Do you eat your excerise calories?

melissaeich20
melissaeich20 Posts: 12 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi!
I'm wondering how many of you eat the calories you burn from excercise? Have you seen better results either way? Thanks!
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Replies

  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    I do, but that's because of how I setup my daily caloric goal. There is a reason for eating them back (and for not eating them back), and it's not as arbitrary as many people on this site would make you think.
  • annamook
    annamook Posts: 28
    with a fork
  • AlyRoseNYC
    AlyRoseNYC Posts: 1,075 Member
    I don't, but not on purpose. I'm a bad meal planner.
  • leslisa
    leslisa Posts: 1,350 Member
    I don't. I can't. Literally. Diet/exercise controlled diabetic. I can't just binge eat when I want. I try to keep my sugar as constant as possible all day.
  • Carolyn_79
    Carolyn_79 Posts: 935 Member
    When I started out I didn't and I was hungry. I eat them all back now and I feel better and it hasn't slowed my weight loss at all.
  • RaeByerley
    RaeByerley Posts: 4
    I try really hard to, I feel way better when I do. I find if I work out at the end of the day that I can't eat that much in just a couple of hours. Now I work out in the AM and find that I am better at reaching my calorie goal. I need to work out or I would always be over on my calories.
  • riadastfu
    riadastfu Posts: 69
    I don't put in my exercise, so I don't tempt myself into eating more. The way I figure, the more I'm in a calorie deficit, the better.
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    Hi!
    I'm wondering how many of you eat the calories you burn from excercise? Have you seen better results either way? Thanks!

    I've lost weight many times using many different methods. Using the site this method espouses, I generally eat back most or all of my exercise calories. That way, I have a predictable weight loss (which has worked out well, though I've had to tune things from time to time), I'm never very hungry, I can make good food decisions, and I feel like I'm setting myself up with something that will allow me to easily maintain my weight once I reach my goal. It's worked very well for me.

    If you want to lose weight more quickly, you can experiment with NOT eating them back. You will probably lose weight faster, but keep an eye out for signs that your "base calorie burn" - the calories you burn in your daily life - is slowing (workouts fatigue you more, you can't build the intensity you once did, you don't feel as energetic, getting out of bed is harder), and be really careful with your food intake - reducing my calories too far makes me hungrier and more apt to make poor food choices.

    2500 (+exercise) calories burned - 1500 (+exercise) calories eaten means 1000 calorie deficit a day. When I maintain this, I lose 2 pounds a week. I'm maintaining it, and I'm losing two pounds a week on average.

    2500 (+exercise) - 1500 calories means 1000 (+exercise) calorie deficit a day. If I worked out for 500 calories a day, I'd be running a 1500-calorie deficit, which is three pounds a week. But I'm more tired, hungrier, less likely to eat healthy, less likely to be able to maintain a 500-calorie-a-day workout, and probably not burning the 2500 base calories every day because my *kitten* is dragging and I have no energy.

    What used to happen next with me is that I drop my calories even further, which got my weight loss going again, but also meant I had no energy to do workouts and my *kitten* was dragging even lower. Then I'd drop the workouts and lower my calories further, usually doing some fasting from time to time. At this point, I'd be operating on sheer willpower.

    Then as soon as my goal was met, whatever that might happen to be, I'd find myself in a position where I had developed no good eating habits whatsoever, I had no clue how to maintain my weight, and I felt like everything I ate turned instantly into fat. Then, when I started eating again, I had very little portion control, I felt guilty about everything I ate, and I completely lacked the capacity to burn any of it off. So I quickly ballooned back up, felt bad about it, ate to assuage the guilt, and regained my old weight in record time.

    I probably had a few affairs with eating disorders along the way. I stopped short of actual manual purging, but I did reach the point at one time when I'd eat foods that I know would make me throw up just to get rid of a meal I regretted, so I was probably closer than I'd really care to admit a few times.

