To eat excerise calories or not

shirleycatt

I am beginning week two of my new lifestyle. I have been keeping my calories somewhere in between the 1.5 lbs a week to 2 lbs a week. I just started exercising this week and have a question. Should I eat my exercise calories or not? I have worked out twice this week and have NOT eaten anything extra. The problem is I feel a little poopy today. I have a headache, I am craving carbs and I do feel a bit "out of it". I felt this way last week (day 3) but since have really felt pretty good. I really would like to keep my weight as close to 2 lbs. a week as possible. I am going on a cruise in February for my 40th birthday.

Any ideas?? Suggestions?? Anything would be greatly appreciated!!!

Shirley

_GlaDOS_

Eat them. They are the best kind of calories.

jordanlell

My suggestion is not to rush your weight loss. I know it's hard when you have a vacation coming up and you want to look your best, but you do need to eat enough to keep your body going. I say take your time and let the weight come off slowly. You might not make it to your goal by the cruise, but you'll be well on your way and also more likely to keep going with this.

As far as eating your exercise calories back, I'm no expert but just be sure that you're giving your body enough fuel for your workouts. MFP already has a deficit built in for you, so there's no need to try to increase that or you risk it becoming somewhat of an unhealthy deficit.

ElizabethRoad

The problem is I feel a little poopy today. I have a headache, I am craving carbs and I do feel a bit "out of it".

Doesn't this answer your question?

therealangd

Eat them. You feel poopy because you didn't. That's your body telling you to eat.

3GKnight

It took me about 3 weeks to figure out that eating them back was sabotaging my weight loss. I've since changed my plan to a lower calorie intake and am aiming to not eat any more than that.

If you feel like you're not getting anywhere with the weight loss. Try not eating them. As for having 'cravings', it's going to take time to adjust. I have a huge sweet tooth, yet I'm trying to completely cut out the sugar, just to get the adjustment period done faster.

So in other words...whatever works for you. Try different things, and give them time.

SuddenlyPickles

I am a reformed non eater of exercise calories. The idea baffled me (eat more and lose more weight -- waaaa?!), but, after being stuck at a month-long plateau and suffering from a lack of energy, I caved in and decided to try it for a limited amount of time (I think I said two weeks: if I didn't see any results or, God forbid, I gained weight, I'd go back to my 1200 calories per day, exercise or not).

Sooooo... What happened? I realized that i was dumb and that my body was waaaay more intelligent that I ever gave it credit for. Not only did I start to see drops in weight, but my energy levels are phenomenal.

Try it. You might be surprised.

normh545

i dont eat mine on the day, i save them for the week end and drink them

Sublog

It depends on how much fat you have on your body and if you can reach your macro/micro nutritional needs without eating your exercise calories.

So if you have a lot of weight to drop, don't do it. If you have a few lbs to drop, it's probably best to do so.

mindspinmegs311

You're supposed to eat back the calories that you burn in exercise. The way that they formulate your calorie level is what dietitians like myself use to help people lose weight - figure out the person's BMR (basal metabolic rate, the amount of calories you burn just laying in bed all day) and then they add an activity level based on what you said when you signed up (do you sit on your bum most of the day, or are you a nurse or dietitian who is walking around all day long?) and that adds more calories if necessary. They then subtract a certain amount of calories - for me, it's 500 per day. 500 calories x 7 days = 3500 calories, which SHOULD equal 1 lb of fat.

SO - the amount of calories they advise you to eat SHOULD get you to your weight loss goal, without exercise at all! Of course exercise is healthy and important, and you burn calories while doing it, so in order to stay with your weight loss goal - not lose weight too fast, and not feel poopy - you should eat back most or all of your exercise calories.

psuLemon

My suggestion is eat at least 50-75% of them (MFP tends to over estimate) to help reduce the chance of muscle loss. Muscle loss equals a slower metabolism, which will affect you long term. Another approach is set your goal at .5 lb per week and then not eat them back. Or another approach is include exercise into your lifestyle calculation and not eat them back.

psuLemon

BTW, here are some good threads on eating more to lose more.



http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395881-people-who-lost-weight-eating-more

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/392784-skinny-fat-vs-fit-photo

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395948-caloric-intake-results?hl=caloric+intake+results&page=1#posts-5425208