Exercise calories, that is...
Hey everyone! I'm new to this forum, but not calorie counting. I started counting calories and keeping a food journal in the beginning of March and have successfully lost 20 lbs since then. I follow a 1200 calorie diet, with a splurge day here and there (maybe once every couple of weeks).
I also workout an average of 5x a week for 70 minutes of cardio (running on the treadmill and using the elliptical). I usually burn about 800 calories at the gym.
I'm trying to lose the last 10 lbs and it's going slow... Here's my question:
Do I need to eat the calories I burn at the gym? If so, how many?? I feel pretty satisfied with 1200 calories (I eat a pretty "clean" diet of whole foods, so I don't feel deprived), but I don't want to slow my metabolism or hurt my weight loss efforts by not eating enough. It feels so counter-productive to eat MORE calories in order to lose weight, but I want to do whatever will give me the fastest results. I keep reading different answers on the internet... some say that you should eat ALL of the calories you burn, some say to eat a portion, and some say not to eat them if you want the best results... It's so confusing!
I was really hoping to lose 6 more lbs by my 4th of July beach vacation, but I'm starting to worry that it won't happen.