Not Eating My Exercise Calories!!

determined2lose89

You don't have to eat back all of your exercise calories. Have a high protein recovery snack after your workout. A handful of almonds and some chocolate milk or a small protein shake should foot the bill.

BeeElMarvin

Yes, you do!
No, you don't!
I don't care, do what you want!

iKristine

I've just learned that I have to 'eat back' my exercise calories, is this why I've been feeling so tired the day after Ive trained? I was finding it hard to do 2/3 days of training in a row!! Idiot!
Now that I'm wiser, any suggestion on the best nutritous foods I should consume to replenish my exercise calories?

Also I need more motivation, anyone out there who loves running or taking part in fitness challenges, you can add me as a friend

It could be, it also might simply be the quality of foods your eating. You could eat 2000c and still be lathargic the next day if they were all microwavables.

I wouldn't automatically assume that. There is a fine line when you go to starvation mode, and it might or might not be at whether you eat them back or not. The only real way to know is trial and error. Do you know your cal burn? It's pretty simple math, you take your BMR x 1.2 = TDEE then from your TDEE you subtract your goals. 500c for 1 lb 750 for 1.5 lbs or 1000c for 2 lbs week. Then eat back your calories. I sometimes do sometimes don't. But one things for sure with me, if I don't for too long and I burn off 1000c with diet I WILL PLATEAU.

I eat all whole foods. I am a complete Nazi on this. I eat lean chicken and fish, all the greens possible and fruits and whole grains. I rarely eat out. Oatmeal, cottage cheese, yogurt, water water water and no soda hardly ever. And as a result that alone (my diet) gives me more energy than I ever got with drinking energy drinks of coffee. If you want to really understand nutrition and health and by extension give you motivation, there is a really great book called "The Culprit and the Cure" that is easy read and top notch in research. All the information is scientific and peer reviewed so there is no agenda. Good luck.

raige123

I don't purposefully eat back my exercise calories and I've been doing pretty well. I eat small meals all day long and am always energized for my workouts. I think it completely depends on your body, everyone is different. If eating your exercise calories back helps you to loose more weight and put in better workouts, then that's what you need to do. The key is to listen to your body and find out what works best for YOU.

THIS!!! If I eat mine back, I gain ... end of story! So I don't and am losing quite nicely. Some people work the opposite. Find what works for your body!

Ant_M76

Different things work for different people - there's no 'definite' about any thing when it comes to weight loss. Rather than demanding people do things a particular way all we can do is offer advice, explain the science behind different methods and then let people work out what actually works for them.

Bingo!

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wellbert

I don't purposefully eat back my exercise calories and I've been doing pretty well. I eat small meals all day long and am always energized for my workouts. I think it completely depends on your body, everyone is different. If eating your exercise calories back helps you to loose more weight and put in better workouts, then that's what you need to do. The key is to listen to your body and find out what works best for YOU.

THIS!!! If I eat mine back, I gain ... end of story! So I don't and am losing quite nicely. Some people work the opposite. Find what works for your body!

I wonder how much of that is portion sizes in food. I've measured fast food portions being MUCH higher than the quoted weight/calories on a website. When I have Panda Express, for example, I can usually count on an extra 150-300 calories in inaccurate portion sizes. Or when cooking at home, eyeballing.

Exercises... without a HRM, who's to say how accurate DB exercises are? I think it's important to find a happy medium. For me, it's eating 50% of my exercise calories.

At least, until I wear a HRM and measure everything I eat...

taso42

taso42

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vim_n_vigor

You don't HAVE to do anything. If you have your activity level set properly for what you actually do in a day, and you exercise, you should eat at least some of them back. MFP already factors in a deficit. You should always keep your NET calories above 1200 at the bare minimum (for women) and even then, most women should NET more than that. You can always drop your calories lower, but then as you noticed, you get tired, don't recover from your workouts, stay sore longer, get crankier, etc. If you are noticing that you aren't feeling right on your caloric intake, then yes, add more. If you don't feel very hungry, use calorie dense foods like nuts, avacado, etc. to get those extra, healthy calories.

LeanMeanFitnessMachine

You don't HAVE to eat back your exercise cals, its just suggested. It seems like it works for some people but not for others. I eat back & I've lost 7 pounds so far! Just listen to your body and do what works for you :-)

jskaggs1971

OP, the key thing is to learn to listen to your body and do what works best for YOU. If you're feeling tired and run-down the day after a workout, then, yeah, you probably need to refuel yourself more after a workout. However, I think trying to hit a specific calorie goal is less useful than carefully listening to what your body says.

It's taken me a while to learn to really listen to myself, though. as a poster said in an earlier thread, many of us have mistaken the feeling of "not full" for "hungry" for a long time -- and that's why we're trying to lose weight. One size does not fit all, and I think blanket statements to the effect of "you should ALWAYS" or "You should NEVER" anything are counterproductive.

What works for ME is using my daily net calorie goal as a budget. If I'm hungry, and there are calories left in the "bank", I eat. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat. If I'm hungry and there are no calories in the bank, I either don;t eat, or do what I did yesterday, and "borrow" calories from my usual weekly deficit to make up for my eating habits.

Above everything else, I think you need to make small, incremental changes, and see what works best for you. I like a peanut butter and banana sandwich after a workout, or a glass of chocolate milk with some protein powder in it, when I'm feeling run down after working out.

Crystal_R84

You exercise to burn fat and build strength. Sure, you can lose by just eating your calories and thats all, but then you'll be a saggy limp noodle. So, to build up your body and maintain a HEALTHY NET CALORIE CONSUMPTION...its best to eat them back

lol saggy limp noodle...I love it! But agreed eat your calories!

Nuts are healthy (in moderation don't get a bagful)