    So, from the trenches, from someone who has been struggling with weight since I was eleven, and I'm now well over forty and this stuff is HARD WORK now, take the time and do it right. Rushing this just means you might end up like me. A 30-year shortcut to what could have been a 2-year job at most.

    EDIT: Posting overly dramatic replies to perfectly good questions. LOL.
  • AndiPandi687
    AndiPandi687 Posts: 48
    When I do Workout and atleast burn 300 calories I will eat something after the workout that's half the calories that I burned
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    I don't put in my exercise, so I don't tempt myself into eating more. The way I figure, the more I'm in a calorie deficit, the better.

    Just be aware that this is only true to a point.. the deficit can get too large.
  • ercarroll311
    ercarroll311 Posts: 295 Member
    I found that not eating the exercise calories only got me losing a lot for awhile. Soon enough I stopped all together. They give you those calories for a reason, because your body is using them and not eating at least a portion back is going to slow your metabolism and weight loss, not to mention make you feel worse. If you're not feeling well on the diet it's harder to stick to it. Don't feel guilty about eating the exercise calories as long as you're accurately recording what you're doing.
  • mindidily
    mindidily Posts: 196 Member
    I do most of the time, or at least some of them, depending on how hungry I am. It's been working for me; still on my 1lb/week track.
  • fatgirlslove
    fatgirlslove Posts: 614 Member
    I don't eat them back...not on purpose anyways.
  • JoniBologna
    JoniBologna Posts: 653 Member
    Yes, almost always. It hasn't slowed me down one bit.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I include mine in my daily caloric intake but averaged out for the week.

    The only time you should not eat them (assuming you calculated them correctly) is if you set up your original caloric intake to account of exercise i.e. you have a desk job, but set your activity level to active to account for planned exercise.

    As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

    So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif). The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

    What many MFPers do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1700/day above.
  • JoshuaL86
    JoshuaL86 Posts: 403 Member
    Yes! They are my favorite calories!! :D
  • Hadunka
    Hadunka Posts: 59 Member
    I eat them too. And I loose my weight.
  • Hollirot
    Hollirot Posts: 92 Member
    I eat some of them back, but usually have a couple hundred "left over" calories.
  • dancecentral
    dancecentral Posts: 50 Member
    Sometimes but not always.. I don't work out super hard most days.. and on the weekend I drink them :drinker:
  • kelif5959
    kelif5959 Posts: 202
    I have been eating most of them back. I try to leave a little room for inaccuracies on either end (intake count/burn count). Until I finally get my heart rate monitor and can feel more confident in my burn data.
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    Yes! They are my favorite calories!! :D

    Exercise calories taste THE BEST.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Yes! This is more important as you get closer to goal weight.

    I set my activity level to sedentary (office job) and then eat my exercise calories back. I would rather lose a little slower than end up losing muscle mass. I'm exercising to KEEP my muscle mass and don't want to be "skinny-fat."
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Yes! This is more important as you get closer to goal weight.

    I set my activity level to sedentary (office job) and then eat my exercise calories back. I would rather lose a little slower than end up losing muscle mass. I'm exercising to KEEP my muscle mass and don't want to be "skinny-fat."

    Awesome mindset!
  • jjelizalde
    jjelizalde Posts: 377 Member
    In a word - YES!
  • ofthevalley
    ofthevalley Posts: 69
    Hi!
    I'm wondering how many of you eat the calories you burn from excercise? Have you seen better results either way? Thanks!

    I have never eaten back my calories, but my weight loss has stalled and I'm giving it a go. I upped my cardio and strength training and I'm trying to eat back at least half of the calories and see if it helps.
  • wendy3330
    wendy3330 Posts: 35 Member
    Yes, I eat my exercise calories and it has not slowed down my weight loss at all.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Every last one of them........
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    mind your calorie deficit. that is all.
  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,519 Member
    yes, but I don't know what they are
  • LinzCurlyQ
    LinzCurlyQ Posts: 94 Member
    I eat them back and sometimes more :) Still managed to lose 7lbs this month

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