Do you eat "burned" calories??

Ascolti_la_musica

99% of the time, I eat them. If I can't sleep and get an extra workout in after hours, I don't bother.

MamaTrombone

I almost always eat back most (not all) of my burned calories. I try to make it something with protein, like string cheese. I've lost 34 pounds since September, so I'd say it works. Just do what works best for you!

Ascolti_la_musica

I always wondered why people would eat back the calories they just burned at the gym when trying to lose weight.. In my mind I might as well do no exercise, than do an hour of cardio and eat it all back. I don't get it.

Weight loss happens in the kitchen. Fitness happens with exercise.

You lose weight by maintaining a caloric deficit. That happens in the kitchen, by eating the appropriate number of calories for your goals. If you never exercise at all and eat that number of calories, you will lose weight. These are the calories required to fuel your brain, heart, lungs, etc.

You get fit (build strength, endurance, agility, heart health, etc.) by exercising. Your body needs fuel to exercise. This is why you eat your exercise calories. Failure to do so causes your body to burn off lean muscle tissue, and over a prolonged period of time will lead to a slower metabolism. This is where "skinny fat" comes from. "Skinny fat" people are at their goal weight, but they still look doughy because their body has burned off lean mass rather than fat. They might not be "fat," but they are not healthy, either.

That is why you eat back your exercise calories.

pamelak5

Whatever works. I eat them back. I build in my desired weightloss into my calculation; I'm not interested in eating 1600 calories a day and working out for an hour every day. I notice that I need to hit a sweet spot to keep my workouts good. I'd rather be able to work out more and eat more, than eat less and work out less.

Ascolti_la_musica

For the people who like numbers:

I spend most of my time in a chair with a book and a cat. This qualifies as "Sedentary." I am a very short female. To maintain my weight exactly as it is, I need to eat 2000 calories per day.

If I eat only 1200 calories per day, I am at a deficit of 800 calories per day. That gives me a weekly deficit of 5600 calories, causing me to lose about 1 1/2 pounds per week. If I sit in my chair all day with a book and a cat.

Let's say I exercise one day, and burn 400 calories. I add that to my 2000 calories of book-and-cat daily maintenance, and get 2400 calories burned for the day.

I am then able to eat 1600 calories, and still have a deficit of 800 calories. (2400-1600= 800) I still lose weight at approximately the same rate as I would by sitting in the recliner all day, but this way, I am building endurance, strength and agility necessary to escape the zombie hordes Obama is waiting to unleash on us all. Not to mention the sheer joy of getting to eat that extra scoop of chocolate frozen yogurt at the end of the day.

Goodbye_Thunder_Thighs

I wasn't eating my exercise calories back and only dropped 500g in 2 months so this month I am eating them back. Today I jumped on the scale to see if it is working ( I usually only weigh monthly) and have managed a 500g drop in a week, I think you have to play around with the numbers and see what works for you.

GlorianEversea

You have some options. Some people loose weight just following the basic calculation and eating back their calories. The problems come when someone overestimates their calories burned or underestimates their consumption! I'd say these are fairly common problems! Also, the person must make sure their baseline calorie expenditure ....the amount of calories they burn w,ith no exercise, is correct.
Again, I suspect most of the folks who eat back their calories and don't lose weight could use some help in these areas. There is plenty of room for error and/or self deception!

However, aside from the calculations, I think our bodies are very good at telling us what we need.

The signs of undereating are clear.

Foggy headed ness
Lethargy....the feeling of being winded easily, or sense that you have no energy
The inability to feel muscle burn the day after a workout
Hunger!

A month into dieting, you shouldn't constantly be fighting hunger all day and experiencing these other symptoms. If you are, you're not eating enough! Or you're eating too much junk. The best surprise of this whole journey is that I don't have to sit around and be hungry!!! To me, listening to my body is better than the calculator. At the end of the day, alot of these calculations are based on averages. When I eat 1/3 to 1/2 my calories back, I usually feel great. I go with that.

I don't log it in my diary, but If I'm too much under for a day, I usually add on a protein shake at the end.

katedevall

Hi! I started counting calories today on MyFitness and see that I burned a ton of calories at my bootcamp. Do you all eat those? Dont? Bank? Mix it up?? What's the best way to treat "Burned Calories"?

Sometimes I eat them back or part of them back.. It all depends it I'm hungry