Should we add back in calories burned during exercise
Should I add back in calories burned during exercise to my daily caloric intake?
Comments
-
I don't. I have never seen the calories burnt during exercise calculations to be super accurate even when from a fitness logger. I figure they are just a "bonus" to help with weight loss.
-
@Jocelyn I don't either. I like the idea that the weekly deficient is a wonderful bonus when I don't eat back the calories depleted by the exercise.
-
I don't either here's why, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-exercise-paradox/
-
I consider them a bonus for weight loss, BUT if I'm physically hungry (not just having a mental craving) I'll eat something.
-
In my opinion, any daily exercise 500 calories or less should just increase your deficit and not be a deciding factor for intake. However, any daily exercise 500 cals or greater, you may start to feel the actual hunger that comes with this kind of exercise. Certainly if you’re burning 1,000 calories during a workout session, you are going to feel very depleted. This is when you may need to start considering increasing your intake generally. By generally I mean you should not think of it as “the more I exercise, the more I get to eat”. Rather, you should eat to specifically support the exercise. For example, for a 1,000 cal burn workout session, you most likely will need a pre workout snack/ meal and a post workout snack/ meal. This would be your extra calorie intake. Basically, it’s the difference between someone being “generally active” and “very active”. If you’re “very active”, and trying to lose weight, it’s very challenging to not eat to specifically support your activity.
-
To add to the above, the numbers are somewhat relative. I’m 5’9” at 190 lbs, so those are the numbers I think about. Someone at 5’9” at 250 lbs might have different numbers, so it’s more of the general point I’m making.
-
-
I’ve tried for years to math my way around calories and exercise and it just never works out. So I set my calories at a comfortable deficit at which I can comfortably and reliably lose weight. I don’t pay attention at all to calories burned. If I am starving after having reached my calories for the day and I had a hard workout that morning, I will eat a small meal to keep from having insomnia or weakness.
-
I eat them back, but I try to only do 50% to accommodate any possible calculation errors
