Eating exercise calories back

islandgirl76_
islandgirl76_ Posts: 86 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Is it practical to eat my exercise calories back over more than one day? For example, if I ran 10 miles today, I earn about 1000 calories. Say I take a rest day tomorrow. Couldn't I spread the exercise calories out over two or three days?

Replies

  • elenaddp
    elenaddp Posts: 9
    I understand where you are coming from but I think it is best to take it one day at a time and storing "exercise calories" for later use IMHO is a bad habit. You are doing great but I would try to stick close to my goal calories tomorrow.
  • islandgirl76_
    islandgirl76_ Posts: 86 Member
    Can you be more specific in explaining why it's a bad habit? I usually don't have a problem sticking to my allotted calories on a rest day, but sometimes it's hard mentally to eat back all or most of the exercise calories on days when I burn a ton of calories.
  • mair123
    mair123 Posts: 50 Member
    I can totally relate to your question. From my experience and it sounds weird I know, I am just not that hungry on my exercise days. I do not force myself to eat back all of my calories. I look at the whole picture. My philosophy is to eat well and make good choices, but when the occasion arises and if I want to eat out or induldge a little, I do. I like to have a storage of calories so that I don't have to feel guilty about it. So far this has been working for me and I think will be key in maintenance for me.
  • islandgirl76_
    islandgirl76_ Posts: 86 Member
    Thanks for your insight Mair! I also wonder if I'm underestimating what I eat and thus overeating. In the past 6 weeks I have lost one pound and gained it back so something is not working. :)
  • mair123
    mair123 Posts: 50 Member
    The closer you are to your goal, the slower the weight comes off. The last 10 lbs felt like forever---but I was in the mindset of this is a lifestyle change for me and not a diet- so this is how things are going to be from here on out. However, I can only imagine how frustrating it is, especially with the workouts that you are logging in! I tend to overestimate to begin with. I guess I am a bit paranoid, but I'd rather be over (in reality under) then under (in reality over). During my weight loss, I never used the boards or posted- and I am reading about all of these people who feel that 1200 calories is way too low and how it actually prevents you from losing the weight. Maybe try upping your calories to 1350-1400 and see if it makes a difference? Good luck, I am always here to vent to!
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    It's totally fine. I exercise in the evenings and frequently roll over my cals to the next day. If it's easier for you, you can balance your calories over a week instead of daily.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    I understand where you are coming from but I think it is best to take it one day at a time and storing "exercise calories" for later use IMHO is a bad habit. You are doing great but I would try to stick close to my goal calories tomorrow.

    Disagree. You can't keep them indefinitely, but within a few days is fine. Nobody's metabolism has a 24-hr clock that resets. You're still digesting food from 2 days ago. There's no reason you can't make your intake match your needs for the highest possible satiation in the long term.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    That's one of the reasons I switched to eating based on my TDEE instead of MFP's standard base plus exercise calories.

    If I run a long distance, it kills my appetite for the rest of the day. Heck, today I only ran less than 5 miles, and it suppressed my appetite enough that I forgot to eat lunch. :grumble: So it's sometimes really hard for me to eat my exercise calories on the day I burn them, if I have a large burn. And I'm often really, really hungry the day after I have a large calorie burn.

    So instead, I aim for about the same amount of calories every day, and it's easier for me to eat the right amount. Even then, I'll sometimes eat more and sometimes eat less. If I'm under today, I won't fuss if I'm over tomorrow.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
    I understand where you are coming from but I think it is best to take it one day at a time and storing "exercise calories" for later use IMHO is a bad habit. You are doing great but I would try to stick close to my goal calories tomorrow.

