Do you eat your workout calories? If you do are you still lo

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Replies

  • PWanks
    PWanks Posts: 22 Member
    Having those extra calories is what motivates me to work out. I find it really hard to stay within 1200 calories so I rely on my workout to give me some wiggle room. I say to myself, "If you go to the gym, you can have a cookie for dessert or a glass of wine with dinner." Stuff like that. It's worked for me so far! And I don't have to EVER feel hungry or deprived of the stuff I want. I think that's the key to losing weight and maintaining it and that's what MFP is about, I think.
  • I think I will start eating back my workout calories, as I have hit a plateau!
    I work out 30 minutes elliptical, 30 minutes walking with my dog most days.
  • Jferg69
    Jferg69 Posts: 241 Member
    not always, I feel that I lose more weight when I don't
  • Nicolee_2014
    Nicolee_2014 Posts: 1,572 Member
    I don't always but if I'm extra hungry & I have the extra calories I will. Obviously I try to aim for stuff that is on the healthy side :smile: although I have been guilty of using it for a chocolate or a 'treat' :blushing:
  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
    I eat the HELL out of them and I am still losing quite well thanks. I don't every day as it depends a LOT of what I ate, how much I burned, etc, but some days I go way over and some days I am under. Like yesterday I didn't eat most of them back, but the day before I ate an extra 400 calories regardless of not having burned any calories. It balances out through the week for me.

    I eat as much as 2000 -2400 calories some days and I am still losing and YES I have a sedentary office job and NO I am not huge (I am 5'6" 165)
  • i dont eat my work out calories back. i just started this and ive only lost 4 lbs so far in about 5 days. i want to continue this path and it seems to be working.
  • xSophia19
    xSophia19 Posts: 1,536 Member
    no i dont eat mine backk. i maintain weight i eat back my excercise cals!! and this is something dont want as im only halfway to my goal :laugh:

    1400 cals a day, and around 500 calorie burn a day works wounders for me. if im on plateaux then i will up my cals for a few weeks, then drop it back down again and it gets me back to looosing lb's here and there.

    its different for everyone tho! this might or might not work for you!! you should try different things and see what works best.
  • Totally laughed out loud to this comment while sitting at work! :smile:
  • LilMizDetermined
    LilMizDetermined Posts: 174 Member
    That's the only reason I work out. Just kidding, sorta.

    Lol I'm not gonna lie, it is a BIG motivator!! I eat back mine!
  • slolife14
    slolife14 Posts: 22 Member
    That's the only reason I work out. Just kidding, sorta.


    That's the main reason I work out ;)
  • AnnieFJ
    AnnieFJ Posts: 82 Member
    EAT THEM!

    I run to eat!

    Have been maintaining by eating them for a good few months now, definately eat them back.

    (NB Also ate them back when I was losing!)
  • Melroxsox
    Melroxsox Posts: 1,040 Member
    I hardly ever eat ALLL of my workout calories...just because I can't physically eat that much during the day. But I have pretty high burn numbers that usually stay around 700 cals or more I try and eat back at least 200-300 of my exercise cals if possible. just make WISE decisions on the food you're choosing to eat. so fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, ect...:wink:
  • I havent logged for a while now and am trying to get my self back in to it but i used to eat my work out calories most of the time and still lost x
  • I also have done a little research...and everything says to eat your excercise calories.
  • Brandicaloriecountess
    Brandicaloriecountess Posts: 2,126 Member
    I did not in the beginning, but I was VERY overweight.

    I do now, and in fact I workout more so I can eat more ;)
  • To the guy who lost over 200 pounds - I so wanna be on your team!! Awesome man!! You inspire me...
  • Brandicaloriecountess
    Brandicaloriecountess Posts: 2,126 Member
    Oh, and yes I still lose weight, in fact it got to the point that I was not losing much. I started eating exercise calories and bam, back on to pretty consistent losses.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    I ate mine since I started, and had great progress while I was losing weight.

    The best part is that I never trained my body to survive on a minimal amount of calories, so at 39, I have the metabolism of a teenager and can eat pretty much whatever I want. Well, maybe that's the second best part. The real best part is that since I fueled my body properly, the majority of my weight loss has been from fat, and I've kept my lean muscle. So I'm about 130# and wearing clothes I last wore twenty years ago when I was 110#.

    There were times that I didn't think it was possible for me to lose weight because when I reduced calories a lot, it was so hard for me to drop the pounds. I thought it was simple matter of "the less you eat, the more you lose." Not so. I now know that I have to eat enough for my body to feel comfortable ditching the excess fat.
  • I eat my exercise calories back everyday... I need to fuel my workouts and keep from having a huge caloric deficit. I gauge my calories burned off my FT60 Polar HRM and make sure I eat back what I burn to keep myself around my MFP setting of losing 1 pound a week... Working for me......
    :flowerforyou:
  • I don't! I did at first but didn't loose any weight....very once in awhile I do like if I'm going out to eat...but I try very hard not too....and I'm loosing!
    {Sarah}
  • cieralea7
    cieralea7 Posts: 15 Member
    Hey all....Quick question??? I've been monitoring my calories well and really focusing on consuming my daily protein limit, but staying with my calorie limit. Tonight I burned 920 calories according to my heart rate monitor at the gym, I logged~ 800 and MFP gave me 400 calories back when I just logged everything in. I have met my calorie limit for the day but in no way plan to consume 400 calories before bed. I'm gonna eat a protein before bed around 100 calories. So dilemma...I feel like there is no way to consume my exercise cals. Is this bad??
  • ohpilot
    ohpilot Posts: 73 Member
    Hey all....Quick question??? I've been monitoring my calories well and really focusing on consuming my daily protein limit, but staying with my calorie limit. Tonight I burned 920 calories according to my heart rate monitor at the gym, I logged~ 800 and MFP gave me 400 calories back when I just logged everything in. I have met my calorie limit for the day but in no way plan to consume 400 calories before bed. I'm gonna eat a protein before bed around 100 calories. So dilemma...I feel like there is no way to consume my exercise cals. Is this bad??

    I have the same problem. I eat back a lot of my exercise cals but I don't want to force myself to eat if I'm not hungry :(
  • Jessica0982
    Jessica0982 Posts: 209 Member
    I actually (so far) don't eat back my workout calories. If I'm still hungry, I may think about having a low calorie snack of some kind. But I really do try to avoid eating more.

    Now if I'm a marathon runner and doing some serious workouts, then maybe I'd reconsider. But for now, this works for me.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    Leaving a big leftover chunk of calories once in a while is no big deal, but if you do it consistently, it's not good for you long term.

    If I had ~400 leftover calories, I'd have a protein powder mixed with chocolate milk. That'd be about 300 calories and about 35g of protein, and absolutely delicious.
  • 99cherrypie99
    99cherrypie99 Posts: 205 Member
    I'm really surprised how many of you eat your calories back! I did P90X Kempo at lunch and ran 6 miles after work. Not sure how many I burned at kempo, but according to my HRM I burned 625 running. I'm at less then 1400 calories for the day.

    5'1" 39 year old female - current weight 149 - down 195 lbs from hkw.
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