Do you eat your workout calories? If you do are you still lo

laneybird

I only eat some back if I happen to still be hungry, but I plan my days to be at or under my calorie goal. I have steadily lost since last May...with the exception of the Holidays lol

MrsNoir

That's the only reason I work out. Just kidding, sorta.

Lol, no kidding, but sometimes I just workout to deserve a laaarge dinner!, like the one I'm planning today!!

CyberEd312

I eat my exercise calories back everyday... I need to fuel my workouts and keep from having a huge caloric deficit. I gauge my calories burned off my FT60 Polar HRM and make sure I eat back what I burn to keep myself around my MFP setting of losing 1 pound a week... Working for me......

cmstrauch

MFP already builds in your daily intake requirement. Its all about the Net atthe end of the day! I am currently at 1200 a day and I always go into my workout with a negitive balance of a couple hundered calories b/c I like to eat! I call the gym "singing for my supper" How hard I work at the gym dictates my dinner..if I wanna eat, Ill work out hard!

rsouthland

MFP already builds in your daily intake requirement. Its all about the Net atthe end of the day! I am currently at 1200 a day and I always go into my workout with a negitive balance of a couple hundered calories b/c I like to eat! I call the gym "singing for my supper" How hard I work at the gym dictates my dinner..if I wanna eat, Ill work out hard!

My new matra. "singing for my supper". "if I wanna eat, I'll work out hard."

I love this!

Stacyanne324

I try to eat back at least enough to net 1200 calories. You really don't want to fall below that on a consistent basis. On days that I have something special going on I may eat all of them but most days I don't.

northwjj

I am trying to decide if I am doing the right thing by not eating my workout calories. Right now I eat just under 1200 and have just started Jillian Micheal's 30 day shred which burns approximately 246 calories for my body....what are your thoughts?

Thanks!

Simply stated MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week. That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up. Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories. Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be? In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more. Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.
Be efficient. Exercise hard and eat back the calories. The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.

Agree with above

KimmehL

Always net at least 1200-1300. Typically eat back most of my exercise calories...those are the hard-earned ones and I enjoy every single bite.

alyssamiller77

I lost 25lbs. I am now working on building lean muscle and I never ever eat back my exercise calories. I wouldnt want to sit there after all that work eating to then go to sleep on a full stomach. After my workouts I always drink a protein shake for recovery and Im good. In my opinon I feel like it defeats the purpose of working out. But then again thats what works for me and itsmy opinion. To each their own. Do what works for u.

Based on the fact you're not eating them back, it sounds like you're eating at a deficit. You may find that you'll have a hard time gaining any real muscle mass if that's the case. You need to have a calorie surplus in order to build muscle. I've tried various supposed approaches to building muscle while on a calorie deficit and it just doesn't happen. So from that perspective alone you may want to adjust your approach. Just trying to offer up a helpful suggestion, not meant to be a criticism.

blondefox30

I had the same question. I am trying to lose weight and build muscle and I'm not sure what is the right approach. Help!

skygoddess86

As many as I possibly can!

Train like a beast so you can eat like a beast!

skygoddess86

I love that

99cherrypie99

I work out every day and most times 2X per day. I wear a heart rate monitor and when I run I burn about 500 calories per session (4 days per week) in addition to the 200 or so that I burn doing DVD's like P90X. I don't ever "eat back" the calories, but I may eat 100 or so more. I try to listen to my body and see if I am really hungry or not. On the days that I do strength training I try to eat more protein but not more calories.

blondefox30

Do we not receive workout calories for strength training? Just cardiovascular?

CMmrsfloyd

I eat my exercise calories and I have consistently lost weight at the rate I request MFP to help me lose. The site is set up to credit you those exercise calories for a reason.

LindseyDD

I NEVER eat my workout calories - EVER!

tigerblue

Eat your calories back, but be careful that you are not over-estimating your calorie burn. I like to leave about 100 calories as a buffer, for errors in calculating both calories eaten and burned.

francekelley

In Reply to Blondefox30---Yes, you definitely do! However, it is listed under cardiovascular, not strength training (i know, weird). So basically search "Strength Training" under cardio instead of strength training. Thats what i do, and i usually get about 180 calories out of it for an hour's work. Hope this helps

TinaS70

bump

killingtheantagonist

To blondefox30

There's actually a strength training option in your cardio database, but I'm not sure how accurate it is.