    Nothing wrong with banking calories at all. I lost 70 pounds doing that.
  • SSarahh23
    SSarahh23 Posts: 22 Member
    Just be weary that MFP tends to over-estimate calories burned, so either use a HRM for a more accurate estimate (if you're not already), or only eat a percentage of what MFP says you've burned.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    Weight Watchers used to work like that, and it still works well for me - if I do a long run, I have no appetite, but am starving the nextd day...As I just look at my calories over a week, it does nog make a difference if I only eat 1200 on the day of the run, and 2200 the next day.....It balances out to still having 1700 cals per day - and still at a deficit....
    It is only not good if you have issues with binging, which I don't....
  • Otterluv
    Otterluv Posts: 9,083 Member
    That's one of the reasons I switched to eating based on my TDEE instead of MFP's standard base plus exercise calories.

    If I run a long distance, it kills my appetite for the rest of the day. Heck, today I only ran less than 5 miles, and it suppressed my appetite enough that I forgot to eat lunch. :grumble: So it's sometimes really hard for me to eat my exercise calories on the day I burn them, if I have a large burn. And I'm often really, really hungry the day after I have a large calorie burn.

    So instead, I aim for about the same amount of calories every day, and it's easier for me to eat the right amount. Even then, I'll sometimes eat more and sometimes eat less. If I'm under today, I won't fuss if I'm over tomorrow.

    ^^^^^^^^^^this, and it's working well for me.

    It's all about the big picture.
  • Cyndieann
    Cyndieann Posts: 152 Member
    I save my exercise calories for the weekend so I can go out with friends and not have as many restrictions. I lost 22lbs doing this, then I stopped logging and gained it all back. Here we go again...
  • MLibby84
    MLibby84 Posts: 87
    I agree with mair.. I dont eat my excercise cals. I just try to eat healthy, for me I feel like if I eat back my excercise cals then I missed the point of the buring them off kind of thing. I am getting better about eating my calories, but most days I dont use all my calories.


    Good questiong :)
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
    BUMP for more replies. I struggle with this a bit during the week where I usually burn 600-1000 calories per day. I'm aiming for base 1500 calories but struggle to get my net after exercise high enough. Weekends are fine because I tend to indulge a fair bit (I haven't been logging them lately so I think I may have been over-indulging).
  • victoriannsays
    victoriannsays Posts: 568 Member
    I count my calories weekly. I eat TDEE-20% so that's 12000 weekly calories for me.

    As long as the end of the week ='s 12000 for me it doesn't matter if I don't eat back exercise calories right after a huge burn.
  • Crystaleyed
    Crystaleyed Posts: 229 Member
    Hello,
    Really can relate to your problem.
    I sometimes end the day on 800 calories and its not because I haven't eaten enough it's simply because I've been walking a lot or I got to my fencing class half an hour early or stuff like that. I personally try to eat some of my exercise calories back, but don't get obsessive about it, there's no point in eating loads of food for the sake of it.
    Also I don't spread my calories as such, but that's more because I know I'm not disciplined enough to control my diet if I had say 500 calories spare I would probably eat 500 calories of junk rather than the healthy things I should be eating.
    Anyhooow, I hope that helps someone :)
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    Yes you can do it. I do it, and have never had an issue with it. Try going for a weekly total (or maybe a total per every three days) if you plan to do this often. It might make it easier.
  • JPRobocker
    JPRobocker Posts: 74 Member
    I'm an engineer, so I like math and logic. The way I see it...

    There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat (approximately)
    If you maintain weight at 2000 calories, then to lose 1lb/week, you'd need to net only 1500 calories/day. (500 calorie deficiet * 7 days =3500 calories = 1 pound)
    I like to look at my weekly net intake calories and make sure I'm cutting 3500/week to keep losing 1 pound a week. I do cardio and weight lifting and try to eat healthy as well, but as far as FAT loss goes, I stick to cutting 3500/week.

    I know some calories are digested differently or not at all. I know things are much more complex than this. But for me it's a good starting point/guideline. The most important thing to do is something manageable. Keep in mind that once you get to your goal weight, you'll need to be able to keep up the life style to maintain.
  • JamesWay84
    JamesWay84 Posts: 28
    Is it practical to eat my exercise calories back over more than one day? For example, if I ran 10 miles today, I earn about 1000 calories. Say I take a rest day tomorrow. Couldn't I spread the exercise calories out over two or three days?

