Should I exercise just to eat

ATT949

It doesn't sound like the OP is using it as a reward though. She wants a snack. So in order to have the snack she is going to exercise.

If she exercised and then made the decision based on "well i exercised, good for me, I deserve something" then snacked that would be more a reward i would think.

Maybe I'm wrong

But her situation seems more like she wants a snack because she wants the snack. The exercise is just a matter of making her stay within her daily goal.

I don't see anything wrong with that?
I eat back at least half of my exercise calories all the time

This isn't an issue of "eating back" - this is an issue of controlling appetite and "need" vs "want"


I read the OP's post again and I'm understanding it differently:

"after dinner I will be out of calories for the day, does it make sense to do some additional exercise later just to earn more calories so I can have a snack later? or is it just counter-productive "

The OP is pondering dinner and, as planned, she will have eaten up to her calorie limit when she finished the meal. She wants to know if she should exercise so that she can have a snack.

The first time I read her post, I didn't read it that way (I read it hastily).

With that understanding, first step is don't eat all of your cals if you want to have an evening snack. If you don't, you're overeating and that's how we ended up here.

In your example, you're rewarding yourself with food for exercising. Again, food is used as a reward. "I deserve something" - why?


It is not healthy to see food as a reward. Now, I could argue "What does the diet industry know when 90% of the people who try to lose weight don't keep it off long term?" but it's not the fault of the diet industry.

As long as food is a reward, there will be a tendency to get more rewards. That's just how most of our species functions.

Another approach is "Heh, I burned up 450 calories running three miles. I need to replace those calories with carbs and proteins so I'll have X." That is a much healthier approach. Exercise is not the reward. Food is not the reward. The reward is being healthy and exercise and food are both needed to achieve that goal.

What I think is happening here is the confusion of "want" vs "need". Problems arise when we confuse those.

CasperO

Hey, that's how I got my elliptical machine. I was starving, really miserable. I Dropped $300 at wally world, started spending 30 minutes on that thing ever morning, 'earned' an extra couple hundred cal's a day and wasn't miserable anymore.

I didn't and don't eat all my ex calories, because I found that if I did that I didn't lose weight. But I did/do eat 1/2 to 2/3 of them - and it made all the difference.

Smuterella

Food is a reward, food, I love food. Good, delicious, sexy tasting food is one of lifes great pleasures. Sigh.