Pre-Eating Exercise Calories?

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stephaniemartin42
stephaniemartin42 Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
On days that I don't work out, because I have a pretty sedentary job, I eat 1200 calories per day. On days when I have an intense workout, I eat half of whatever I burn (example: my HRM says that I burn 1000 calories, I eat an extra 500 for a total of 1700). This has been working great for me. I have made it a point to NEVER eat my exercise calories until after I exercise because 1. I need to see what the HRM tells me that I burned and 2. in case something happens (emergency, injury, whatever) and I don't end up exercising.

Here's my question: Tonight I'm going to be doing a really intense 2 hour session (an hour of Tabata boot camp and an hour of Kangoo) and I estimate that I will burn 1500-1800 calories. Because of scheduling, I won't be done with my workout until 8 PM and don't want to go home and eat a bunch at that time of night. I'm debating with myself about whether I should go ahead and go over my calories at lunch so I have enough fuel for that 2 hour workout, or just stick to the 1200 and skip the extra calories (but maybe add an extra protein shake or something before I go to the gym). Input?

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  • 7213Melissa
    7213Melissa Posts: 57 Member
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    I have wonder the sam thing. Hope someone answers.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    there is nothing wrong with eating the extra calories before you work out.

    if you are using a HRM you should be eating all of them back as it should be fairly accurate.
  • stunningalmond
    stunningalmond Posts: 275 Member
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    I agree... my workouts are always at 9 pm once the kids are in bed. So I eat the extra calories then go burn them off. :)
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    You can eat them in advance no problem.

    I know those burns are recorded on your HRM, but they seem pretty high!
  • stephaniemartin42
    stephaniemartin42 Posts: 12
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    Thank you for answering! I'm still relatively overweight so yeah, I burn a lot of calories with high intensity exercise,
  • Energizer06
    Energizer06 Posts: 311 Member
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    Yes, I plan my eating knowing I will be working out later. Couple of reasons I find this helpful.

    1. Your not stuck eating a ton of calories late at night. (although I don't believe timing of meals matters...just preference)
    2. If you "pre" eat....makes you stick to your workout plan and not find an excuse to not workout.

    I do this just about everyday.
  • kelsully
    kelsully Posts: 1,008 Member
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    your body does not care about the when of eating and exercise that much. I usually exercise between lunch and dinner and often make dinner decisions on how much I burned BUT on days that I do not workout until after the kids are in bed and I pre eat my exercise calories it just motivates me to do what I need to do.
  • carts1179
    carts1179 Posts: 15 Member
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    I think of food as energy like fuel in a car. A car will eventually stop running if it runs out of fuel (food).
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    there is nothing wrong with eating the extra calories before you work out.

    if you are using a HRM you should be eating all of them back as it should be fairly accurate.

    I agree, as long as you're sure you're going to work out, it doesn't matter at all when you eat the extra cals. And you should probably eat back more than half because you're using a HRM. Try 75% or more.
  • badtastebetty
    badtastebetty Posts: 326 Member
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    You could also just ea what you are comfortable with, and if you're a little extra hungry tomorrow have something extra then.
  • jadams1650
    jadams1650 Posts: 139 Member
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    Makes absolutely no difference to weight loss.
  • pucenavel
    pucenavel Posts: 972 Member
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    I do a pretty long, intense workout once a week. Not less than 2 hours, sometimes as much as 3.5.

    I find that I will "bonk" if I don't pre-eat the day before & actually feel best if I pre-eat for two days before. Basically, I figure how much I'm going to burn (say 2500 calories). I try to eat about 40% of that as extra the day before and maybe 30% of that two days before. The balance is extra on the actual day of the workout - usually in a high-energy form that I can eat during the session. So, I might go (for W-Th-F-S-Su if the workout is on Sat.) with 1200-2000-2200-2000-1200 (when I'm running 1200 net as intake target). The actual numbers are higher than that because I'm still doing a 60 minute cardio session on most of those days, which I just add to that day's calorie intake.

    Confusing? Yes - that's why I have a spreadsheet to help me figure it all out. :laugh:
  • stephaniemartin42
    stephaniemartin42 Posts: 12
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    Everyone here is so helpful - thank you! I just ate 100 extra calories in preparation for my workout tomorrow morning and I am going to see if I have more energy. I usually hate morning workouts because I have so little energy but I have plans tomorrow afternoon so I'll miss my beloved 5:45 Kangoo class. Hopefully this will make a difference.
  • stephaniemartin42
    stephaniemartin42 Posts: 12
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    Everyone here is so helpful - thank you! I just ate 100 extra calories in preparation for my workout tomorrow morning and I am going to see if I have more energy. I usually hate morning workouts because I have so little energy but I have plans tomorrow afternoon so I'll miss my beloved 5:45 PM Kangoo class. Hopefully this will make a difference.

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