should I eat my exercise calories?

epond
epond Posts: 30
edited September 21 in Fitness and Exercise
Hey!

I am wondering if I should be eating the calories burned through exercise? I usually don't - curious what anyone else is doing?

Thanks!

Liz

Replies

  • DanOhh
    DanOhh Posts: 1,806 Member
    Yes, for healthy weight loss you need to eat your exercise calories. You don't have to eat all of the but try to eat at least half of them. If you don't eat them your body believes that it is being starved and will start storing fat where ever it can get it and that includes taking away supply to lean muscle.
  • EmmaCusted
    EmmaCusted Posts: 12
    nah i dont either. i just feel guilty, like ive excersised for nothing.
    (:
  • pepezen
    pepezen Posts: 4 Member
    Yes, if you don't you will be more hungry and miserable--more likely to cheat. You will lose weightt this way. Plus it will motivate you to exercise so you can eat more. Remember that exercise raises your metabolism and you continue to burn calories even after exercising.
  • Jamiebee24
    Jamiebee24 Posts: 296 Member
    I eat some--but I burn over 1,000 a day. I do not recommend eating all of them--and if you are burning fewer than 500 cals, I wouldn't even touch them! :) But thats me, and I don't really believe in the whole "starvation mode" You know your body---and the more you exercise/eat right, you'll learn what you need to have a success!
  • amylynne26
    amylynne26 Posts: 195 Member
    the intensity of my workout seems to be directly related to how much extra I want to eat. :) So, yeah, I eat all my exercise calories!
  • sbilyeu75
    sbilyeu75 Posts: 567 Member
    the intensity of my workout seems to be directly related to how much extra I want to eat. :) So, yeah, I eat all my exercise calories!

    I completely agree with this.
  • Skinnytime
    Skinnytime Posts: 279
    I don't eat them. I don't even want to know I have them, so I set the calories burned to 0 so they don't show up in my food diary. You need to create a real deficit to loose weight.
  • jclguru
    jclguru Posts: 123
    I'm with Jaime. I burn about 1000-1500 calories a day. There's no way I could eat all
    of those extra calories.

    Doug
  • Fancyfit
    Fancyfit Posts: 13
    I wandered onto this topic and have a question for anyone....I'm fairly new, since July. The more I investigate the more puzzled I become. It seems that everyone, no matter their weight, height or age has to consume the same number of calories, 1200 plus exercise calories. This is confusing to me. I am short, 5'2 and it seems when I stay under (mostly slightly) I lose but when I was prompted to eat the 1200 or face storing fat, I increased my calorie intake and lost not even an ounce. Am I understanding that 1200 calories is the magic number? I sure could use some advice.
  • baffled111
    baffled111 Posts: 10
    My calorie allotment is higher than 1200, fwiw. I've done 1200 calories in the past and I don't think I can do it again. I'd rather take a bit more time and not starve!

    I think the deal with 1200 is that nutritionists have come to agree that 1200 calories is the minimum number a person can eat while still getting the necessary amount of nutrients to stay healthy. It's best to stay above 1200 if you can lose that way. Perhaps rather than lowering your cals below 1200 you could increase your exercise a bit. That keeps your metabolism cranking!
  • StuAblett
    StuAblett Posts: 1,141 Member
    I wandered onto this topic and have a question for anyone....I'm fairly new, since July. The more I investigate the more puzzled I become. It seems that everyone, no matter their weight, height or age has to consume the same number of calories, 1200 plus exercise calories. This is confusing to me. I am short, 5'2 and it seems when I stay under (mostly slightly) I lose but when I was prompted to eat the 1200 or face storing fat, I increased my calorie intake and lost not even an ounce. Am I understanding that 1200 calories is the magic number? I sure could use some advice.

    I'm a 46 year old guy, 5'11" tall, I now weigh 264 pounds. My BMR is calculated at 2100 calories, I seldom eat them all. I also bike ride and run, and some days that is an extra 2000+ calories, some days it is only 200 calories, here is August......

    calories_burned_aug_2010.jpg

    I try to eat some of my exercise calories, but I seldom eat half of them, I try to listen to my body, if I'm hungry I eat, if I'm not I don't, but I'm also certainly not starving myself :bigsmile:

    Did you do the BMR thing under the tools tab?

    It is different for every one, if you have only been doing this for a short time, give it some time, figure out what works for you!:happy:
  • Fancyfit
    Fancyfit Posts: 13
    Thanks PALS, for taking your time to respond to my concerns.. I am so determined to lose weight the right way. I will check the BMR tool.
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