Exercise Calories And Eating Them Back - A question

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andrea_kohlman
andrea_kohlman Posts: 47 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
For the past few weeks, I have been averaging 5 or 6 workouts around an hour long, burning an average of 600 calories. I have been doing Cardioboxing & a 6 week program on the wii (which incorporates cardio & strength training). I have been logging all of my food (even the naughty stuff) and have been consistently under my calorie goals.

That being said, I have GAINED weight (3 pounds) and have not lost inches. Going against all of my instincts, I am going to try eating back my exercise calories, since I have never tried it and have heard several times to eat them back.

My question is this: I don't get a chance to exercise until the evening and don't know how many calories I burn until I'm done. For those of you who do your workouts later in the day, how do you incorporate eating back your calories?

p.s. I get up at 4am for work, so working out in the AM is not an option

Replies

  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    My question is this: I don't get a chance to exercise until the evening and don't know how many calories I burn until I'm done. For those of you who do your workouts later in the day, how do you incorporate eating back your calories?
    Eat them the next day!
  • 4theking
    4theking Posts: 1,196 Member
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    Not answering your question but I would be happy to work with you if you would like.
  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
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    You could eat them back throughout the day (before the workout). Of course, then you are obligated to work out (:smile: ). Just assume about 1/2 or slightly more calories and eat it back throughout the day before you workout. You could always add a protein shake post-workout as well.

    Edit to add: Estimate the calories burned and eat 1/2 back pre-workout to allow flexibility with actual calories burned then add a snack post workout if you have calories left over. (And calorie burn is often overestimated by equipment and MFP in my experience).
  • andrea_kohlman
    andrea_kohlman Posts: 47 Member
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    Eat them the next day!
    What should I do on consecutive work out days?

    I'll take all the help I can get!!! After years of frustration, I am willing to try almost anything.
  • Caletagirl
    Caletagirl Posts: 47 Member
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    You have to eat back your calories you burn, otherwise its on the line of starving yourself! I do myself and have lost every week.
    Plan out your food and your rough amount of calories burnt so you can plan an evening meal, obviously keep it under and then once you have worked out when you are back from exercise you can have a nice snack, straight after exercise as your metabolism is still working and you should be full and have achieved your calories for the day without going over. Sometimes it isn't possible to reach the max calories you have earned back but just give it a good go.
    I find that planning my exercise (as I tend to know ahead of the time what exercise i am doing that day or week) for the day and food helps.
    Good luck
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    I'll take all the help I can get!!! After years of frustration, I am willing to try almost anything.
    Just roll them on to the next day. Burn 600 on Tuesday, eat them on Wednesday. Burn 400 on Wednesday, eat them on Thursday. It's the deficit over the long term that matters, not day on day.

    How are you measuring your calorie burn, out of interest?
  • Flixie00
    Flixie00 Posts: 1,195 Member
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    I eat all my calories for the day before I hit the gym, with the exception of my post work out shake. I then have whatever I burned at the gym to eat for dinner and snacks. I have a rough idea what I am likely to burn as I plan my exercise schedule.
  • damiannikodem
    damiannikodem Posts: 77 Member
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    I do my best to not eat back exercise calories at all. Seems to work for me, I have plenty of energy (even when I was on 1440 cal per day, ive recently upped that to 1860 per day),

    I Exercise 300 to 850 6 days a week, now that my martial art is back for the year apparently I am doing 1200+ 1 day a week (but I take that with a grain of salt, it dosn't feel like im doing nearly that much. )

    I recommend getting a HRM to measure your actual calorie burn as opposed to relying on guesses (such as what the wii tells you or the tables in MFP, or exercise equipment that does not measure your pulse) because they are guesses, and do not actually measure your activity.

    We have a 'exercise bike' that tells me that I have burned about double of what my HRM tells me (which knows my weight height and age) I have also noticed that now I have been exercising regularly my body is getting used to the activity and therefore burning even less than it was before.

    also pay attention to your sodium intake because that makes your body retain water which will increase your weight.
  • kennie2
    kennie2 Posts: 1,171 Member
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    Whenever I work out if its less than half hour then I dont eat anything back,
    if its more then i just eat back the calories over half hour
    so if I worked out for an hour then id only eat half hours amount of calories back
    this is due to that study that they did where they took 2 groups of people, those who exercised for half hour and those who exercised for an hour
    the ones that exercised for half an hour lost more weight as they werent hungry after the work out but those that worked out for an hour lost less weight cos they were hungry after and ate more
    if that makes sense?
  • andrea_kohlman
    andrea_kohlman Posts: 47 Member
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    How are you measuring your calorie burn, out of interest?
    [/quote]

    I have a Polar HRM that I use.
  • bsharrah
    bsharrah Posts: 129 Member
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    Weight loss is simply a matter of consuming less calories than your body burns......then we start over complicating it.

    It you are gaining weight, you are consuming too many calories. Either your calorie goal is off (I would not trust MFP to determine it correctly), or your calorie burn totals are inflated and in your effort to eat them back, which I do not recommend contrary to the "experts" around here, you are eating too much.

    My guess is you are not burning 600 calories in an hour and if you are using a HRM to determine this, then I guarantee you are not burning that much if your workouts involve any form of strength training.
  • weatheredcheese
    weatheredcheese Posts: 112 Member
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    Hi, I am in a similar "boat", I tend to do my excercise in the evening when it is too late to be eating, I try to look at previous work outs to try and figure out an average calorie count for the next one.
    If you notice you always burn say 400 minimum then try to have 100 to 200 hndred extra calories, it doesnt need to be exactly half.
  • bsharrah
    bsharrah Posts: 129 Member
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    Whenever I work out if its less than half hour then I dont eat anything back,
    if its more then i just eat back the calories over half hour
    so if I worked out for an hour then id only eat half hours amount of calories back
    this is due to that study that they did where they took 2 groups of people, those who exercised for half hour and those who exercised for an hour
    the ones that exercised for half an hour lost more weight as they werent hungry after the work out but those that worked out for an hour lost less weight cos they were hungry after and ate more
    if that makes sense?

    The study you mentioned seems to make sense but if you are counting calories correctly it does not apply because you are eating calories based on your calorie goal, not on whether or not you are more hungry from working out an hour vs half hour.
  • andrea_kohlman
    andrea_kohlman Posts: 47 Member
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    *shameless bump*:tongue:
  • challer77
    challer77 Posts: 1
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    I like the idea of a post workout protein shake Andrea. This will help you get enough protein and my understanding is it also helps build lean muscle to eat/drink protein after a workout. Good suggestion here.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Weight loss is simply a matter of consuming less calories than your body burns......then we start over complicating it.

    It you are gaining weight, you are consuming too many calories. Either your calorie goal is off (I would not trust MFP to determine it correctly), or your calorie burn totals are inflated and in your effort to eat them back, which I do not recommend contrary to the "experts" around here, you are eating too much.

    My guess is you are not burning 600 calories in an hour and if you are using a HRM to determine this, then I guarantee you are not burning that much if your workouts involve any form of strength training.

    Weight gain could also be caused by water retention from the increased workouts, hormones, sodium, etc. People forget that weight loss isn't linear and scales are weird.
  • maryannelk
    maryannelk Posts: 707 Member
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    Weight gain could also be caused by water retention from the increased workouts, hormones, sodium, etc. People forget that weight loss isn't linear and scales are weird.
    [/quote]

    This!

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