do I have to eat extra calories on the days I work out?

KasieLoo
KasieLoo Posts: 9 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I had my meals planned for the day & then added my exercise & it gave me an extra 400 calories.
Do I have to eat those extra calories to keep my body healthy. I don't want to mess up my metabolism by not eating enough.
Thanks!

Replies

  • PurpleEpiphany
    PurpleEpiphany Posts: 96
    You're not going to. People on this site talk about "starvation mode" left and right, but most of them don't understand what it is and how it actually works. Do you need to make sure you have adequate energy from calories to work out? Yes. Do you need to make sure to be getting good nutrition no matter how many calories you're taking in? Yes. But if you're not having a problem in either of those areas, I'm a firm believer that there's no point in forcing yourself to eat more.

    By the by, excellent description of how starvation mode actually works here:

    http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html

    Hope that helps :)
  • bpotts44
    bpotts44 Posts: 1,066 Member
    You're not going to. People on this site talk about "starvation mode" left and right, but most of them don't understand what it is and how it actually works. Do you need to make sure you have adequate energy from calories to work out? Yes. Do you need to make sure to be getting good nutrition no matter how many calories you're taking in? Yes. But if you're not having a problem in either of those areas, I'm a firm believer that there's no point in forcing yourself to eat more.

    By the by, excellent description of how starvation mode actually works here:

    http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html

    Hope that helps :)

    That is extremely helpful actually. I think alot of what she called "the tendency to under report what we eat and over report our exercise" can account for alot more of the people that aren't hitting weight loss targets versus the whole starvation mode thing.
  • PurpleEpiphany
    PurpleEpiphany Posts: 96
    Definitely :) I also think that it's often used as a tool to keep people from crash dieting, which is never good.
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
    OMG, sane advice!!! I agree! :smile:
  • Mels707
    Mels707 Posts: 101
    You don't have to eat them back...but if you are hungry later you might add an extra snack!
  • KasieLoo
    KasieLoo Posts: 9 Member
    thanks everyone. Great advice. I'm pretty surprised that I haven't been more hungry than I have. I'm making sure I'm eating something every 3 hours. Planning meals ahead & making better choices. Who knew? If I can avoid extra calories I want to... so I appreciate your replies.
  • bianca23marie
    bianca23marie Posts: 9
    Thank you for this post! I was just wondering the same thing and was so worried about being under because of all the calories I burned today. So, sat and ate something that I would not eat just because of the calories and I was not even hungry. I know my body and tomorrow i will eat til satisfied no matter what the calorie mark says :)
  • apriltrainer
    apriltrainer Posts: 732 Member
    I don't even log any workouts here. Just my food. I found in the past that I would try to eat up to my activity level and wasn't losing my weight. I have a whole different outlook now. Diet for weightloss...exercise for body recomposition. If i lose some weight via exercise, icing on the cake. I feel a whole lot better now that i don't rely on exercise for weightloss.
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