Where do you stand on eating back your exercise calories?

hmmckim1128

I find that I do my workouts usually after 9:30 at night once my daughter is in bed and asleep. I keep reading where people eat back most or at least some of their calories burned. I haven't been doing that since I work out so late and never know what I'm going to burn. My net calories end up being around 500 most days even though my total intake is usually between 1000-1300.

How should I handle this. I'm not hungry but I don't want to slow down my loss by not eating enough. Suggestions?

kelsbeckins

I tend to workout in the morning first thing so this isn't an issue for me. But maybe try eating more earlier in the day knowing how much you'll burn later? Or having a small snack after you eat, ie a hardboiled egg or protein shake. Good luck!

mrsamyhicks

I would love to see the answers to this question because I have a hard time eating all of my calories on my workout days......

curlyclo

You can try to eat them earlier in the day or eat them the next day.

taso42

Well 1200 is the recommended bare minimum net - meaning on average most people will require more than that. And you're netting 500. So, assuming your goal is to be lean and healthy, you should do whatever it takes to get in the habit of eating more. Much more.

twerps4jesusjo

My suggestion would be to add a few healthy snacks during the day when you know you are going to work out. I know I can't eat right before I work out, but maybe try having a snack a half hour before your workout.

Cr0wned_Dynam0

I exercise at different times of the day and usually know what I am going to do. I use the exercise calories as a cushion personally. With no exercise my calories are set to 1290 but I rarely do not do something active, so most days I just aim to not exceed 1600 calories because that works for me, I'm not starving and I am not stuffed, but if I have really worked out a lot and I do get hungry, I don't fret over having something else to tie me over. If you are listening to your body and you are still losing, then I think you are doing fine, just adjust as needed, because not every day is going to be the same.

woodcje

I work out everyday from 5-7 pm and then have dinner after that. Running 6 days a week and strenth trainging 3.

So eating back the calories is hard as well.

Since I am not hungry I do not worry about it. Also eat about 1200- 1400 dailey and burn on average 700.

mrsamyhicks

I tend to workout in the morning first thing so this isn't an issue for me. But maybe try eating more earlier in the day knowing how much you'll burn later? Or having a small snack after you eat, ie a hardboiled egg or protein shake. Good luck!

I workout mornings, so that i will know how much i burned and still have a hard time eating back the calories because im not hungry, at least not THAT hungry.. guess we just have to MAKE ourselves eat??? Or is it not that big of a deal...

JulieSD

well, i'm not trying to be rude...but you need to in general eat more food. Simple as that. You should probably be aiming for 1200-1400 after exercise.

Second, i cant work out until 830 when my daughters are in bed (single mom) and I just aim for a certain number to burn (usually between 200-300) and then during the day eat the calories. So at any giving time my diary may look over until I add my exercise.

teagin2002

I don't eat them back and use them as a buffer in case we feel like eating out or doing something special spontaneously.

smpreston

I eat to my goal in MFP, including exercise calories. If I run a 1,000 calorie deficit and do 700 calories worth of workout, then that deficit becomes a rather unreasonable 1,700 calories. Now, I don't record exercises such as walking the dog, mowing the lawn, etc and just count that as normal activity.

eddie8131

Yeah I am struggling with this right this second. I am just finishing up at work. I worked out before work and now have 1,366 calories left for the day. My "usual" calorie goal is 1,800, so if I hadn't exercised, it would have been only 550.

1,366 calories, seriously? I am super hungry right now, and could probably eat all 1,366 calories. What I will do is eat the 550, then see how I feel. It is just so hard to know what to do.

wonca

If your routine is basically the same, you should have a rough idea of how many calories you're going to burn.

With that in mind, just go ahead and throw in a few snacks throughout the day. For example.. 15 almonds is about 160 calories, so if I need to get some more calories in on a given day, I'll go ahead and snack on them accordingly.

Typically I'll eat back all but 500-700 calories depending on the day (keeping in mind that my days usually are between 2500-3300 calories). The reason I try to make up my calories is because I've tried running at a deficit and ultimately my work out suffers and I end up being sluggish through out the day.

