Food/hunger the day after a hard workout

NareenaTheGypsy

Let's see if anyone else has noticed this or maybe I'm just looking for explanations as to why I'm hungry...

So yesterday I walked and was *really* active at work. I burned something like 800'ish calories at work, then came home and did a workout DVD for another 535 cals. I ate above my suggested (non exercise) cals for the day, but not all of my workout calories as honestly, I was satiated and full. Dinner was higher calorie than I'd like so I tried to limit how much of it I ate, more because the food isn't good for me, not because I didn't have to eating calories to spare.

Today I woke up and was famished! I haven't done today's workout yet (after work tonight) and have been mid-active so far. I can't really think of any other reason I am so hungry today other than my body is expecting the same amount of activity and wants me to eat. Any ideas/suggestions?

NareenaTheGypsy

/bump

No one else has this problem? Or maybe you are all just eating all of your exercise cals.. hmm.

talilakay2

Hi! Yeah I eat almost all my exercise cals, have you definitely calculated your TDEE correctly? If you have any cals leftover in a day then it's fine to eat some more.

Emtabo01

I do NROL4W 3xweek and I'm always hungrier the day after lifting than the day of. I eat less the day of and more the day after, just so that it all equals out.

small_ninja

I looked at your diary, you only net at about 700 calories yesterday, which is crazy low, especially if you have quite a bit of weight to lose. Go to fat2fitradio.com and use their BMR calculator to figure out how much you should be eating according to your exercise levels and use that to guide your intake a bit more

erinsueburns

Yep, I experience that too, especially when I dont eat back all my exercise calories. I just figure that just because my stomach had felt full doesn't mean I've given my body enough fuel to power what I've done. Try to front load your calories before the exercise if you have trouble getting enough calories in by the end of the day. Or just figure up how many "extra" to eat the next day." I find, on the android app, it helps to look at it weekly rather than daily.

cmriverside

When I was losing I always ate all my exercise calories. I needed them...and that's the way this site is designed to be used. I didn't know any better, so I just did it. It worked beautifully.

LemonMint6

I am always hungrier the next day. I have no problem eating back exercise calories if I'm hungry, but I'm also not going to force myself to eat more if I'm not. Cardio days I usually want the extra food that day, weight training days I usually want it the next day or even two days later. Meh, maybe there is a science reason, who knows?

NareenaTheGypsy

To everyone saying that I need to eat more... I am not a 1200 cal person. I don't skip my exercise calories. Yesterday, I ate 1785 cals. True, I burned a lot more than is my typical day. But I ate until I was full and wasn't hungry when I went to bed last night. I was quite busy at work and the walking workout that my fitbit reflected back that I'd burned way more calories than usual (I had walked 6.22 miles while at work compared to a typical day of 4.5 mi). Then the at home workout was another 535 cals on top of that. I am very active with work (I work for the US Postal Svc and am on my feet *all* day). I couldn't make myself eat 2,000'ish calories if I tried. I am trying to eat very healthy at least compared to my former eating habits but I still allow little snacks, sweets and the like.
This post wasn't intended to ask about if I should eat more calories on my workout days (every day).. but it's intention was to ask about the day after a hard workout day.
I have been to fat2fitratio and checked my TDEE and BMR, etc. I went from only 1270 cals on MFP (no exercise included) up to my current of 1390.