Do you increase your calories if you are unusually active that day?

Kimmie827mfp
Kimmie827mfp Posts: 17 Member
edited April 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm just curious if you have a day you don't officially "exercise" but your activity is a lot more above your base level activity, do you increase your calories at all? What if you are noticeably more hungry? I'm a stay at home mom, plus taking an online class and I find my normal day isn't exceptionally active. I'm up and about (I have 4 kids, 2 are under 3 so I'm not just sitting but still..) but unless I run more than 2-3 miles I don't eat back any calories, and I'm fine. Occasionally I'll have very active days, yesterday I did the entire downstairs floors, took about 2 hours. Then without the kids, had to run some errands that involved going to the mall where was walking for about an hour but not leisurely. I didn't think much of it, but I was so hungry last night and just wanted food food (no junk, but a meal) and I did go over my calories. So this morning it occurred to me it could have been because I was more active though I didn't run yesterday. Anyone experience the same thing? I'm eating 1300-1400 calories a day, I eat back half my running calories when I run over 2-3 miles. But that just didn't feel like enough yesterday.

Replies

  • packersfan0103
    packersfan0103 Posts: 251 Member
    Hi. I'm not absolutely sure but I wouldn't think so. It was just one day. If you felt extra hungry then maybe just have some fruit. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.
  • sky_northern
    sky_northern Posts: 119 Member
    Yes, but I have my Fitbit synced so it makes it very easy for me.
    Sounds like you had a very busy day yesterday so, yeah, no stressing about going over a bit.
  • LazSommer
    LazSommer Posts: 1,851 Member
    Eat if you are truly hungry.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Yes, if I'm unusually more active, I'll probably eat 100-200 more calories.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
    If I am hungrier because of it, yes.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I don't log...I naturally eat more when I'm more active and less when I'm less active. Learn to listen to your body.
  • goodrichalicia
    goodrichalicia Posts: 5 Member
    Log whatever you did that was active. Or logg as walking for how ever many hours . Log everything u do! i log cleaning cooking shopping
    And if you are hungry you need to eat, Just eat healthy egg whites are my fave go to to save calories 17 cals per egg no fat high protien
  • trjjoy
    trjjoy Posts: 666 Member
    I log cleaning so I eat back half of those calories.
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
    This is where Fitbit comes in handy. No guessing.

    However if you are extra hungry and have been more active there is nothing wrong with eating at a smaller deficit, for the day, than your usual. (go over your calorie allowance by a little) I would not log housework and shopping as exercise though.

  • rufus_187
    rufus_187 Posts: 15 Member
    If I'm unusually active I would definitely eat more, even if I thought i could go without. I don't go crazy and I'll keep it fairly clean, maybe have something I normally don't if it works with my macros.
  • Cyriatan
    Cyriatan Posts: 23 Member
    For me it'll depend on my feelings rather than the calories: am I REALLY hungry? Unless you periodically have a "cheat" meal/day/X and thus really need to mantain the non-cheat meals on point or the deficit is really little because you're already lean, etc. if one day you eat more because you're really hungry that's okay, even if the activity wasn't that high. This is about learning new habits and making them do-able in the long run. A lot of people eat more in those days, and this by itself won't make anyone fat if the general calories are adequate. The thing is creating this new habit of eating moderate calories instead of letting go and eating a load of junk food for example...life is that, there are days when you are more hungry and then days where you're super busy and won't eat as much. If you do some activity (like running or other), normally eat within a low-calorie range and keep the extra calories in the moderate field the only thing that will happen is that you'll be able to adapt to your daily life and be successful in the long run.

    What I wouldn't do is creating this norm of "today I think I was very active so I will eat more". Walking fast in the mall for an hour burns a lot less calories than one may think. Go with your hunger and make sure you're not relying on food to deal with anxiety, boredom, etc. Well this is what works for me, but everyone needs to find their own "this works for me method", so experiment a bit! :)
  • Larissa_NY
    Larissa_NY Posts: 495 Member
    I don't because increased activity doesn't make me more hungry. It does for a lot of people.

    On the other hand, be careful with that. What you describe as a busy day is basically an average weekend for a person who's reasonably active. You can create a deficit by either decreasing your intake or increasing your activity level (or both), but one of the quickest and surest ways to kill your weight loss attempts is to increase your activity level, work up an appetite, and then come home and wipe out your deficit because you don't want to feel hungry.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited April 2016
    I don't now because I average activity/exercise calories over the whole week. If I have a day where I do more than usual or have a heavy workout and am extra hungry (usually I'm not, but it depends), I will eat more and flex calories over the week (that is, I often eat less on some days than others and track by week). If it's really unusual, then I might not bother flexing and just eat more.

    When I was using the MFP method and eating back exercise I'd get the benefit of an extra active day through Fitbit and would usually eat that back, so one method for you might be to estimate extra walking and add that in or just let yourself eat a reasonable amount more if feeling more hungry.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    Sometimes I go on very long, very arduous hikes (15 miles and up, lots of elevation changes). I find its just not practical or palatable to eat enough to fuel those days as they happen. I'll often find myself in a much larger deficit than I really want and I add a small extra meal the following day, usually an extra breakfast or an extra lunch.

Categories