More food on exercise days?

abradeen2013
abradeen2013 Posts: 16 Member
in Getting Started
Do you eat more on days that you exercise so that essentially your net calories remain the same each day? Or do you let the calories that you burned be become an extra colrie deficit for that day? Some days after I exercise I feel pretty hungry and want to eat more. On other days, I feel fine sticking to my usual calorie allotment without eating the "extra" calories that I burned off during exercise. I am new to MFP and have not been tracking long enough to see a pattern for mysefl. Thoughts?

Replies

  • amberflo143
    amberflo143 Posts: 94 Member
    Hi There,

    I usually only eat about 100-200 more on workout days. I am a little more hungry. I usually only eat about 20-30% back and let the other be a bigger deficit. But them again I workout more so I can eat more on the weekends.
  • Llamapants86
    Llamapants86 Posts: 1,221 Member
    I usually eat back my exercise calories, unless I am trying to "save up" for something (like girls night or date night) then I will still eat a little bit of my exercise calories back on the day of said exercise, still need to fuel the next days work out.
  • LeighTaylor97
    LeighTaylor97 Posts: 16 Member
    I go with how I feel. I know I have to have a granola bar or something before I work out to fight off feeling hungry when I workout. But a bar is ~130 cals while I burn ~700 in my workout. I will only eat more if I still feel hungry, but careful not to eat more than I worked out that day.

    My point is, if you are hungry on those days, eat more. If you aren't then don't. Try to listen to what your body is telling you, as long as it is hunger and not cravings :smile:
  • abradeen2013
    abradeen2013 Posts: 16 Member
    Thanks for the help! I lost 1.6 lbs this week which is what MFP says to expect with the goals that I set for myself, so I guess I am on track. I didn't eat back all of my calories, but I did have a protein drink right after my workout that I have noticed really helps keep me from getting as sore as long as I have it within about 30-45 minutes of finishing my workout. Plus I can see muscles in my arms that didn't used to be there. Hooray! So....im my case I only ate back about 200 calories so was still below my "net" target goal and still only lost about 1.5 lbs. My next goal is to add in two more workout days so that I am working out 4 times a week with weights. Baby steps, but I am getting there! On the plus side, I have absolutely not been hungry or left feeling deprived like I have with many other "diets". So far I am quite pleased. We will see what happens when I add in some more activity days.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    yeah, that's the plan.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    I always eat back at least some. If it's been a light exercise day I usually eat them all. If I've done heavy exercise I don't find I need to eat them all to be satisfied and end up with a few hundred extra calories at the end
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • GiddyNZ
    GiddyNZ Posts: 136 Member
    I'm an eater.. I could happily eat 3000 cals a day, everyday, but instead I get about 1500 from MFP and make sure I work out enough during the week so I get an extra 500ish per day (I use a heart rate monitor to ensure the figures are reasonably accurate) so average out a total of about 2000 cals per day.. for me that is JUST enough to stave off the hunger pangs.

    However if I'm not hungry I don't eat, I can save those cals for a treat some other time.. just be sure that you are listening to your body, don't not eat the calories for the sake of cutting back, remember that your loss is built into your MFP allowance (you should be using the recommended 500 cal daily deficit as this is most sustainable, that said it doesn't mean you can't lose more than 1lb in a week, that's just what the maths supports)

    **Just note that if you are taking the calorie counts from MFP probably only eat 1/2 - 2/3 back as they can be quite high.**

    (My ticker doesn't show my actual weight loss, I did most of it before joining so it's a fair be behind :D )
  • Rachelc1992
    Rachelc1992 Posts: 246 Member
    I've been left with the confusion that I'm hungrier on days I DON'T exercise :s!! Anybody else have this?

    But for urs, I don't eat back but if I'm hungry ill have some protein! :)
  • GiddyNZ
    GiddyNZ Posts: 136 Member
    I've been left with the confusion that I'm hungrier on days I DON'T exercise :s!! Anybody else have this?

    I find this happens to me, but for two reasons.. I didn't eat enough on the day that I exercised (i.e. a 3000 cal mountain bike ride, that's a lot extra to eat!) or if I am not actually hungry but bored
  • 2Dozen
    2Dozen Posts: 66 Member
    I eat back lost calories, Food keeps you moving.

Categories