do you eat your exercise calories?

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purplespeckle
purplespeckle Posts: 652
in Food and Nutrition
i've seen that most people do. but wouldn't that cause you to maintain and not lose? thoughts?

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  • CassieH818
    CassieH818 Posts: 221 Member
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    I might eat half of my exercise calories, I very rarely eat them all.
  • dancer77
    dancer77 Posts: 249 Member
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    Well the calorie limit is set to however much cals deficient you need to lose. For example to maintain i'd have to eat 2,070cals and my food diary is set to 1200 without exercise...and if i burned 300cals it would bump up to 1500...but that would be extra and i'd still have an 870cal deficient. Now that is mathematically speaking so it might not work on every body. But it is set to still have you lose however many pounds you set your goals for even with eating exercise cals.
  • ZacFields
    ZacFields Posts: 62 Member
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    I usually don't eat them personally. As long as my net is above my daily minimum (1,500) then I normally don't eat them back.

    I think it's more important to eat them back if its causing you to go below your minimum (1,200 for women).
  • dancer77
    dancer77 Posts: 249 Member
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    I try not to touch my exercise cals :) but hypothetically you'd still lose if you did.
  • bluebeta
    bluebeta Posts: 48
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    i'm fairly new to this also and that was a question I had thought of. Anyway, I try to eat them but almost every day i have over 200 calories left.
  • pilotgirl2007
    pilotgirl2007 Posts: 368 Member
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    A calorie deficit has already been calculated into your daily goal. So if you are supposed to get 1200 calories a day before activity that already takes into account a deficit for weight loss so if you burn 400 calories exercising then you are REALLY eating 800 calories and that is not enough for your body to maintain it's usual functions. It important to refuel after a workout, but make sure they are calories that are useful to your body and if you eat some of them and you can't possibly eat ALL of them then don't. I plan ahead for my exercise so I eat a little more all day instead of eating a bunch after I workout. You just wany your net calories to be around 1200 (or your goal caloric intake) plus or minus some isn't a big deal but make sure you aren't starving your body.
  • tatwood106
    tatwood106 Posts: 23
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    I would say as long as you don't surpass your target goals you should continue to lose weight, just not as fast as if you didn't eat your exercise calories. I'm just starting so time will tell.
  • carmendownes01
    carmendownes01 Posts: 25
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    I never eat my exercise calories! I try to maintain the 1200 minimum, but look at the exercise calorie loss as an added bonus~If you're not hungry especially, don't use them..
  • ErrataCorrige
    ErrataCorrige Posts: 649 Member
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    I don't eat my exercise calories. I try to stay between 1200 to 1400 cals per day, regardless of how much I exercise. My metaoblism is very slow, so I want as big a calorie deficeit as possible.
  • purplespeckle
    purplespeckle Posts: 652
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    thanks everyone. that makes sense. on my mfp homepage it says my goal is 1420 and thats with exercise goals set to 3 workouts/30 minutes.
    but that makes sense now that the calorie goal is already set for me to lose and that i could eat my exercise calories if necessary. but i'll definitely try not too b/c 1420 is god enough. if anything i'd have 1500-1600.
  • xTattooedDollx
    xTattooedDollx Posts: 426 Member
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    I lose more when I eat my exercise calories. I always eat at least half.
  • doramouse
    doramouse Posts: 160
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    I vary back and forth. I was eating them all but then I decided to use some of them for wine and cocktails which is pretty self-defeating - so now I"m allowing myself up to one half of them but no more - and I only put in one half of what the machines say i burned cause they are always over anyway - so basically, if i exercise then i'm only eating an additional 100 or so that day
  • MariaAlexandra
    MariaAlexandra Posts: 126 Member
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    If I have some leftover calories from BEFORE working out then i'll eat something light like soup or make a smoothie! Like today! Before working out I had 526 cals left for the day, with the workout, i burned 655 calories (TurboFire) and my calories went up to 1181! Now, since i had like 530 left, that's a lot! And my stomach was growling after than intense workout so i made myself a banana smoothie and now i'm left with 943, so right now i'm making myself some Ramen soup! : ) It's all about being careful not to completely destroy what you worked out but have enough nutrients so your body can recover. i recommend having a smoothie after a workout since it contains protein and protein helps rebuild muscle! Shakeology or the Recovery Formula by BeachBody are both that I would recommend : ) Check them out!

