To eat or not to eat your exercise calories?

theaterfan23

I usually eat them, but if it's the end of the night and I am not hungry and I still have some left, then I won't eat them!

UsedToBeHusky

I use mine to make arts and crafts

HAHAHA!!!

ambermichon

I dont eat them all to allow for error in logging and I am consistently losing weight...I am the lowest I have been in 7 years but also...I workout hard.

FearAnLoathing

I use mine to make arts and crafts

HAHAHA!!!

Keep an eye out for my etsy store coming soon! hahaha

joejccva71

To beat a dead horse, or not to beat a dead horse... use the search function or check out some sticky notes

OR... www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

Bravooooooo. *spartan clap*

kennethmgreen

I'll only eat them if they come from beaten dead horse meat.

mmmmmmmmmmmmm freshly beaten meat

Thank you both for this.

katkins3

Most of the people who ask this question have already made up their mind.

killagb

tigersword

I eat them if I am hungry and leave them if I am not.I like to listen to my body

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I have to say that "listening to our bodies" is the main reason most of us are here to lose weight. I've reached the conclusion that my body is terrible about telling me how to eat properly, and I've spent the last several months re-training it by using my brain to make sure I'm eating enough and the right kinds of calories.

To beat a dead horse, or not to beat a dead horse... use the search function or check out some sticky notes

OR... www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

anubis609

I eat them if I am hungry and leave them if I am not.I like to listen to my body

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I have to say that "listening to our bodies" is the main reason most of us are here to lose weight. I've reached the conclusion that my body is terrible about telling me how to eat properly, and I've spent the last several months re-training it by using my brain to make sure I'm eating enough and the right kinds of calories.

To beat a dead horse, or not to beat a dead horse... use the search function or check out some sticky notes

OR... www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

Beat my meat!

marneymac

I go by how I feel on any given day. If I'm truly hungry, I eat. If I'm full and content and haven't used all my cals/eaten my exercise cals, then I don't bother.

jellybaby84

Why do people have to be so rude as to go on about dead horses and old material every time a popular topic comes up?

The membership on here must be one of the biggest and most fluid I've ever seen. New people join all the time and the majority of people probably don't stick around very long.

Why should people have to check through old posts for the answers to their questions? What quantity of conversation would a forum have if only entirely original thoughts and ideas were posted?

Clearly people had things to say because there were plenty of genuine replies.

If you don't want to talk about it or have it clear in your own mind then don't involve yourself in the thread - simple!

kennethmgreen

Why do people have to be so rude as to go on about dead horses and old material every time a popular topic comes up?

The membership on here must be one of the biggest and most fluid I've ever seen. New people join all the time and the majority of people probably don't stick around very long.

Why should people have to check through old posts for the answers to their questions? What quantity of conversation would a forum have if only entirely original thoughts and ideas were posted?

Clearly people had things to say because there were plenty of genuine replies.

If you don't want to talk about it or have it clear in your own mind then don't involve yourself in the thread - simple!

A fair point. Being rude isn't really necessary, and perhaps the snarkiness does get out of hand (I have been, and will be guilty of, future snarkiness). I don't think the intent is to be mean or rude. After all, most of us are here to learn and be part of a community.

Forget the annoyance of having to weed through the same topic over and over. No one is perfect, and a community built around taking care of ourselves should be welcoming and encouraging.

But here is the real problem - for me, at least - with not searching first and just posting my question (and this applies to ALL forums): misinformation.

If I come on the forum looking for an answer to a question that has been asked and answered 50 times before, and I don't bother with a search, the answer I get may be bad or incomplete information.

It's not that every forum post has to be original. Discussion is great. People should be free to ask whatever they want. Different opinions make life interesting. The issue is creating a NEW topic each time rather than posting to an existing thread. So now, instead of ADDING to the discussion (which is good), I'm actually FRACTURING the discussion into multiple conversation threads. That's just messy.

Pebble321

There is never going to be agreement over the right answer to this question.
My "right" answer is going to be "wrong" for someone else.

Really, the question should be "how big do you want your calorie deficit to be?" because that is the effect of eating/not eating your exercise cals. If you eat them you have a smaller deficit, if you don't you have a larger deficit. Whether small or large deficit is right for you will depend on your personal situation, there isn't a standard answer that suits everyone.

Eating exercise cals has worked very well for me - both in terms of weight loss and in creating a sustainable lifestyle change.

JJLive

At first I wasn't eating my exercise calories and losing 3-4 pounds a week.. then I started to eat them 10 days ago and the first week I lost 5 lbs, then 3 days later I've lost two more.. And I tell you what, I am a whole lot happier eating 2,400 calories a day and losing 5 lbs a week, then I was eating 1,500 calories and losing 3-4 lbs.

EDIT: My exercise consists of a 1 hr bike ride, 5 days a week, where I usually burn 900+ calories.
And to be fair, the first week I ate 1,900 calories, the last 3 days I started eating it all back.

ChantalGG

I ate them back, i didnt, whatever. I found a good solution for me. I bumped my calories from 1200 to 1500 and if i eat them back i do if i dont it isnt a big problem. I just make sure my net calories are over 1200. I have started losing weight again. my advise is to change it up when you stop losing.

LaSweetMini

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!:laugh:

LaSweetMini

I eat them if I am hungry and leave them if I am not.I like to listen to my body

At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I have to say that "listening to our bodies" is the main reason most of us are here to lose weight. I've reached the conclusion that my body is terrible about telling me how to eat properly, and I've spent the last several months re-training it by using my brain to make sure I'm eating enough and the right kinds of calories.

To beat a dead horse, or not to beat a dead horse... use the search function or check out some sticky notes

OR... www.shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

Beat my meat!

First of all you are an *kitten*! 2nd of all dont waste your time responding. OBVIOSLY IM NEW here you friggin IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!

Ninotchka

I thought at first that I was supposed to eat them, but found I couldn't possibly eat that much. Then I noticed how much it slowed the weight loss down. Since then I may go over my 1200 a little on days I have exercised, but not by much. It made a big difference.

BeeElMarvin

No Mas...No Mas...