Do you eat your workout calories?

torpina

Do you eat your workout calories? What if you don't? Will that impact weight loss?

corsetqueen09

i used to eat my workout calories and i didn't lose a pound. I would suggest maybe eating a little bit of your workout calories but don't take full advantage

graelwyn

Yes, I do, usually all or most of them.
As you can see from my profile picture, it doesn't seem to cause any issues

luchien

i used to eat my workout calories and i didn't lose a pound. I would suggest maybe eating a little bit of your workout calories but don't take full advantage

^^ same for me. I don't eat all of them anymore, it really just wasn't working for me and the scale. I usually eat about half back.

MCSCarney

Ultimately it is always calories in, calories out that determine weight loss. Working out should increase muscle and therefore metabolism so you'll burn calories anyway. But don't eat all the ones you've worked off if you want to really lose.

ocukor1

I don't. I have my energy expenditure set up manually which includes the exercise for the week, and I stick to a similar routine from week to week. I don't feel like tracking exercises each day. I like to keep it simple.

camrunner

I only eat some of them. Most of my workouts are runs that burn well over 1000 calories, and there's just no way, after most of a decade of being on a "diet" that I could force myself to eat the 4000 calories or so that I'd need to break even.

spdoman7

Never...and I have found it to have zero impact on my short and long term performance and mental capacities

cbevan1229

I eat most of them - try to leave 100 or so.

fairc3jam

Do you eat your workout calories? What if you don't? Will that impact weight loss?

I work out to keep within calorie goal, hopefully with some left over

RuthSweetTooth

You will definitely need to eat back enough so that your net is not below 1200 calories. So enjoy them!

NoAdditives

I eat them all. Every day. If I don't, my weight loss slows immediately.

Shepink

I don't. My goal is to tone and lose weight, eating those calories would defeat the purpose.

LorinaLynn

I ate them from the beginning, lost the weight as predicted, and have kept it off for over a year now, all the while eating way more than I ever thought possible while "dieting."

On the other hand, what happened when I didn't eat enough: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/494091-i-just-don-t-care-anymore

NoAdditives

I don't. My goal is to tone and lose weight, eating those calories would defeat the purpose.

That's only true if you are set to your maintenance calories. Otherwise, you might be giving yourself a deficit that is too large.

Agator82

I don't, but I will use them as flex calories which means that some days I will not eat any of them and others I might eat up to 80%. Generally speaking if I eat any I will eat 20% or less.

JessyJ03

I eat them back... every single one. I'm still losing weight.

ocukor1

There is nothing wrong with eating the calories back to maintenance level, but I have to warn you to not over estimate the work out you're doing. I've seen people putting things like "cleaning the kitchen - moderate cardio 800 calories" and stuff like that. Don't over estimate that, or your next thread is going to be about how you work out so hard but you didn't lose any weight. A good cardio is at least 20 minutes of sweating and heart pumping, and most likely you will burn maybe 200-300 calories at that. The calories do not get burned as easy as some people think. Unless you do real cardio, do not add it. Light or moderate cleaning is not cardio! Running, cycling, rope jumping, skating, swimming is cardio.

stuffinmuffin

I'm in maintenance now but even when I was losing I would not eat my work-out calories during the week but then eat them in bulk at weekends. Suited my lifestyle and did no harm to my weight loss and maintenance. So I guess in a roundabout way - I do eat my exercise cals back! : ) x

dianasmith6

I eat my workout calories ,but my net goal is 600 . Once I start excersicing more I will probably change that.

sarahbeane2000

thank you for whoever posted this and the responses. its been 2 weeks and i have stopped seeing changes, i am NOT going to be eating my workout calories.!

ChaoticMiNd

i used to eat my workout calories and i didn't lose a pound. I would suggest maybe eating a little bit of your workout calories but don't take full advantage

This exactly...I don't trust the numbers to be honest...so to stay safe eating my workout cal's (or some of them ) is a cheat day for me.

siwelh

My net is set lower than recommended(1050), so I do eat my exercise. Also, I think it is very important to have an accurate number of calories burned- I use the Polar FT40 HRM, which is really good for calories. If I use a regular HRM, the machines at the gym or what mfp says, it is not accurate.

wellbert

I do, because I'm trying to build muscle.

TexanThom

Eat SOME....Leave SOME.

gsager

I eat them all. Every day. If I don't, my weight loss slows immediately.

^^^^This, this is the way the site is set up. You never have to be hungry.......don't make it harder than it is!

MtnKat

Nope. At least not most of the time. I do make sure that I net 1200 cals regardless of my exercise calories.


I use my TDEE - 20% so my exercise calories are already included in my daily calorie intake (as of today, 1922). I have been losing an average of half to a pound and a half a week pretty steadily. I just make sure my lifestyle is active (work out) so that I can maintain that calorie level.

meglynne1987

Nope.

gsager

thank you for whoever posted this and the responses. its been 2 weeks and i have stopped seeing changes, i am NOT going to be eating my workout calories.!

And you will keep plateauing because you aren't eating enough and slowing down your metabolism. Have fun.

erikblock

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

veduffey

I usually eat my workout calories. Seems like I get to hungry if I don't.