Do you use your extra calories after exercising?

I try not to eat the exercise calories back, sometimes I eat into them a little. The opinions here are divided and some people insist on eating them back. I guess it depends what works for you and how many calories you eat in first place. Sometimes I'm really hungry after workout and just have to eat. I am trying to plan my meals so I feel fuller without so many calories if it makes sense.

I try to have 1750 spare calories over at the end of a week. These equate to about 1/2 to 2/3 of my exercise calories.

Sometimes I do. I usually get a 20 min walk in a day in addition to my AM workout. I don't count those calories into my daily total.

I had been eating some (and sometimes all) of them back until a few weeks ago, after I had hit a long plateau (three months!) and met with a dietitian, who looked at all my stats including activity level, and said that I should eat just slightly less than what I had been and stop eating any exercise cals, among other logical things like trying to eat more balanced meals and less junk. Looking at my food diary, she said that I was basically eating at maintenance, hence the plateau.

Once I started following her advice, my plateau finally broke. It's been great. And for me mentally, it's turned out to be so much better not counting those exercise calories. I used to kind of obsess about how much more I could eat because of exercise. Now I just eat what I am allotted (1900 cals) and do my exercise because I love it and it makes me feel strong – not because it lets me eat more, lol!

That said, this is just my experience. I think you can eat some of your exercise cals back and be OK, but know that indeed, it's pretty hard to get an accurate read on how much you really do burn for any given exercise.

But I do love what NOT counting the exercise calories has done for me!

I never eat them back.

The main reason I exercise is so I can eat more. so yes, I eat half sometimes all of them back

if you are using MFP you should eat them back.. at least a large portion of them. if you are using TDEE NO

I eat mine - not always all of them, and only what my garmin hrm says I've burned, not what MFP says.

I eat back almost all (average 95%) of the extra calories I get from my Vivofit2 and about 50% of what I get from the MFP database for logging my swimming and water aerobics. I trust the activity tracker to be pretty accurate but I don't trust the database. In the end, I average out to about 75-80% of my overall exercise calories.

It has been working just fine and dandy:

BrianSharpe wrote: »

I eat most of them as I need the fuel and fitness is more important to me than losing those last few pounds (even though it would probably improve my race times). Having said that, proceed with caution as many HRMs , treadmills etc etc tend to overestimate the calories burned and it's not uncommon for people to underestimate the calories they're consuming.

Exactly. I have tested my Vivofit (not an HRM, just a step based tracker) by calculating my TDEE over a 30 day period using my actual real-time calories consumed and adding in 3500 for each pound I lost during that time period. My old Fitbit was about 100 calories high and my Garmin is actually about 250 low so I am comfortable using those numbers (even allowing for some error on my part while logging food, although I do weigh and measure everything). I didn't eat back as many of my Fitbit numbers as I do my Garmin numbers.

Soopatt wrote: »

I eat half of them back, but sometimes I am hungry enough to want all of them and I don't give myself a hard time when that happens.

I have done the same thing. It is really helpful to still have a number to shoot for. It keeps me from totally going off the rails. I can have a mini-binge and feel like I am still in line with my plan.

I will usually under estimate my calorie burns from exercise but I almost always eat them back, you have to find what works for you.

Heck yeah, because I eat at least in part to fuel my exercise.

I'd feel starving all the time if I didn't, especially on strength days...those days I could eat back my calories AND your calories!

I use some of my exercise calories back, but usually only when my blood sugar drops and I have no choice, or I have thousands of them and my bf takes me out to dinner. Then, I will often go over my daily calorie goal and do into the extras; having said that, however, I lost seven pound in two weeks. My goal is to always have two to three thousand exercise calories left at the end of the day. I'd be glad to be your buddy if you need encouragement to stay away from them. they ate like money in the bank. The accumulate with interest in a healthier body.