eating all your cals and time you eat them.

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laurenhillz
laurenhillz Posts: 1
in Food and Nutrition
Do you need to eat all your cals? i dont use all mine up i still end up with about 700 or more left. Does this matter? And to i need to eat most early on??? or later in the day?

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  • sconns21
    sconns21 Posts: 92 Member
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    There are quite a few different studies about the best time to eat your calories but they all have varying results. The main advice I see is that it shouldn't matter when you eat them during the day. However I wouldn't eat loads right before you go to bed.

    Some studies have shown that if you exercise before breakfast you burn fat straight away as your body has no sugars or carbs to burn. I would be careful though because exercising on an empty stomach might not be the best idea as your body needs fuel. There are also studies that say if you exercise an hour after eating you can exercise for longer periods because your body has that extra energy so you get to the fat burning zone and stay there for longer.

    Personally I would say that as long as you are eating less calories every day and exercising you should lose weight without having to monitor when you eat your calories. If it did make any difference I would suggest that it is minimal.

    You don't have to eat all of your calories but I think the amount they give you on the site is the way to do it healthily. Having 700 left over a day sounds like a lot however I find when I exercise I eat pretty much the same so that I am left with a lot of calories. As long as you don't feel starving or tired/light headed I'd say not using all your calories is ok and might be even good.
  • davidmsheppard
    davidmsheppard Posts: 17
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    I think there is general consensus it is good to eat breakfast to get the metabolism going..
  • cerysrhi
    cerysrhi Posts: 262
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    as long as you eat 1200 NET calories then you should be fine. As for the time of day I was always told not to eat any later than 2 hours before bed time whether that is fact or not I don't know but I stick by it
  • Luckymam
    Luckymam Posts: 300
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    I'm a firm believer in listening to your body. If you're hungry in the evening, then you should eat, even if it takes you over your calorie total. Likewise, if you're not hungry, I can't see the sense of consuming extra calories just appease the totals on your daily log. There are many days when I'm over my calorie allowance and many days when I'm under.... It all evens out over time.

    People get too bogged down with numbers, totals, goals etc.

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