7pm, and then will often play squash for 90 mins or go cycling for 90 mins. Once I've got home its close to 9pm, so I don't like to eat a big meal then, so tend to have something quite small. But I do eat more calories than usual during the day knowing I am going to burn off close to 1000 calories during my evening exercise.

Am I doing the right thing? Or should i be eating the calories back only once I have 'earnt' them? Or does it make a difference how long before the exercise I eat them?

Thanks in advance

Kev

Pebble321

It doesn't matter. If you know you will be cycling later in the day it's fine to plan your day to allow for those extra calories in earlier meals/snacks.

Atlantique

Aplogies if this has already been asked and answered, but ...

Appreciating the need to eat back at least some of the calories burnt off through exercise, does it make a difference if those are eaten back before the exercise? I dont get home from work till 7pm, and then will often play squash for 90 mins or go cycling for 90 mins. Once I've got home its close to 9pm, so I don't like to eat a big meal then, so tend to have something quite small. But I do eat more calories than usual during the day knowing I am going to burn off close to 1000 calories during my evening exercise.

Am I doing the right thing? Or should i be eating the calories back only once I have 'earnt' them? Or does it make a difference how long before the exercise I eat them?

Thanks in advance

Kev

You're fine. It's better to plan for those calories throughout the day than to try to force down a massive meal at day's end.

It's a good idea to eat a small snack within a half hour to an hour following your workout to replace the glycogen stores and aid recovery, and it sounds as though you're doing that.

MrsCupCakeBoyle

I dont do my workout until half past 7 at night when the kids are in bed, but i add the extra calories to my day before i do exercise.

joehempel

I try not to eat back the calories. So it has no bearing on what I do. However, I would think that if you planned for those, then you're good.....just make sure you really burn that much off.