Do you eat your excerise calories?

with a fork

I don't. I can't. Literally. Diet/exercise controlled diabetic. I can't just binge eat when I want. I try to keep my sugar as constant as possible all day.

I try really hard to, I feel way better when I do. I find if I work out at the end of the day that I can't eat that much in just a couple of hours. Now I work out in the AM and find that I am better at reaching my calorie goal. I need to work out or I would always be over on my calories.

Hi!
I'm wondering how many of you eat the calories you burn from excercise? Have you seen better results either way? Thanks!

I've lost weight many times using many different methods. Using the site this method espouses, I generally eat back most or all of my exercise calories. That way, I have a predictable weight loss (which has worked out well, though I've had to tune things from time to time), I'm never very hungry, I can make good food decisions, and I feel like I'm setting myself up with something that will allow me to easily maintain my weight once I reach my goal. It's worked very well for me.

If you want to lose weight more quickly, you can experiment with NOT eating them back. You will probably lose weight faster, but keep an eye out for signs that your "base calorie burn" - the calories you burn in your daily life - is slowing (workouts fatigue you more, you can't build the intensity you once did, you don't feel as energetic, getting out of bed is harder), and be really careful with your food intake - reducing my calories too far makes me hungrier and more apt to make poor food choices.

2500 (+exercise) calories burned - 1500 (+exercise) calories eaten means 1000 calorie deficit a day. When I maintain this, I lose 2 pounds a week. I'm maintaining it, and I'm losing two pounds a week on average.

2500 (+exercise) - 1500 calories means 1000 (+exercise) calorie deficit a day. If I worked out for 500 calories a day, I'd be running a 1500-calorie deficit, which is three pounds a week. But I'm more tired, hungrier, less likely to eat healthy, less likely to be able to maintain a 500-calorie-a-day workout, and probably not burning the 2500 base calories every day because my *kitten* is dragging and I have no energy.

What used to happen next with me is that I drop my calories even further, which got my weight loss going again, but also meant I had no energy to do workouts and my *kitten* was dragging even lower. Then I'd drop the workouts and lower my calories further, usually doing some fasting from time to time. At this point, I'd be operating on sheer willpower.

Then as soon as my goal was met, whatever that might happen to be, I'd find myself in a position where I had developed no good eating habits whatsoever, I had no clue how to maintain my weight, and I felt like everything I ate turned instantly into fat. Then, when I started eating again, I had very little portion control, I felt guilty about everything I ate, and I completely lacked the capacity to burn any of it off. So I quickly ballooned back up, felt bad about it, ate to assuage the guilt, and regained my old weight in record time.

I probably had a few affairs with eating disorders along the way. I stopped short of actual manual purging, but I did reach the point at one time when I'd eat foods that I know would make me throw up just to get rid of a meal I regretted, so I was probably closer than I'd really care to admit a few times.

So, from the trenches, from someone who has been struggling with weight since I was eleven, and I'm now well over forty and this stuff is HARD WORK now, take the time and do it right. Rushing this just means you might end up like me. A 30-year shortcut to what could have been a 2-year job at most.

EDIT: Posting overly dramatic replies to perfectly good questions. LOL.

I don't put in my exercise, so I don't tempt myself into eating more. The way I figure, the more I'm in a calorie deficit, the better.

Just be aware that this is only true to a point.. the deficit can get too large.

I do most of the time, or at least some of them, depending on how hungry I am. It's been working for me; still on my 1lb/week track.

Yes, almost always. It hasn't slowed me down one bit.

Yes! They are my favorite calories!!

I eat some of them back, but usually have a couple hundred "left over" calories.

I have been eating most of them back. I try to leave a little room for inaccuracies on either end (intake count/burn count). Until I finally get my heart rate monitor and can feel more confident in my burn data.

Yes! This is more important as you get closer to goal weight.

I set my activity level to sedentary (office job) and then eat my exercise calories back. I would rather lose a little slower than end up losing muscle mass. I'm exercising to KEEP my muscle mass and don't want to be "skinny-fat."

In a word - YES!

Yes, I eat my exercise calories and it has not slowed down my weight loss at all.

mind your calorie deficit. that is all.

I eat them back and sometimes more Still managed to lose 7lbs this month