Should I eat exercise calories back? Isn't it pointless? Here's the answer!

I used to be more at risk of binges because the after exercise and eating hardly any cals combo, my body was crying out for fuel!
 
Totally know what you mean. I've struggled not to binge out too. And that's on 1700 (-500) per day!
 
My 1 hours exercise I am doing 6 times a week burns around 750 cals each day, so I can eat tonnes :D
 
Big H are you calorie counting now? I'm doing a bit of a calorie counting/Cambridge mix whilst coming off of strictly Cambridge for the summer x
 
should i eat the full amount of cals back from exercise? - i leave just on a normal day a 500 - 700 call deficit then burn around 800 cals . on a gym day . should i eat that all back or should i add a little more onto the deficit ? i struggle to eat 1800 cals a day let alone another 800 - should i relax a little with the exercise?
 
lindseydodd408 said:
When I started out on my ccing journey 13 months ago I got fixated on the magic number of 1200 and went on my own merry way... It didn't take long and I upped that 1200 by a few hundred because I could have eaten my own arm some days!!!

I was doing 2 exercise classes a week for a few months then joined a gym in Oct 2010 still sticking to my magic number of 1400 cals. It wasn't until I'd stayed the same for 8 weeks in between January 2011 and March 2011 that I did some research and realised I'd been doing things very wrong!!!

Now it seems so silly but I'd got it in my head that a day where I'd eaten nothing but lettuce and done and hour at the gym was a good day... idiot!!! Of course your body needs energy, of course your body does not remember calorie deficits that you think you are earning for a calorific weekend, and of course you are going to wreck your metabolism by not providing it enough energy for 10 months!!!

Now I know it makes so much sense... I'm just so gutted that it took me 8 months punishing my body and 2 months staying the same to realise. I do regret it as I am certain that I would have been much further in my journey by now if I had given my body the energy it needed to let the chunkiness go!!!

Great thread! x

Love this
 
Thank you so much for this thread as this always confuses me!!

I am on 1200kcals a day and burn between 100 and 200kcals a day as I am very sedentary a lot of the time I tend to just eat half of it back.
 
should i eat the full amount of cals back from exercise? - i leave just on a normal day a 500 - 700 call deficit then burn around 800 cals . on a gym day . should i eat that all back or should i add a little more onto the deficit ? i struggle to eat 1800 cals a day let alone another 800 - should i relax a little with the exercise?

You don't have to eat all of those back no, you just need to keep yourself over 1200. So if you eat 1800 normally, burn 800, that leaves you with a net of 1000. So you should eat at least 200 to bring you to 1200 or above. If you're doing a lot of exercise you might need more just to keep your body going. If you're genuinely hungry, you should eat. Listen to your body and learn the difference between hunger and craving is my biggest piece of advice to anyone! Hope that makes sense!
 
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Listen to your body!!!! If you are hungry, eat them back. If you aren't, don't force yourself to eat something you don't want. :)
 
If you get your HR up nice and high for a sustained period, your body will continue to burn more calories for up to 48 hours. It kicks up your metabolism (more calories used again) Muscles requires calories to exist, whereas fat is stoic and will sit there, needing nothing to exist.

If you have a low calorie intake and you are exercising and not eating them, your body may start to get in a flap, and go into starvation mode. It will begin to consume those muscles you work so hard for, and drop your metabolism. So you're basically removing all of the good benefits from exercising.

You don't want to eat for the sake of it, but really you shouldn't have to, even on 2000 calories, if you plan it properly!

and not forgetting keeping hydrated is as important when you exercise :)
 
You can yep! you can eat up to 1350 if you really want.. :)

I usually aim to have eaten between 75% and 100% of my exercise.... although I have to say most of the time I don't have much difficulty eating them :p I burn a lot of calories and can end up with 2000 calories some days, but it just takes a bit of planning, and perhaps a few healthy snacks in yer handbag :p
 
NatalieMeadows said:
Thankyou but it won't hinder my weight loss if I don't eat them all back?

From what I can make out if you don't eat them your body will eventually go into starvation mode, because it's not getting enough calories... I really don't know enough to offer advice though. the way I see it I will carryon eating them back as long as I'm losing weight then if that stops then I'll think about stoping intake x
 
If u have just started exercising it just be fluid retention, when I started exercising I didn't lose weight for 2 wks then lost 4 lb and in the 3 wks lost 2.5 inches off my hips, 1.5 off thighs... So give it a few weeks to balance out x
 
Ah right it could be that then thanks very much :)

I've started doing more as I have found the cross trainer suits my disability if I do it in small bursts x
 
I am going to be really contreversial here, and I just want to stress that this is just my opinion. I don't eat back my exercise cals. I spent the first 3 weeks ccing eating them back and wasn't getting great results. I did what you did, and asked around generally. Someone suggested I try a week or 2 of not eating them back just to see how it went. I did this, and the results were amazing.
Now what I tend to do, is not eat them back. As long as my net cals are above 1200 ish I don't think I am doing myself any harm. I have been doing it for many weeks now, and when I exercise my losses are really good. If I am hungry I eat, and the extra cals burned mean I have room to eat more if I want to. Most of the time I eat about 50-100 cals back, but you should really listen to your own body.

This is something that works really well for me. I am not tired or dizzy, and I'm not starving myself because I am sensible. You will work out in time what suits you. There are no hard or fast rules on theis question, read everyones advice, and see what works for you.

Hope this helps :)
 
I am going to be really contreversial here, and I just want to stress that this is just my opinion. I don't eat back my exercise cals. I spent the first 3 weeks ccing eating them back and wasn't getting great results. I did what you did, and asked around generally. Someone suggested I try a week or 2 of not eating them back just to see how it went. I did this, and the results were amazing.
Now what I tend to do, is not eat them back. As long as my net cals are above 1200 ish I don't think I am doing myself any harm. I have been doing it for many weeks now, and when I exercise my losses are really good. If I am hungry I eat, and the extra cals burned mean I have room to eat more if I want to. Most of the time I eat about 50-100 cals back, but you should really listen to your own body.

This is something that works really well for me. I am not tired or dizzy, and I'm not starving myself because I am sensible. You will work out in time what suits you. There are no hard or fast rules on theis question, read everyones advice, and see what works for you.

Hope this helps :)

This is exactly right and what I was saying. You don't have to eat all of your exercise calories, you just need to try and make sure you're sticking to above 1200 net calories a day. You just need to listen to your body, if you're doing a lot of exercise you might feel the need for a bit more calorie wise. You just need to find what works for you, as long as you stick with 1200 net calories you're not at any risk of doing yourself any harm.
 
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