How exactly do you eat your exercise calories back?

I do TDEE. My exercise is predictable, but I am a meal planner and I found it incredibly triggering to have a "red" number until the exercise ported over from runkeeper. So I figured out my daily calorie TDEE, and calculated a deficit, and do that instead.

My workouts vary. I can easily burn 1500+ cals on a long bike ride or race, or I might only burn 100 cals lifting.
I track them and eat them back on a daily basis... usually just a bigger dinner or extra snacks/ice cream in the evening. I don't typically care what macros make up those cals, unless it's a particular big effort and I feel like I need extra carbs (like a big race, for example). Its easier *for me* to watch calories on a daily basis through MFP, but I have a spreadsheet that calculates rolling 7day averages and trendlines for me, and I use that as a gauge for how I'm doing and if/when I need to make adjustments.

Does that help?

cycling--> I seem to need ~100 calories every 20 miles or so or else I'll bonk. And of course, I'll be ravenously hungry afterward and eat a good portion back. And if a wonderfully smart person picked the route, there will be an ice cream stop... so all of that accounts for most of them.

dancing --> liquor + post-dancing snack

running-->+80 calories before if dinner was >1hr ago; + post-run 'supper'

weight training--> usually an extra 1/2 of a food bar afterward (usually ravenously hungry, and the original half + yogurt isn't enough).

I've done TDEE in the winter before (my exercise calories stay a bit more consistent day-to-day), but the summer is a haphazard schedule of randomly extra intense days/weeks that require way more calories to function.

I use exercise calories to allow me to eat a bit more every day. To lose weight without exercise, because I'm small to begin with, I'd be in the 1200 calories a day club, but I aim for about 1350-1400 instead every day. And I workout 5-6 days a week, burning 350-650 calories each session by running, Orange Theory and other workouts I do at the gym. I don't actually eat even half of what I "burn" because I'm pretty sure those numbers are very inflated. Because I've been working out for most of my adult life, I think I'm very adapted to almost any type of exercise and assume I'm only burning half of what my Garmin or MFP is reporting. I know that previously, when I tried to eat back all that I "burned," I actually did gain weight.

I eat mine in a combo of the day of and banking for a bigger weekend day.

I am a runner and I’m currently training for a marathon. I have a couple of long runs a week-one that burns about 1100 calories, one that burns about twice that (and other run days too-but the other runs aren’t as long and I don’t need anything special for them). On those days, I end up using a fair number of those exercise calories eaten prior to, during or just after the run. I also get very hungry on the long-long run days and that’s when I eat all my otherwise banked exercise calories.

My base calorie goal is (correctly) 1200. I simply can’t eat that little and sustain any kind of activity. Even on rest days or days when I just lift (which burns very few calories), I use some of my banked exercise calories to allow a reasonable intake level.

Overall-regardless or when I’m eating what calories and what day the exercise happened-I’m managing my calories by the week. I hit my weekly goal - although my actual intake varies from 1300-6000 on any given day. I NET 1200 on average for the week (and lose as expected).

On most days, I just eat a little more of whatever I “normally” eat. Usually a larger portion of meat at dinner or a higher calorie meat than “normal”. On my long-long Run days, I eat everything. My calorie goal is (correctly) quite low. I don’t have a lot of room to fit in treats and fun foods without sacrificing foods that meet my nutrition needs and that I find filling. For example, I can either eat a 300 calorie breakfast with a bunch of protein and fiber that will be filled with vitamins, minerals and keep me full until lunch. Or I can have a donut and get no vitamins and be hungry 20 minutes later. I don’t often choose the donut. So I tend to use my extra calories on my long long run days to enjoy those foods along with the ones that meet my nutrition needs (meaning I eat the “healthy” breakfast AND I have a donut-or 3). The long-long Run makes me hungry enough that I will want all that food and then some.

ladyhusker39 wrote: »

I have my Garmin connected to MFP. It adjusts my calories throughout the day based on my activity. I eat what it tells me to. I lose/maintain weight as expected. It's something I don't care to particularly overthink.

same

I eat more carbs on run days - usually an orange before running and French fries or pasta with lunch after running - and extra protein on lifting days. My experience with losing weight tells me that the number of calories MFP gives me for running is overestimated by about three times and the number they give me for lifting is underestimated by about half. I also bank calories for special occasions.

I eat the majority of mine back the day I earn them plus I bank some for higher calorie days i.e Saturday when I am inclined to have takeaway and cake .