exercise cals

Robin9
Robin9 Posts: 20
edited September 19 in Health and Weight Loss
I have a question.....I have been doing this for about three weeks. It has gotten a lot easier... I now feel lost on my exercise day off and have found I want to do it..so I do! Any way, my question is....I am finding it harder to consume my calories on exercise days eating the right way. Fresh fruit and raw veggies hardly contain anything (cals) Will I continue to loose weight if I am not eating my "extra exercise cals"?

Replies

  • Zara11
    Zara11 Posts: 1,247 Member
    yeah
    some people, no
    most people, yeah
    use what balance works best for you
    as in, eat a fraction of them that makes you feel sated, be that fraction 1/4, 1/2, or 1/1.
    but when in doubt, eat them
  • adopt4
    adopt4 Posts: 970 Member
    It's one of those things to change once you hit a plateau.
  • msarro
    msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
    Agreed with everyone above me. Try to eat them, but the world won't come to an end if you don't. Some days when I bike or hike I'll easily burn 1200-2500 calories depending on terrain. Considering a hike that long takes 5-6 hours, thats more than half my day gone right there. That leaves me with half a day to eat triple the calories... just ain't gonna happen :laugh:

    On a side note, organic natural peanut butter is AWESOME for when you need to make up some calories. So are smoothies because you can basically throw in whatever the heck you want.
  • sassiebritches
    sassiebritches Posts: 1,861 Member
    I have set myself on a set amount of cals that is above the 1200 cals. This way if I do workout I don't HAVE to eat them unless like today, I feel hungry. Otherwise I keepm it at 1500 cals.

    Good for you on the working out!
  • 135gratitude
    135gratitude Posts: 364
    I'm a little confused by this too! I did two workouts today, so I was supposed to eat 1800 calories! Isn't that crazy! I ate 1500, and stopped there! I didn't get a gnawing in my tummy until about 10 pm,so I think I made the right decision!
    :flowerforyou:
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
    Some days when I bike or hike I'll easily burn 1200-2500 calories depending on terrain. Considering a hike that long takes 5-6 hours, thats more than half my day gone right there. That leaves me with half a day to eat triple the calories... just ain't gonna happen :laugh:
    I'm in the same position. (Well, except I'm now trying to maintain, but it's the same principle.) On Tues. and Thurs. I do two killer workouts. On Wed., I do two workouts, but one is strength training and the other is swimming where I've finally improved my stroke enough that I'm not wasting energy in the water. So both together burn less calories than one of my workouts on Tues. or Thurs. Monday and Friday are my days off and I do nothing. The weekend is variable with 1 to 3 workouts per day.

    I found the on the days I supposedly burn 1000-2000 calories in exercise, I am not 1000-2000 extra calories hungry. But the next day I'm hungrier than what my exercise calories would be.

    I have been experimenting to see the best way to deal with this. What I've tried so far is:

    1) When I set my activity level with MFP, I included my exercise. So my daily allotment was based on an average of my exercise over the week.

    2) On days I do the killer workouts, I consumed extra calories, right before, right after and also during the workout. I do it with a combination of "convenience" foods like gels and sports drinks (during) and regular food (before & after).

    #1 is more like other sites do it and #2 is more like eating your exercise calories. What I found is that I really need to do both. For #1, I set the daily allotment to be slightly below what I need to maintain and for #2, I only replace about half the calories I'm burning while I am burning them. It seems to be working so far. If I don't do #2, then I run out of gas on the longer and more intense workouts. If I don't do #1, I'm hungry all the time on days when I don't workout.

    So I'm going to keep doing it. The only remaining question is: what should my daily allotment be to maintain? When I was at 1400, I was still losing a pound a week! But if I go much over that, my eating tends to get uncontrolled, probably from too many carbs. So, we'll see. :smile:
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 20
    I have heard about this plateau...when should I expect one? Halfway through? Almost at my goal? after 20 lbs or so?? Just an idea when to expect it so I don't get flustered. Thanks!
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 20
    Thanks, I love peanut butter! Great idea.
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
    I have heard about this plateau...when should I expect one? Halfway through? Almost at my goal? after 20 lbs or so?? Just an idea when to expect it so I don't get flustered. Thanks!
    Personally, I don't think you should *expect* one. I've been dieting since I was 13 and I've never had one. It just depends on the individual.
  • Robin9
    Robin9 Posts: 20
    Thanks!!
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
    I have heard about this plateau...when should I expect one? Halfway through? Almost at my goal? after 20 lbs or so?? Just an idea when to expect it so I don't get flustered. Thanks!

    it's not the same for everyone, some get them, some dont, some find them hard to break, some don't. I wrote this a while ago, and the timeline is different for everyone, but the stages are pretty on track for about 85 to 90% of people going from overweight or obese down.

    whoops, posted the wrong link. :tongue:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/9433-expectations
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