burning calories

[JoannLz 62]

Ok dumb question...

I started exercising more and I jadnt really paid attention to how many calories I burned..

My question is if I burn 400-500 calories a day. Do I have to eat those calories ? So if my diet is 800 calories daily I have to eat more???

I am so not into counting all this stuff. Lol

Sorry if I sound ignorant.

[brandy88 151]

Depends on if still losing, if you have enough energy etc lots of factors... But in end you need to be eating what ur comfortable with, and no need to force yourself to eat.

[Justinh125 472]

I've been walking 3 miles or so every day and haven't changed my food intake to accommodate it. feeling fine and the pounds are flying off.

[JoannLz 62]

Yah I feel ok. I don't feel tired. I sometimes do feel more hungry. But I always eat a chicken salad after my workouts.

[Richard Foor 655]

Personally I don't eat more calories after my excersise, I try to stay at the same 900 calories a day regardless, now when I get done losing weight and start maintenance that may have to change but for now I figure if I can function on the the amount I take in every day why increase it, the more I burn off the better the weight loss should be. Good Luck.

[Butterthebean 8,146]

I've come to realize that eating back your exercise calories is not that important in the early months. You're already at such a huge calorie deficit anyway. Of you feel ok and you have energy, you're eating fine. But as you get closer to maintenance it becomes much more important. Because at some point the body will try to metabolize muscle instead of fat for fuel. You don't want that. The farther along you get the more your body will resist burning it's depleted fat reserves in favor of muscle. This is what makes strength training so vital, to protect from muscle breakdown. But in order to grow muscle (or maintain) you must eat.

[ItsMe2033 143]

My personal rule of thumb is to eat about 1/3 of your exercise burn as additional intake, with at least half of that being in Protein. So for example, if I burned 600 calories through exercise, I will increase my intake by 25 grams of protein (100 calories) and an additional 100 calories from other food groups (mostly fats in my case since I eat very low carb). I believe that this helps replenish some of the nutrients that are burned up in the exercise, while still providing a large calorie deficit to speed weight loss.

[DonRodolfo 1,416]

Ok dumb question...

I started exercising more and I jadnt really paid attention to how many calories I burned..

My question is if I burn 400-500 calories a day. Do I have to eat those calories ? So if my diet is 800 calories daily I have to eat more???

I am so not into counting all this stuff. Lol

Sorry if I sound ignorant.

I asked these same questions at my last surgeon's visit. He said it was okay if I ended the day with low or negative calories because of exercise but to make sure I was getting in 80g-100g of Protein. He also said it was important to get Protein within 30 mins of your workout.