Eat more if I exercise?

devriesjp
devriesjp Posts: 4
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
Sorry if this is sort of a dumb question. I am on an 1800 calorie/day diet. When I run, should I eat the amount of calories I burn? Or should I keep my limit at 1800 for food regardless of exercise?

Replies

  • Melisha82
    Melisha82 Posts: 243
    I was wondering the same thing...
  • mrskern06
    mrskern06 Posts: 24 Member
    MFP always up my calorie limit for the day if I exercise. I don't always eat the extra calories but sometimes I do.
  • Chillem
    Chillem Posts: 40
    You have to be carefull with "extra calories you can eat, because you've burned them with sports"

    Your body burnes calories during the whole day, even if you did not work out. So when you think that you've burned 300 kcal due to exercise, the difference may be 250 in real. It's better to keep to your diet at this stage and when you think you loose weight too quickly, you might adjust your calorie intake.
  • lutzsher
    lutzsher Posts: 1,153 Member
    Two different schools of thought on this . . . but basically do what works for you.

    Depending on the day (and how hungry I am) I sometimes eat 1/2 of my exercise calories, sometimes none of them, and some days if Im feeling hungry I eat all of them. Your body will actually "tell" you by how you feel.

    I do find that if I eat all of them on a regular basis, or none of them on a regular basis my scale does not move, for me "shaking it up" and doing it different day-to-day works.
  • devriesjp
    devriesjp Posts: 4
    It would be good to know, because I dont want to starve my body and lose the wrong weight (muscle).. :smile:
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    Eat.

    Read the sticky posts here, all this is completely covered!

    Here's a good one:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo Apr 08 Banks
  • devriesjp
    devriesjp Posts: 4
    Sweet, thanks for the ideas! I guess I will watch how quickly the weight drops (only been on the diet for a week)
  • NightOwl1
    NightOwl1 Posts: 881 Member
    You need to eat most of them back, at least half. If you don't eat them back, you're body will lose weight quickly, and then plateau, because your metabolism will slow down.

    This site is entirely based around the premise of eating back your exercise calories.
  • lordofultima
    lordofultima Posts: 293
    If you cut calories to lose weight without even exercising, then if you exercise you must eat more calories. You don't want to lose weight too quickly, it's not healthy.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
    Depending on what your daily calorie goal is you should eat some, if not all, of them back.
  • BoresEasily
    BoresEasily Posts: 582
    The main problem with this is you never really have an accurate number on your caloric burn. Even with a good HRM their accuracy is still questionable. You don't want to overestimate so it's better to underestimate and go with 1/2 - 2/3rds just to be on the safe side. If your HRM has a V02 max test it will be more accurate than without but it's still not going to be dead on. Probably 85-95% accuracy at a guess.

    Just to clarify I meant eat back about 1/2 - 2/3rds of the calories you burn.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories