question about calories lost during exercise

gania13
gania13 Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
i train with a polar heart rate monitor, and lets say i did a workout and burned 300 calories.
until now i added the burned calories to the daily caloric value i needed to get to, and ate accordingly.
lets say i need to eat 1500 calories on a non workout day, so it's 1800 when i workout.
but today i had a thought, these calories that are burned during a workout, they aren't all "extra" calories i burned, there is an amount i at rest, lets say i would have burned 100 calories in that time.
so does it mean i need to consider that as lower that 300 "extra" calories burned when i'm adjusting my intake?

Replies

  • Quinn_Baker
    Quinn_Baker Posts: 292 Member
    edited April 2016
    I'm a little confused, but here is what I do:

    My daily calorie goal is 1500.
    If I exercise, I still eat 1500. UNLESS I burn a crazy amount and I'm really hungry, then I might eat some of those calories back.

    But if you are exercising to lose weight, I would not recommend eating back those calories. If you are exercising simply to have more room to eat, or just for fitness, then go ahead.

    Re-reading your question, no, you do not count any extra. The amount of calories burned in a workout is what it is period. That is, you do not need to account for anything lower or higher.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    This is why a lot of people just eat half their exercise calories. Leaves room for error, those you'd burn anyway, etc.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Eat the 300. Don't overthink what is only an estimate.

    If you don't get the results you expect after a month and are confident your food logging is accurate (far, far more significant than exercise for most people) then think about making adjustments.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    I would pay attention more to how your weight us moving on average over a few weeks.

    Too many people think that HRM are accurate and honestly they might get you in the blood park in some activities, but hardly something you should treat as a bible.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
    I understand what you're asking about normal activity calories versus additional calories burned while exercising. Since these are all estimates, you're probably overthinking the process. Start out be eating the calories back and after 3-4 weeks of data, adjust based on your personal experience.
  • Yisrael1981
    Yisrael1981 Posts: 132 Member
    gania13 wrote: »
    i train with a polar heart rate monitor, and lets say i did a workout and burned 300 calories.
    until now i added the burned calories to the daily caloric value i needed to get to, and ate accordingly.
    lets say i need to eat 1500 calories on a non workout day, so it's 1800 when i workout.
    but today i had a thought, these calories that are burned during a workout, they aren't all "extra" calories i burned, there is an amount i at rest, lets say i would have burned 100 calories in that time.
    so does it mean i need to consider that as lower that 300 "extra" calories burned when i'm adjusting my intake?

    You are 100% correct.
    It's the reason why there are tdee calculators as they look at the full picture including your basal metabolic rate plus exercise etc.. and give you the total calculation.
    I wouldn't eat back more than half especially since hr monitor aren't that accurate to begin with
  • gania13
    gania13 Posts: 3 Member
    thanks for the help guys

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