1200 calories and exercising?
 

Hi all!

New to the board and have a question/concern about exercising on a 1200 calorie diet.

I am doing the South Beach Diet and watching my calorie intake - hitting around 1200 calories a day. I am planning on starting to work out and am wondering if I should up my caloric intake the days I exercise?

I think everyone does it differently. I dont eat back my calories that I burn working out but I know others do just that. I guess you need to find the middle ground that works for you. I have heard of some eating a portion back.

1200 cals on workout day does seem a little low, but everyone is different. I personally would up my cals. but you should see what works for you.

For me personally I have a little bit of problems exercising on a strict 1200 calorie diet. It's just not enough to keep me going, so now I calorie cycle at around 1400 calories. That way when my body tells me that I need to eat more for the amount that I exercised that day, I can without feeling badly about it and without starving myself.

It probably depends on your frequency & intensity. I'd say try it for a week or so and see how you feel. If you are raving hungry, feed your body! Just be careful to feed it well - select foods that will nourish & replenish and watch how many calories you are adding in.

Also, I've been finding that timing is everything. I need to eat a little something (~100 calories) within an hour after my workout. I also have to eat a little more frequently, but do not necessarily increase my total calories unless I'm really feeling hungry.

It is a bit of an experiment. Let us know how it goes!

If you do add any of them in, try and make it high quality high protein calories.

I found it kind of depended on how intensely I was exercising - when I was just doing yoga and doing aerobics and weights classes at the gym I was okay at 1200. When i started running and running a LOT (past 3 mile runs) I'd eat back probably about half the calories... otherwise I felt like crap (or got a headache from not eating enough).