Eating Exercise Calories

rachelnelson76

Do you eat yours? All? Part?

Today I burned 740 calories exercising and the thought of eating all of those makes me uneasy. My diary says I have now only consumed 540 calories when I have actually eaten 1300. Any advice would be appreciated!

nicksaysnever

I always eat at least some of them back - whether it is just some or nearly all depends on how hungry I am. I generally try to eat them back to within 200 of my goal if I burn more than 500 cals exercising. That gives me a bit of wiggle room if I've overestimated my exercise or underestimated my food.

chickybuns

I eat back most of mine. You shouldn't go under 1200 net calories if that helps, but at least eat some back.

sandy2006

I eat back all mine. Sometimes I leave a hundred or so.

sleepytexan

I eat them all. All the time. I find it works best to reconcile all my calories burned to my calories eaten within 24-48 hours. Sometimes I eat extra calories in advance of an anticipated big burn so that I have stored energy for the event. Sometimes when I burn more than expected (like yesterday I rode 3 hours instead of planned 90 minutes), I used leftover calories to refuel today, on my rest day,

You don't have to starve to lose weight. In fact if you get used to starving, you'll have a harder time. Food is fuel. You exercise, you need fuel. If you don't net close to your BMR, how would you expect your body to function without brown-outs? Somethings gotta give. Your energy will give out first.

Why make it hard, people? eat!

rachelnelson76

Thank You!!

Riverofbeauty

Agree with everything SleepyTexan said! If you net below your BMR your body will have a hard time getting all the energy/nutrients it needs.