Exercise Calories

lady_in_weighting

Should i eat back my exercise calories if im trying to gain weight? Feels pointless going to the gym if i have to eat them back to gain weight. OR. do i not eat back my exercise calories, go to the gym, and just eat what MFP recommends calorie wise to gain weight? HELP .... very confused right now!

Louise1583

Having read your 'about me' thing, then you should probably be eating over your calorie allowance if it's lean muscle mass and weight you want to gain.

If you're going to be exercising and trying to build up your muscles, you'll need complex carbs for the energy and protein to help repair your muscles after a workout, so yes, eat them back, and you'll see your shape change and you'll get stronger.

Good luck!

Zichu

Because you are trying to gain weight, and hopefully by eating healthy foods you will definitely need to eat back your calories burnt and on top of what MFP has recommended for you.

It will be hard if you aren't used to eating this many calories, but I was like it for a bit. I was eating 1600kcal a day, sometimes I couldn't even reach that, but I wanted to build muscle so I increased my calorie goal to maintain and even 1800kcal was hard to begin with. I feel I am getting better and am reaching my goals.

Just try not to snack on unhealthy foods. Sometimes if I am full from eating my dinner, I will feel a little hungry afterwards, instead of going for a snack, I will cut off a bit more meat from my dinner and snack on that for the extra protein. You will have your ups and downs, but you will easily reach your calories goals if you are determined to gain weight.

lady_in_weighting

thanks for the advice. i guess i should still do cardio to keep up my fitness and burn fat and then obvs do weights so that i build muscle. at least now i know to eat back the calories.