Exercise calorie mind games.....

lichensandseeds
lichensandseeds Posts: 41 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I'm a runner-- I love running outside and I love long runs. I've got a small frame, so I don't burn tons of calories on long runs but I recognize that it's important to eat most if not all of these calories back. I know based on experience that this is best for my body. Got it. I try to eat them back healthily with occasional treats and get enough protein.

The problem now isn't so much eating on long run days, but eating on rest days. How do I convince my brain that I don't need as many snacks or extras on a day when I'm not running? In addition, on days without long runs I have more free time which equals more time for snacking.

How do you deal with the difference in calories between a work out day and a rest day?

Replies

  • ka97
    ka97 Posts: 1,984 Member
    You could average out the calories over the course of the week. So maybe you don't eat back all your calories on your long run days, and you eat slightly over on your rest days. But as long as over the course of the week your calories in = you calories out you should be fine.
    My body cannot handle a drastic shift in eating from a long run or a brick day to a rest day. So I eat a little less on a rest day, and a little more on a heavy workout day, but I try to keep them both to an average for the week.
  • Mountaindan
    Mountaindan Posts: 7 Member
    I have been struggling with that today especially, but most of the week. I am tapering this week so my calorie needs are considerably less. I typically work out over an hour a day so that's a big difference. Luckily for me this week I have been on 2nd shift so I pack up what I know is enough for the day and that is pretty much what I can eat, but it is hard not to hit the vending machine! I just look forward to getting up in the morning and hitting the scale knowing that it is not going up and if I did good enough even with out a work out it will go down, it is great motivation for ME right now knowing that I am at the lowest I've been for probably 20 years.
    In the end it is all a decision, not an easy one by all means, but a decision to just not eat more than you need. Some days I succeed, some I fail, but the failures are getting further apart and that is all that counts!
    I like the idea of averaging the calories out also!

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