Eating all the exercise calories.

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ClHiggins35
ClHiggins35 Posts: 17 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I guess I don't understand if we are excising to lose the calories why do we get them back?? I just read that you are supposed to burn off everyone. Just a question that is making me scratch my head....:smile:

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    It's an individual choice. It depends on how you've set your budget and what you do for exercise. If you've set a budget based on some level of activity then those calories are already in your budget. If you chose sedentary then you could log exercise and potentially eat those back but unless you do huge amounts of exercise it really isn't necessary.
  • jayliospecky
    jayliospecky Posts: 25,022 Member
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    Yes! I am eating all the exercise calories!

    Oh, wait. You had a question.

    Okay, well, exercise is optional in losing weight. If you eat at a deficit, you will lose weight. If you exercise, your body requires more calories for fuel.

    It's just another way of looking at things.

    If you wanted to cut 500 calories per day, you could:

    a) just cut 500 calories of food out
    b) you could exercise off 500 calories
    or c) you could cut 250 calories of food and exercise off 250 calories

    Some people find it easier to exercise more and eat more. (Me, personally. I find it easier.)

    In any case, it's not really recommended to cut out 500 calories of food AND burn off 500 calories through exercise. Well, some people could if they had a substantial amount of weight to lose, or if they were doing it for a short amount of time, but a lot of people will find it really hard to sustain and give up.
  • justicekenny
    justicekenny Posts: 80
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    some days I do, some days I will do half .. depends on my mood really .. for example today, I did all .. had a nice half pint of ben and jerrys peanut brittle ... so good ..
  • jayliospecky
    jayliospecky Posts: 25,022 Member
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    some days I do, some days I will do half .. depends on my mood really .. for example today, I did all .. had a nice half pint of ben and jerrys peanut brittle ... so good ..

    Mmm.

    Also a good point. If you are really hungry, you should probably be eating some or all of your exercise calories. If you're not that hungry you may not need to eat them. Unless you've been dieting so long that you've screwed up you body's hungry signals, but that's a whole different story.
  • justicekenny
    justicekenny Posts: 80
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    you gotta try the cheesecake brownie .. oh dear lord .. only 250 cals per serving .. delish
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    You already have a deficit built in to your goals. Not eating exercise calories makes your deficit bigger, which depending on your situation may not be a good thing.

    I eat all of mine!

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