If you don't eat your exercise calories?

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Replies

  • levstein
    levstein Posts: 74
    I see no reason not to eat them back at some point during the week.. the deficit is already there before you exercise.


    this : )
  • bulbadoof
    bulbadoof Posts: 1,058 Member
    I find it almost always hits me the day after a good workout, so I try to save them for the day after.
  • UncleRiotous
    UncleRiotous Posts: 69
    I think it depends on how much exercise you're doing, how often and how many calories you're burning as well as obviously what your daily goal is without exercise.

    On days that I commute by bike I burn 5-600 calories each way and I don't feel the need to eat them back. That said if I'm likely to be riding for more than three days consecutively then I find that my muscles don't recover properly if I don't eat some of them back straight after exercise.

    My daily goal is around 1300 calories so if I'm burning 1100 for four or five days straight (often with a sixth day of burning 2-3000 calories on the mountain bike) then I have to think carefully about my diet and making sure that I give my body enough nutrition to rebuild itself. If I had a daily goal of 1500-1800 calories or I was only burning 5-600 a day then it wouldn't be so important.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    The question as to whether or not, and how much, you eat back depends on three variables: what your actual TDEE is compared to the prediction given by the Mifflin-St. Jeor formulas that MFP uses; the accuracy in reporting calories gained and lost from eating and exercise; and how much additional exercise you do to extend the deficit.

    If one has a history of eating less through time, or chronic dieting, then their RMR has declined causing a decrease in TDEE. Thus, their actual TDEE can be significantly lower than what MFP predicts - as much as 1000 calories below. A person such as that would likely not eat back or limit exercise calories added back into their gross dietary intake.

    Although we can get very close to recording the caloric amounts of food we eat, sometimes people will get overestimated values from exercise if basing it on online calculators or even the machine.

    Likewise, the more exercise one does, the more calories they'll need to consume to keep the deficit in check in relation to their goal.
  • Farburnfred
    Farburnfred Posts: 333 Member
    Thanks for the advice, I am really not sure what my TDEE is..and really not sure about calories used whilst swimming in open water..
    Will eat a bit more tomorrow then
  • mystikfairy61
    mystikfairy61 Posts: 80 Member
    I am staying around 1300-1400 calories a day. I have found if I drink 2 eight ounce glasses of water before a meal I am not as hungry. Also I eat a good breakfast with plenty of protein which also helps with hunger. I do cardio 5 times a wk, 30 mins each.
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    No. I find exercise usually diminishes my appetite- even the day after. If I am ever hungry after a work out, i have something small e.g. 50-100 cals- but its rare.
  • justjenn1977
    justjenn1977 Posts: 437 Member
    Are you not starving? ESP the day after you have exercised?

    I only eat them back if it is more than 1000 or so... because I eat what feels like an insane amount before exercise ~2100 cals...

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