Poll: Do you eat all the calories burned during exercise?

gabriellesca
gabriellesca Posts: 13
edited September 20 in Fitness and Exercise
I posted this as a technical question - but the answers have me curious to see what others do. I'm most interested in people who are succesful in their weight loss efforts. Question is:

Do you eat all your calories burned during exercise? If not, do you eat any of them? Has this worked for you?

Replies

  • cmurphy04722
    cmurphy04722 Posts: 254
    Yes yes yes! I eat them! It's been working for me for sure. My body does not like being deprived of the nutrition it requires to keep me feeling great. I usually don't log extra walking in a day, that's usually just part of my regular expended calories, but if I burn 400 calories in a workout, I sure eat those 400 calories to keep my net calories around 1300 :-D

    I have a rough workout tonight....om nom nom I will eat them all! hehe
  • jienelle
    jienelle Posts: 29
    No, I usually do not eat all the calories burned. I don't necessarily do it on purpose - it's just that since I'm constantly eating low-cal foods throughout the day I don't get that hungry to eat it all. I try to eat every 3-4 hours. It has helped me not gorge and it's been working to help me lose weight.

    Also, the calories burned are just estimates (unless you have a really good HR monitor and are logging in what that says). So it could be over estimating.
  • HonestOmnivore
    HonestOmnivore Posts: 1,356 Member
    Usually - working out makes me super hungry but I try to eat less than my best calorie estimate because I'm always suspicious that I may have burned less. Thus if my HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) estimates 650 calories burned I feel safe eating about 450 - 500 ish.

    I try to think of exercise as critical to helping me burn more calories over-all and critical to my well-being, not as a calorie /fat burning event.
  • SimonLondon
    SimonLondon Posts: 350
    I eat some but it is so difficult to know exactly what you've burnt I play safe. On this site it says I've burnt 800 but my heart rate monitor says 400. I'm too scared to eat them all when the figures are so wide :smile:
  • carrieberrie
    carrieberrie Posts: 356 Member
    Nope I dont eat them. I ate them in the beginning and I didnt lose. So I stopped eating them and I am at my goal, 40lbs lost!
  • Bsnoell
    Bsnoell Posts: 1 Member
    I do not, because that is how I think I am losing my weight. You have to burn more calories than you eat to actually lose, so I try not to eat all of them. Although there have been days when I have! :smile:
  • mswing7674
    mswing7674 Posts: 44
    yes...i eat whatever burn during cardio and I would like to point out that my trainer says I should... and it seems to be working I have lost 67 lbs since January 1st
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 22,166 Member
    Absolutely, I eat every single one. I lost 28 pounds that way, so it works for me!
  • crking
    crking Posts: 175
    Not normally, but I know they are there in case I do!
  • confuseacat
    confuseacat Posts: 137 Member
    I usually eat most of them and am losing so it must be working for me. If I don't eat them I get incredibly hungry and am prone to a binge so I try to eat them.
  • nicolee516
    nicolee516 Posts: 1,862 Member
    Usually. There are some days that I just burn so many cals from running that I struggle to get them in. I try to keep my net cals at 1200.
  • PoeRaven
    PoeRaven Posts: 433 Member
    Sometimes I do, but it's rare. I usually end up with some left over, which is ok because we never know the exact numbers anyway...meaning we cannot know the exact amout burned or consumed. There will always be a variance. Anyhow, whatever I'm doing is working...so far so good!
    :drinker:
  • Robin1117
    Robin1117 Posts: 1,768 Member
    Yes, I eat most of them. I do like to keep a few hundred at the end of the day, at least a few days a week though, because I'm not 100% sure my elliptical is telling me the right calorie burned #. I am playing it safe. I do think it's really necessary to eat them though, I have no idea how I would stick to 1200-1300 calories otherwise and it's actually my motivation to keep exercising!
  • RedneckWmn
    RedneckWmn Posts: 3,202 Member
    If I only burned 300 calories or less I try not to eat them. If I'm burning 500-700 calories I try to eat at least half of those calories. In the begining I wasn't burning as many calories working out and I was losing. I never lost 2 pounds in a week though. Since I have upped my workout intensity and am burning more calories and eating more I am losing on a consitant basis. It's all trial and error on what your body likes and dislikes.
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    I base my excersise calories off of my HRM. I usually eat the majority of my excersise calories.

    In situation where I burned a ton of calories late in the day and don't get them all in, I find that I have to give some back the next day.

    It works for me, I'm comfortable doing that, and it has worked over a long peroid of time.
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
    I eat at least some, if not most. I eat until my body feels satisfied, then I stop. If I have 200 calories left, I have 200 calories left. This has been working. I'm averaging a little over a pound a week, which is right on goal.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    NO - I eat 1/2 of them...the calorie counters in here, and on the cardio machines are vastly inaccurate.
  • RedneckWmn
    RedneckWmn Posts: 3,202 Member
    If you really listen to your body it will tell you if your hungry and it needs more fuel. Don't ignore what it's telling you. That's the best advice I can give ya.
  • heebiejeebie
    heebiejeebie Posts: 32 Member
    It depends.
    Sometimes I plan what I want to eat (and drink...) and work out how far I have to run to break even for the day.
    Sometimes I have a long run planned and have to eat a bit extra the day before, so I spread out the exercise calories a bit.
    Sometimes (like today) I do a couple of runs and there's no way I want to eat that much so I'll have some left over.

    I find it difficult to stay below my allotted 1340kcal on non-exercise days, but if I run 3 miles and use all the exercise calories earned I can eat quite well and not get hungry.

    (btw, I think the calorie counter on this site is only slightly out, maybe about 10% too high)
  • thenebean9
    thenebean9 Posts: 216
    I try to eat as many as I can, but some days I just exercise too much and can't come close to what i've earned calorie wise. I've lost 28lbs this year (10 before MFP) so I think it's working! :)
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