    myshakeology.com/MariaAlexandra
    beachbodycoach.com/MariaAlexandra

    If you workout everyday and stuff and burning calories, but you are eating fries, pizza and other unhealthy stuff, those rack up your calories big time. My friend does that, i keep telling her that isn't the way to go since it's like as if you never worked out! But she doesn't listen, so now i'm telling you this. Don't eat what you burned off! It's better to fall asleep on an empty stomach or at least eat a fruit if you crave something, you'll wake up feeling skinny and flat :)
  • RainyDayProphet
    RainyDayProphet Posts: 113
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    I try to eat them. My problem is that I'm trying to build muscle and for me to eat THAT MANY calories of healthy foods I'd never stop eating and I'd feel sick. I'm curious if I should eat junk to get to the caloric intake I'm supposed to be at.

    Eating 2500 - 3000 calories a day is a lot for me to fathom.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    I try to eat them. My problem is that I'm trying to build muscle and for me to eat THAT MANY calories of healthy foods I'd never stop eating and I'd feel sick. I'm curious if I should eat junk to get to the caloric intake I'm supposed to be at.

    Eating 2500 - 3000 calories a day is a lot for me to fathom.

    Try drinking protein shakes to make up the difference. My husband is in the same boat as you and he has 2-3 shakes a day so that he can get enough calories and protein.
  • WarmDontBurn
    WarmDontBurn Posts: 1,253 Member
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    I eat most of them back. If i have say 50 left over I won't but if I have 300+ then I would eat back 200 or so. The first month doing that I lost 10lbs so works for me. These days exercise is just starting for me again and I will probably apply the same method.
  • servingthealiens
    servingthealiens Posts: 144 Member
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    Well the calorie limit is set to however much cals deficient you need to lose. For example to maintain i'd have to eat 2,070cals and my food diary is set to 1200 without exercise...and if i burned 300cals it would bump up to 1500...but that would be extra and i'd still have an 870cal deficient. Now that is mathematically speaking so it might not work on every body. But it is set to still have you lose however many pounds you set your goals for even with eating exercise cals.

    As a dancer, I'm guessing you have an active lifestyle. Are you sure you're eating enough? That sounds like near starvation to me.
  • VialOfDreams
    VialOfDreams Posts: 217
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    Also, keep in mind that after a good cardio, you will continue burning extra calories for up to 24 hours as a result of the workout.
  • dancer77
    dancer77 Posts: 249 Member
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    Well the calorie limit is set to however much cals deficient you need to lose. For example to maintain i'd have to eat 2,070cals and my food diary is set to 1200 without exercise...and if i burned 300cals it would bump up to 1500...but that would be extra and i'd still have an 870cal deficient. Now that is mathematically speaking so it might not work on every body. But it is set to still have you lose however many pounds you set your goals for even with eating exercise cals.

    As a dancer, I'm guessing you have an active lifestyle. Are you sure you're eating enough? That sounds like near starvation to me.

    I am 5'3" and have a small bone structure so I don't have the biggest body to fuel ;) that is good to keep in mind...I've been on break since starting MFP so when dance starts back up I may need to change things.
  • california_peach
    california_peach Posts: 1,858 Member
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    My base is set at 1200, but I exercise every day. I eat my exercise calories, but I never exceed 500 additional calories. Basically, if I exercise I eat around 1700 calories. I have been doing this since Aug 29th and I have lost 24.5 lbs.

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