cheat days

Russellb97

Should I eat back my exercise calories?
depends, but usually no

I believe it's best to eat less 6 days and have a Spike Day, why?

The big reason many eat back their exercise calories is fear of starvation mode. Starvation Mode is the slow down of metabolism over a given time because our body is in a prolonged catabolic state (eating itself for energy)
The problem is even we eat back those calories we are still in a deficit every day. There is no break from this and our metabolism will still slow down. A deficit is a deficit no matter how small

Now the other way is you eat what you need for your base metabolism (BMR) and exercise to help create your deficit.

Then more fat will burned as energy 6 days a week.
Have one Spike Day a week where the goal is a surplus of calories, that breaks the pattern and spikes up metabolism.

In my opinion when you eat back your exercise calories it's just a wash. I exercise to burn fat, not to eat more. Then I use spike day to enjoy food and keep my metabolism strong.