[IrishRose25]

Hey Chicks,

I have a question. I log my food on The Daily Plate, and it says I should be eating 1587 calories/day in order to lose 2 pounds/week, and I do. When I exercise, I am burning 700-1000 calories (I am training for a half marathon, so lots of long distance running equals lots of calories burned.) TDP says I should eat the calories I've burned, to get to a net total of 1587. However, when I do that, I am not seeing a loss! Should I only eat the 1587, regardless of exercise? My concern is that if I am eating almost 1600, and burning 900, that's only a net total of 700 calories/day, which doesn't seem like enough. (And, BTW, I am eating *quality* calories, not crap to get to a number total-- at least then I would understand!)

Has anyone else struggled with this? Any advice?

Thanks so much-- I really hoped that this intense running would help me drop pounds, but that is not working thus far.

Rose

[kittycat40]

I try not to eat the calories I burn. Loss is about deficit, y'know? Sometimes if my workout makes me hungry I will eat a bit more but not what I believe I have burned.

super cool on the long distance training!!

[Moralia]

I usually don't... I'm losing about 2 1/2lbs per week on average... Bit I only burn 300-500 exercise cals a day. No marathon training here... lol!!

[mandalinn82]

I never ate back my exercise calories, unless I did something really out-of-the-ordinary that made me more hungry. For example, major hauling of wood for a few hours to build something...I'd eat a bigger dinner. A 4 hour hike? I'd eat some of that back. But not for my regularly scheduled exercise.

I would say that if you're eating a LOW amount of calories (1200-1300) and doing a LOT of exercise, you could be setting yourself up for a stall, but you're eating at a sustainable level. The rule of thumb I use is that as long as you eat at least your BMR every day, exercise calories burned are just bonus.

[Rebound]

If you plateau I'd add in some calories, but if you're seeing steady losses, I'd just eat what you're comfortable with. If you're STARVING on a day you had a long run, of course you should eat something extra, though, but I wouldn't plan it in unless you find you NEED it.

As a previous poster said, as long as you're not at the very low end of the calorie range (i.e. 1200 calories or something...) I think you'll be fine. I discovered after getting my GoWear Fit (like the BodyBugg) that I'm burning a lot more calories in my every day life than I had thought. But I'm still losing while eating at least 1500 calories a day and having up to 2000 calorie deficit days. If/when I plateau I plan on adding some extra calories, but for now I'm still losing and I eat more if I'm super hungry, so I'm not worrying about adding extra scheduled calories in.

So in brief, I think you're doing fine!