Eating back calories

FrumMama
FrumMama Posts: 79 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So usually when I exercise, it's 15 minutes, or 30 minutes, and I don't eat back my calories. But today I power walked for 30 minutes, lifted weights for a while, and played 45 minutes of one-on-one with my kids, and then pitched to another kid (and ran after the ball when he hit it). I ate a very substantial dinner (Korean beef bowl), staying pretty much within my calories, and I'm sitting here a couple of hours later and my stomach is literally growling at me. When you exercise a lot in one day, do you eat back your calories? I just don't see any other way around it -- I can't go to sleep like this. I ate very healthy all day, veggies, protein, some healthy carbs, and I'm just famished!

Been doing MFP for a while on and off, and for the past couple of months religiously, have lost about twenty pounds altogether, and I usually eat a decent dinner and am fine afterwards. But I usually don't exercise this much all in one day...

Replies

  • FrumMama
    FrumMama Posts: 79 Member
    And assuming that I do eat something, what can I eat? Protein? Would some carbs be more likely to fill me up? Or veggies, even though they're not filling, so that my stomach is full without having too many calories?
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    If I am extra hungry because of an extra busy day, I will eat. No point in suffering. Just plan better tomorrow.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Arguably in a perfect world you should be eating back the extra calories you burned by exercising yes. The goal is to maintain a small and consistent deficit. So if normally you burn 2000 calories a day and you eat 1500 to maintain a 500 calorie deficit but on another day you burn an additional 250 calories in exercise then you should eat 1750.

    The problem is it can be very difficult to accurately predict the caloric burn one gets from exercise....especially if exercise is just "throwing a ball around" or being a little more active on a given day. You can eat whatever you'd like that will help satisfy you within your calorie goals, the difficulty is determining how much to maintain your deficit.

    I don't think you do yourself any favors going to bed starving so yeah I'd recommend if you know you were more active than you typically are go ahead and eat another small meal.
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
    i have go-to snacks ready like an ounce of peanuts or 1/2 cup cottage cheese. sometimes a bowl of cereal instead of protein. i don't sleep well hungry so it takes the edge off with minimum calories
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    I eat back half my calories from exercise. Nothing specific. A couple of snacks. A larger meal. Whatever I feel like and have room for.
  • FrumMama
    FrumMama Posts: 79 Member
    Thanks, all. I had a snack -- honestly, it was before I saw these replies, but the replies made me feel better. By the way, "one-on-one" above was a typo, it was one-on-one basketball, and pretty intense, for 45 minutes. I think that was what drained me. My older son really gave me a run for my money today, in another year or two he'll probably be better than I am.
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    edited June 2018
    I usually eat back 50-75% of my exercise calories a day. You're supposed to eat you exercise calories back, MFP is just notorious for overestimating calories burned so that's why I try to stick to 50-75%.

    Today I had a serving of Fruit Loops with a cup of almond milk as my snack. If you prefer healthier snacks, that's up to you, but as long as your diet is reasonably healthy having a not as healthy snack is perfectly fine.
  • MsHarryWinston
    MsHarryWinston Posts: 1,027 Member
    Yup, eat them back. An exercise tracker, like a FitBit, is really great for helping you figure out your burn. Of course you can also track within MFP as well, I just find a separate but linked tracker more accurate.
  • Mandylou19912014
    Mandylou19912014 Posts: 208 Member
    FrumMama wrote: »
    So usually when I exercise, it's 15 minutes, or 30 minutes, and I don't eat back my calories. But today I power walked for 30 minutes, lifted weights for a while, and played 45 minutes of one-on-one with my kids, and then pitched to another kid (and ran after the ball when he hit it). I ate a very substantial dinner (Korean beef bowl), staying pretty much within my calories, and I'm sitting here a couple of hours later and my stomach is literally growling at me. When you exercise a lot in one day, do you eat back your calories? I just don't see any other way around it -- I can't go to sleep like this. I ate very healthy all day, veggies, protein, some healthy carbs, and I'm just famished!

    Been doing MFP for a while on and off, and for the past couple of months religiously, have lost about twenty pounds altogether, and I usually eat a decent dinner and am fine afterwards. But I usually don't exercise this much all in one day...

    I always listen to my body, I do boxing once a week and weight lifting 4 times a week and I’m constantly hungry. I make sure that the food I eat will be high in protein, include good fats like avocado, nuts etc, I make sure to eat carbs as they give me energy .. but the carbs I’ll eat aren’t crisps or white pasta .. instead they will be like sweet potatoes, whole grain pasta, rice .. if you ever feel hungry just eat something as it’s your body crying out for fuel so it can build your muscles and keep you full of energy
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    Is it appetite or hunger? This is a critical process that needs to be understood for success.

    Appetite tends to come on quickly and drives a desire for specific foods - salty, sweet, chocolate, etc.

    Hunger evolves over time and is slow building. This is your body's signalling that it needs fuel to maintain activity.

    As for food that lingers, sticks to your ribs? This is completely personal. For me nothing works like pasta, oatmeal, and/or hot tea/coffee. For others this may act as a appetite stimulant. Experiment and find your long lasting, satisfying foods.

    Bear in mind where you are in this process. If this is new activity please don't "listen to your body" as you haven't established a routine around exercise yet. Experienced professionals can do this because they have developed multiple feedback loops promoting their goals.

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