[Circebee]

Those with more exercise experience, please chime in with words of wisdom! I would like to stay at my current weight (115 for 5'5" female, age 35), and increase cardio. I've added a 30 minute walk and about 30-45 minutes of moderate intensity eliptical cycling to my routine about three days a week each. I also do yoga about 30 minutes three days a week, and some strength training (or pushups/crunches) for 15 minutes twice a week. Can I really add those calories back into my daily consumption (minus the "RMR being alive" calories, of course)? I'm so afraid to mess up my weight by eating more. Would percent body fat and body measurements be the way to go FIRST for a while, without adding back in calories?
-Circebee, the fraidy-cat

[chay]

Calories In vs. Calories Out
In order to maintain your weight you need to burn around the same amount of calories as you consume. So on days you work out you will naturally need to consume slightly more calories than you would on a day you do nothing.

[PhotoChick]

Yup. If you want to maintain, you'll need to eat more calories on the days you work out.

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[JayEll]

I agree with the other posters. I'd just add that exercise doesn't burn a whole lot of calories. I did the elliptical just this afternoon for 30 minutes at moderate intensity and burned a whole 150 cals. So, slightly more cals can be eaten, but not lots more...

Jay

[Circebee]

Thanks guys! This "over-estimation" of caloric burn is what I'm afraid of. Each calorie calculator I try online is so different. Today, I walked steadily for one hour, and did elliptical for 45 minutes at the highest resistance setting, and ate 275 more calories than on a typical day. Looks like I'll cut a few off tomorrow to compensate! Or, exercise a bit more and not eat the calories.

[coldbrightday]

Yeah, I agree that the calorie counts on the machines are often high, and even the online estimators can be off.

When it comes down to it, I say trust your hunger -- it's an amazingly adaptive tool we've got, so use it! If you're eating a well-balanced diet, your tummy will tell you if you haven't had enough. (I usually work out in the mornings, but I take at least one day off a week and those days I hardly feel hungry at all until the late afternoon. It's amazing how correlated they are.)

[fiberlover]

I never eat my exercise calories. The only time I would is if I had a huge deficit in the numbers, but 300 calories of exercise isn't enough to make me eat extra.