Exercise Calories

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Nickstery
Nickstery Posts: 324 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
After you exercise and you gain some calories I keep hearing mixed reviews on whether you should eat the calories you gain or not for weight loss. Questions is... should or shouldn't you.... Or should you vary it to keep your body guessing?

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  • msanabria1116
    msanabria1116 Posts: 1
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    I asked this 1 time & a trainer answered me & it made sense. I don't have the link, but basically this is what he said:

    You want ur total calories 4 the day to be anywhere between 20-35% less than ur maintenance calories 4 the day.
    So if ur maintainance is 2000cal/day then u want ur total calories 4 the day to b between 1300-1600 (total being what u consumed - what u burned 4 the day).

    I hope I explained that clearly. It has helped me. Good luck.:smile:
  • bonnienm
    bonnienm Posts: 329 Member
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    I personally ate most if not all of my exercise calories and it worked for me. I lost 50+ pounds.
  • dogdaze
    dogdaze Posts: 110 Member
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    I think it probably varies from person to person and even day to day for an individual. Not a particularly helpful reply, I know.

    Personally I eat some of my exercise calories but usually not all of them. I am trying to learn to recognise my body's signals so I try to eat when I am hungry (as in Paul McKenna's plan) so I am not going to mindlessly consume calories if I am really not hungry.

    Your idea of keeping the body guessing is an interesting one!
  • riannenrings
    riannenrings Posts: 142 Member
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    if you dont eat your exercise calories does that mean your body goes into "starvation mode?" or is that only if you dont eat your allotted calories and also dont eat your exercise calories?
  • cmw72
    cmw72 Posts: 390 Member
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    It's a personal choice. I don't make it a habit of eating mine.

    If I do, it's a response to hunger, as opposed to a sense of obligation.

    There's actually a formula for determining your optimum calorie deficit before your body starts using your lean body mass (muscles and organs) for fuel. It's essentially 31 calories per pound of body fat per day. So, the first thing you need to know is your body fat percentage. Them multiply your current body weight by that number. Then multiply the resulting number by 31. That is the maximum calorie deficit you can sustain without sacrificing LBM.

    You can read up on it here:
    http://www.mindandmuscle.net/articles/lyle_mcdonald/maximum_fatloss
  • angiereid
    angiereid Posts: 158
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    I HAVE LOST ABOUT 28 POUNDS SO FAR ONLY 19 SHOWS UP BUT I WAS LOSING BEFORE I FOUND THIS SITE. ANYWAY I ASKED AS WELL WHAT YOU WERE WONDERING AND WHAT I WAS TOLD IS THAT TO LOSE 1 POUND A WEEK YOU HAVE TO BURN ATLEAST 3500 CALORIES CONSIDERING THAT IS WHAT I GRAM OF FAT IS EQUAL TO. SO I EAT 1570 A DAY AND AND SOMETIMES I EAT LESS IF I FEEL FULL, BUT I TRY AND JUST STICK WITH THE 1570 AND I EXERCISE ABOUT 4-5 TIMES A WEEK BURNING ABOUT 7,000 CALORIES A WEEK. NOW I HAVE BEEN ACTUALLY LOSING ABOUT 2 POUNDS A WEEK BUT I HAVE MARKED THAT I WANT TO LOSE 1 POUND A WEEK BUT I HAVE REALLY INCREASED MY FIBER AND PROTEIN INTAKE AS WELL AS MY CARDIO. I ALSO MIX IN 3 DAYS OF STRENGTH TRAING AS WELL THIS KEEPS YOUR METABOLISM GOING ALL DAY. ALSO, IF YOU GO OVER ONE DAY ON YOUR CALORIES DONT FREAK OUT OR SAY OH WELL I MIGHT AS WELL CAN IT THIS WEEK, ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS LESSEN YOUR CALORIE INTAKE THE REST OF THE WEEK, SO IF YOU ATE 500 OVER JUST CUT 100 CALORIES EACH DAY FROM YOUR OTHER DAYS AND YOU END OF EVEN. WORKS FOR ME.

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  • lee112780
    lee112780 Posts: 419 Member
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    :happy: try eating the calories, and if you are not losing fast enough, eat less of them
  • hallswan
    hallswan Posts: 90
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    I eat mine depending on the time of day that I excercise

    For example - I have biked into wk this morning - burning approx 600 calores - and I will aim to eat all of those throughout the day plus half of my calorie allowance - so thats about 1400 calories - however, when I bike home tonight - that will be another 600 - plus the other half of my calorie allowance so i probably will just have dinner which will be at the most 750 and leave it like that.

    Different people do different things - so I think you need to see how your body responds to eating and not eating them or eating only half of them - and then go from there.

    Hope this helps
  • LotusF1ower
    LotusF1ower Posts: 1,259 Member
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    After you exercise and you gain some calories I keep hearing mixed reviews on whether you should eat the calories you gain or not for weight loss. Questions is... should or shouldn't you.... Or should you vary it to keep your body guessing?

    Everybody is different.

    Personally, I do not eat mine and continually lose weight. Other people say they have to eat theirs or they plateau.

    Your best bet is try both ways out and see what happens, you might be extremely lucky and be okay both ways :laugh:

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