Hi All,
I'm a fellow calorie counter but have never posted on this part of the forum.
I have a couple of questions for you ladies.
1) Do you eat back the calories you burn during exercise? I'm keeping a calorie journal on calorie king and whenever i log in my exercise it calculates the calories burned and adds them to my calorie balance for the day, it always shows that I am consuming below my calorie target because I don't eat back the calories I burned. I personally don't believe in eating them back, it defeats the purpose of exercising if I did!
2) I'm always feeling cold. I have been noticing this since I started dieting but just yesterday after I got back from the gym I was actually shaking and my fingers felt so cold they were numb! I don't know if this has to do with my workout because I only did like 30 minutes on the treadmill, between 3 and 4 mph. Did a few workouts on the resistance machines which also were easy. Could it be that I need to bring up my calorie consumption? If I do that I'm probably not going to lose anything at all! help!
1 - Nope. I find the whole idea of "eating back calories" to be unnecessarily confusing as well as counter productive. I eat a reasonable number of calories based on the weight I want to be, and I exercise to burn more. I don't see myself burning so many calories in exercise that I'd actually create a harmful situation. 30 mins to 1 hour at the gym simply isn't going to create that kind of calorie deficit.
2 - I find that as I lose weight, I get colder more quickly. I attribute that to the fact that I don't have as much "insulation" w/out all my fat. I'm not sure that 5lbs would make that much of a difference for you though.
One thing is that it's hard to give advice not knowing any more particulars. How tall are you? What are you eating right now? How many calories per day? What kind of food does that consist of? ARe you only cold after working out or are you cold other times as well? What are you eating immediately before and after working out?
Give us some more details so we can help a little better.
2. I am extrememly cold natured so I don't know if I could really answer. I always find that I am more prone to being cold right after exercise. I am the only person I know who could be killing herself with cardio one minute and as soon as she is done, go wrap up in a blanket. But, I get cold super easy so I don't think I count. I'm cold when my house gets under 78 degrees.
Last edited by LandonsBaby; 07-14-2008 at 02:40 AM.
1. I don't eat back the calories I burn through exercise either. I figure that extra calories burned just helps out that much more with weight loss/maintenance. Also, those calculators that tell you how many calories you burned through exercise are really inaccurate. Without knowing your heart rate, it's really hard to accurate estimate calories burned through exercise. Also, it seems to me that knowing your body fat % would also be important, since muscle burns more calories than fat, yet none of the calculators ask for that info. So I worry that I would be seriously decreasing my calorie deficit if I ate more calories.
There have been times when I have needed to increase my calories because of the amount of exercise I do. But it wasn't a day-to-day decision. Instead, I increased the number of calories I ate every day by 100, to give me just a little more energy for exercise. Prior to increasing my calories, my weight loss had stalled and I was hungry all the time, which were big clues that I was doing something wrong.
If you are happy with the amount of food you are eating and the rate at which you are losing weight, then I wouldn't change anything. On the other hand, if you're having a lot of problems with hunger, you might want to look at whether your calorie level is appropriate.
2. I find that my body temperature drops very quickly after I exercise. Within less than 15 min, I go from being unbelievably hot and sweating like a pig to being freezing cold. It helps to change out of my exercise clothes (which are usually completely soaked with sweat), take a hot shower, and drink a hot beverage.
I don't know that you need to increase your calories, but if you are eating several snacks during the day, it might help to eat one of them (ideally, a warm one) right after you finish your workout. That is a really good time to eat because your metabolism is more efficient then.
Last edited by BlueToBlue; 07-14-2008 at 03:52 AM.
I don't eat back my calories - unless I do something for a long time, like a 3 hour bike ride. Then I will have some extra calories that, day - but not the whole amount!
I get cold more often now, but not from exercise. Numb fingers would be something I would ask your doctor about.
I only eat back my calories if the exercise I've done has contributed to an excessive defecit for that day - in which case i'll throw in something like an extra fruit with dinner, or some grains like oats - in moderation.
I find that now that I am more active, I'm better able to stay warmer - maybe because of improved circulation as a result of exercise.
I don't eat back the calories I spend so much effort burning off in the first place. Sounds crazy!
Also, I haven't noticed that I feel any colder in situations than normal.
But then again, people at work do call me "Chilly Willy" since I'm usually the first to reach for the heater switch as it is. So maybe my internal thermostat is already lower than other people's. Since this is my third (and LAST) time losing a significant amount of weight, perhaps it got all messed up years ago after the first time I lost about 60 pounds. I dunno, though....
I don't like to eat my exercise calories either. I keep track of my calories on myfitnesspal.com and when I posted a suggestion that the exercise calories not be automatically added into calories left for the day, I got slammed! Everyone told me how important it is to eat those calories and how I wouldn't lose any weight if I didn't eat them. I'm 61 years old, walk 3 miles a day and ride my bike 5 miles a day which gives me lots of exercise calories. I know I won't lose weight if I eat them. That's the whole idea of exercising - to lose more weight! (Well, I guess it's good for your health too. )
Thanks ladies! So I am not the only one here who's always feeling cold. It's probably like some of you suggested, that its due to weight loss.
I average at 1400 cals a day, give or take. When I eat over that I don't lose weight at all, and I don't find myself that hungry anyway...
I'm not going to eat back my exercise calories, will stick with this and see how it goes
Eating back exercise calories - feeling cold?
I'm not sure that 5lbs would make that much of a difference for you though.
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