Eating your exercise calories/Weight loss

terra_angelica
terra_angelica Posts: 59
in Health and Weight Loss
I am reading everywhere that if you are exercising everyday you should "eat your exercise calories." I have calorie intake set at around 1200. Sometimes I go over, some days I am under. when I exercise it goes up to 1600 calories a day (that I am suppose to eat). But I honestly am not hungry enough for that. I am usually satisfied around 1200 calories a day. Is upping your calorie intake if you are exercising really important if you want to lose weight?

Replies

  • Megan2Project
    Megan2Project Posts: 351 Member
    The closer you are to your goal, the more important it is. How are your results? Are you satisfied at you're rate of loss? Is what you are doing working for you? If yes, then don't worry about it. If you need to switch it up then *try* eating them, or half of them . Play with it and find what works for YOU!
  • terra_angelica
    terra_angelica Posts: 59
    I am only a week or so into my weight loss. I have lost 5 lbs but this fluctuates. I have already lost about 1 inch of my waist, but I think it is the water loss from exercise that everyone loses the first week. I think it is too early to tell at this point if it will really work for me in the long run. I want to lose about 20 lbs, so I don't have a whole lot to lose. Just trying to lose some pregnancy weight is all.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    Yes.
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
    If you only have 20 pounds to lose, you should set your weight loss goal to one pound or half a pound per week. 1200 calories may not be enough to sustain you. It is also important to eat those exercise calories, otherwise you are not providing your body enough fuel to work with.

    It may sound counterintuitive, but try burning less calories through exercise and eating more calorie dense foods like nuts and cheese. You won't have to eat as much, but you will get adequate energy.
  • Megan2Project
    Megan2Project Posts: 351 Member
    Since you don't have much to lose, I would do what the other person said. Set your goals to 1lb per week and then try eating back half exercise cals and see how you do for a while.

    I say eat back half, because unless your have a good Heart Rate Monitor, MFP database calculations can by off for exercise by up to 50%.

    Then after 3-4 weeks you can see how its going and fine-tune it to suit your needs!

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