Find a healthy snack food and add it in. Also, I typically do a post work out recovery drink that helps me make up some calories. A lot of people use skim chocolate milk (it has the right ratio of carbs:protein right out of the jug).

Hope that helps.

taso42

It is just so hard to know what to do.

No. It's not. It's dead simple.

- find your TDEE
- subtract a modest deficit (250-1000 cals per day, depending how fat you are) and call that your target
- hit as close as you can to that target, NET, every day
- make exercise part of your life

jskaggs1971

Your body doesn't have a 'Reset' switch that flips over at midnight like the MFP daily calorie counter does. Worked out hard yesterday? Hungry? Eat a little more today. Have a big breakfast.

I'm no fitness expert, but I'm blessed with an uncommonly large common sense gland.

Ebbykins

It is just so hard to know what to do.

No. It's not. It's dead simple.

- find your TDEE
- subtract a modest deficit (250-1000 cals per day, depending how fat you are) and call that your target
- hit as close as you can to that target, NET, every day
- make exercise part of your life

This ^^ You didn't get overweight by being "full" on 500 calories, so there is something else "bigger" going on, either mentally or environmentally, either your perspective on diet and exercise changes first, to something you can maintain long term and healthfully or you go on eating less than your body needs nutritionally and causing your body harm over the long term... your choice.

jetscreaminagain

It is just so hard to know what to do.

No. It's not. It's dead simple.

- find your TDEE
- subtract a modest deficit (250-1000 cals per day, depending how fat you are) and call that your target
- hit as close as you can to that target, NET, every day
- make exercise part of your life

This ^^ You didn't get overweight by being "full" on 500 calories, so there is something else "bigger" going on, either mentally or environmentally, either your perspective on diet and exercise changes first, to something you can maintain long term and healthfully or you go on eating less than your body needs nutritionally and causing your body harm over the long term... your choice.

Both of these, for realz.

I get that people hit rock bottom or come to a major realization or whatever and then they want to do the opposite, but really being extreme in your thinking and behavior may well have gotten you here. Being reasonable and moderate allows you to lose weight and keep it off, because you won't exhaust yourself at one extreme of calorie restriction and too much exercise and react with binging and couch potatoing. Change takes time and consistency. You HAVE to do something you can do consistently for a long time. Eating 500 calories ain't one of those things.

I've been here a while. Most of my friends have been here longer There are people who aren't my friends who I pay attention to on here cuz they're smart. The common denominator is that the successful people, and the ones that have been here a while and met goal and are just keeping keeping on seem to be the ones that 1) eat at least some of their exercise calorie; 2) tend to eat more than 1200 net even, some a heck of a lot more than 1200 net and 3) consistently exercise following a well-laid out plan, and tend to do more lifting than ridiculous amounts of cardio.

It isn't all that hard to figure out, you just have to trust that results will come and slowly is better than quickly. It isn't hard to figure out because MFP does the math for you, just put your numbers in and try to hit your goal close as possible without going over. Its like Price is Right, but with calories.

amsparky

Bump - good info here

Cait_Sidhe

I find that exercise calories are the yummiest kind.

LethaSue

Oh why isn't there a like button for when I could really use one!

LethaSue

I think this site has alot of very useful info on it......... I think the exercise credits for burned calories is not one of them. They appear to be very over inflated. They give people the power to think they have flown through a mega amount of calories in a flash and now they can do some more packing on the food. Never in my life have I seen a diet where you were alloted a set amount of calories a day and then told you could use more if you burned some extra. I thought the whole ideal of losing weight was to consume less calories and increase your daily activities, thus resulting in weight loss. I am kinda thinking it is sort of setting you up for failure. Maybe if there are failures then all those ads for bypass surgery and other weight loss measures will be tried. Lets just say I am very weary of this practice. I will use the lesser of the choices of exercises given to choose from and then cut the burned calories in half. If I really need those for something special, I will consider using them, but I feel like I am working to hard on this weight loss thing for something like making a mistake in over judging the calories extra I might of burned. If it were that easy to burn calories then alot of us would not be in this shape to begin with.

kikkipoo

prelog your workouts and make sure you achieve the calorie burn before you hit the sack. You will then have all day to spread out the calories appropriately but wont be doing damage by eating too much right before bed.