Eating on recovery days

marysidneyherbert
marysidneyherbert Posts: 69
in Health and Weight Loss
This is a question for people who have knowledge of how we're supposed to be eating our calories, including our workout calories. I have just started doing this (about a week now--I had been mildly restricting calories for years and my metabolism seemed sluggish, until I learned about this theory from reading these message boards). Yesterday was a rest day, so I didn't "earn" any workout calories. I assumed that I should just eat my 1200 that MFP has set for me. But nighttime rolled around and I was really truly hungry. This wasn't emotional eating or something; I really did feel hungry. So I went ahead and ate two bananas with 2 T. peanut butter. My weight is fine this morning. But my question is, Was this the right thing to do? It seems like if one has been working out hard (I've been working out harder than I have for a long time, doing workouts from Fitness Blenders "Round 1"), then one will inevitably be hungry on recovery days, right, because the body is trying to repair itself and needs the nutrients. So, how does one judge how much to eat on those recovery days?

Replies

  • marysidneyherbert
    marysidneyherbert Posts: 69
    bump
  • sunshine1082
    sunshine1082 Posts: 85 Member
    I think it's pretty normal to be hungry on recovery days. I usually am. You did the right thing by eating something. There is no sense in torturing yourself, so if you are really hungry, it's best to eat.

    You may also want to think about upping your daily calorie intake. Depending on your activity level, height, current weight, etc, 1200 calories might not be enough for you. I started out on MFP with a 1200 calorie limit too, and after reading through a lot of the threads here, realized it probably wasn't the right calorie intake for me. I upped my calories to about 1550 (plus eating back exercise calories) and I am continuing to lose at the same rate as when I was eating 1200. I have more energy and don't get as hungry as I did in the beginning because I'm properly fueling myself. Something to think about!
  • marysidneyherbert
    marysidneyherbert Posts: 69
    Thank you. That makes sense.
  • Mslibb
    Mslibb Posts: 69 Member
    I get pretty hungry on my rest days too, so instead of trying to stay under my calorie limit for that day, I focus on my average calories for the week. Currently I aim for an average of 1350ish net cals for the week, which means I eat between 1500-1700 each day depending on how much exercise I do in the week. It means I go over on rest days, but I'm under (sometimes by quite a bit) on my exercise days. For me, trying not to eat when I'm hungry drives me bonkers and I end up eating way more than I actually need to! Good luck finding a system that works for you! :)
  • aetzkorn14
    aetzkorn14 Posts: 169 Member
    I never let myself go hungry ever...I think the more important issue is what you eat when you are hungry more so than the fact that you eat. My cal intake is 1600 and didn't let mfp set it for me because the workouts I do are way to much for any lower and I want to build muscle. But I do make sure I do NOT eat the calories I burn because then I loose the deficit I need to loose weight. I've been following a lot of people who have become fitness pros and they always say you have fuel your body for the workout you intend to have but I am sure they eat a little less on rest days. But you do have to keep in mind that if your body is repairing on rest days it may need the fuel to do so.
  • Jessicalg1981
    Jessicalg1981 Posts: 51 Member
    I agree with everyone else. I was just trying to lose my last 5lbs and was at 1250 cal per day and I was so hungry most of the time and my rest days were so hard since I was so limited. I finally decided that I was happy with the amt of weight I'd lost even if I did still have a few lbs to go so I upped my calories to like 1640 (although I usually eat btwn 1400-1500 on rest days) and boom, I hit my goal weight. Looking back at it I thought, "duh, I REALLY was hungry, it wasn't emotional or boredom or anything." Your body knows what's right if you listen to it correctly. Sometimes that's hard to trust yourself with though if you're like me and have had more experience not being healthy.

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