    I have just finished the book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto and it explained to me a lot of things.
    and according to your post, that is no problem if you understand the zig zag calorie method and that you eat it by spreading it in a 6 meal a day scheme with correct carb, protein and fat ratio.

    but if you just spread that the 2 or 3 days after without exercise, that might be a problem.
  • mair123
    mair123 Posts: 50 Member
    Just be weary that MFP tends to over-estimate calories burned, so either use a HRM for a more accurate estimate (if you're not already), or only eat a percentage of what MFP says you've burned.

    My experience has been the opposite of this. I use mapmyrun to track my miles. There is always a discrepency between the two and MFP is always lower. According to yesterday's stats with mapmyrun, I burned 340 calories for my 5K. MFP said I burned 292 calories. I logged the lower calorie amount to prevent overindulging.
  • 714rah714
    714rah714 Posts: 759 Member
    It all averages out
  • jrompola
    jrompola Posts: 153 Member
    Thanks for your insight Mair! I also wonder if I'm underestimating what I eat and thus overeating. In the past 6 weeks I have lost one pound and gained it back so something is not working. :)

    Do you have a food scale and measuring cups? I know before I had those I thought I was eating 6-8oz of chicken when in reality it was 3-4oz. I thought I was eating a cup of blueberries when it was 1/4cup. How many calories a day are you eating? I wouldn't eat back calories you burn while working out. You want to setup to eat enough calories to begin with and not try to eat your calories back depending on how many you burn that day.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    The body doesn't do a reset at midnight... It's perfectly fine to let them roll over and use them at some point in the next few days. Like someone else said, I'm not always hungry the day I do a run (or something else strenuous) but I'm almost always starving the next day so sometimes it's best to bank those calories for when you need them.

    When I did Weight Watchers, that's how they did it and it always worked very well for me. I banked exercise points and any I didn't use within a day to use at some point later that same week. Their only rule was not to let them roll over to the next week.

    P.S. As far as your one pound lost and gained, that could very well be water weight. Track your sodium if you're not already - a day or two of high sodium (especially without enough water) intake and you're going to retain. Also, not sure if you know this but when you exercise and are sore, your muscles are retaining water as part of the healing process. All of these can lead to fluctuations on the scale. With the small amount of weight you have to lose, body measurements will probably be the better way to go to show successes. Also, pay attention to how your clothes are fitting. I've been up and down on the scales for the last two months but my pants are getting loose so I know I'm stil doing something right!
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    Just be weary that MFP tends to over-estimate calories burned, so either use a HRM for a more accurate estimate (if you're not already), or only eat a percentage of what MFP says you've burned.

    My experience has been the opposite of this. I use mapmyrun to track my miles. There is always a discrepency between the two and MFP is always lower. According to yesterday's stats with mapmyrun, I burned 340 calories for my 5K. MFP said I burned 292 calories. I logged the lower calorie amount to prevent overindulging.

    Mapmyrun reported lower burns than MFP and worked really well for me until they changed their algorithm several months ago. Now they're way WAY too high. I've switched to the calculator below and then take the second step of converting gross calories burned to net. For example, shapesense gives me 256 gross calories or 228 net calories (what I log) for a 3 mile run at 6mp. MFP and mapmyrun give me 279 calories and 319 calories, respectively, for the same run.

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/activity-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    To the OP - For the last 20 months I've routinely spread exercise calories out over at least 2 days, 3 if it's a big burn. It hasn't caused any problems at all with either losing weight or maintaining the loss.
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
    I understand where you are coming from but I think it is best to take it one day at a time and storing "exercise calories" for later use IMHO is a bad habit. You are doing great but I would try to stick close to my goal calories tomorrow.

    Nothing wrong with banking calories at all. I lost 70 pounds doing that.

    Yep. I have lost 107 lbs in total by going by my weekly average, not just daily.

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