Excess calories!? Help!

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TrinaLynn527
TrinaLynn527 Posts: 7 Member
in Motivation and Support
Are we supposed to be eating the extra calories we get from exercising?? I have 733 left for the day and I've already eaten dinner! I need to lose 100 pounds, so it seems ridiculous that I would have that many extra at the end of the day :)

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  • itstimeRK
    itstimeRK Posts: 112 Member
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    I try not to eat any of my exercise calories. I stick closely to my daily goal and I lose 1.5-2 lbs a week.
  • Train4Foodz
    Train4Foodz Posts: 4,298 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Hey there Trina,
    Your deficit is worked our pre-exercise, in order to do exercise your body needs fuel. The proteins, fats and carbohydrates from the foods and drinks you consume pre exercise will be used up (to the total extent of your calorie burn) during the workout to build and tone muscle as well as fuel your body to complete any cardiovascular aspects to any exercise (your heart for obvious reasons being the most important of your muscles, needs fuel!!).

    If you were to make a workout deficit and not eat it back the calories it would taking a huge chunk from your daily calories. If your daily target for instance is 1200 and you burn 600 this would put you in a pretty unhealthy consumption range of 600 daily calories (if you are sure the burn is accurate then eat to 100%, using a HR monitor ensures accurate readings. Otherwise I tend to allow 25% below the burn to allow for discrepancies.. so if my estimated burn was 100 for example I'd consume back 75).

    To sum up what I'm saying, you really should be eating or drinking those calories back!

    All the best.
    Adam, MFP Community Greeter
  • mirki002
    mirki002 Posts: 47 Member
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    You don't have to eat them back, but you can if you want to. I've seen people say that you shouldn't eat back more than 50% because calorie burn from exercise is often overestimated. I try not to eat mine back, unless I'm really hungry or I worked out because I knew I would splurge on that day. Hope that helps!
  • TrinaLynn527
    TrinaLynn527 Posts: 7 Member
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    Thank you so much! Such a fine line to walk, getting what you need without going over to lose the weight you want!
  • Train4Foodz
    Train4Foodz Posts: 4,298 Member
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    TrinaLynn527 wrote: »
    Thank you so much! Such a fine line to walk, getting what you need without going over to lose the weight you want!

    Try not to let yourself think too deeply into it.
    If you do that then the lifestyle becomes 'difficult' when it needn't be (more so than resisting the odd temptation anyway).
    Think of exercise burn as fuel, you wouldn't try run a vehicle with no fuel.. It wouldn't get too far and would do it no good in the long term. The same goes for your body!

    Keep up the awesome commitment!

    You got this!!!!!!!!

    Adam, MFP Community Greeter

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