Should Exercise Change Your Daily Calorie Limit?

I’m back with another question from one of my private coaching clients.

“When determining maintenance calories, should we take into account the calories burned through exercise on that specific day, or should we calculate an average over time?”

In 2023, this question is more important than ever with the widespread use of fitness trackers.

Calories burned.

That’s the number I want to focus on.

It’s the one bit of “data” that many people use to give themselves a free pass.

“I just burned 500 calories during my workout. I can have a cookie…right?”

The truth is, burning calories is hard work.

That’s why I always recommend focusing on input (food) rather than output (calories burned).

🏆 I highly recommend watching these two videos. The first is dieting flexibly with intuitive eating. The second is dieting with calorie counting. In less than 20 minutes you will learn everything you need to know about weight loss that a nutritionist would charge you thousands of dollars for.

Or on a metabolic level, focusing on building muscle mass to increase your metabolism rather than torturing yourself to constantly burn more calories than you want to.

🏆 Here’s a short IG reel I made about increasing your metabolism.

Misleading Data (My Apple Watch Test)

But the biggest reason not to trust your smart watches is very simple.

They are not accurate!

Not only does each fitness tracker give different numbers for calories burned, but the exact same device will give you drastically different numbers while doing the exact same workout.

I tested this myself last year while doing hot yoga.

When class would start I would start the “Yoga” activity on my Apple Watch.

After an hour long class the calories burned was high, usually well over 500.

That seemed weirdly high so the very next class I wore my watch but didn’t start the “Yoga” activity.

Note: The Apple Watch still tracks your exercise, it’s just not logged under the name “Yoga” and there won’t be a start or stop time.

Just one week later doing the exact same yoga class with the exact same stretches, my calorie burned number plummeted to 200-300.

🤔 Nothing about my workout changed but somehow the calories I burned cut in half.

Accounting for Exercise

So how should you account for any calories you burn during exercise?

The short answer is: I don’t, unless I physically feel the need to do so.

In other words, I don’t go on auto-pilot and start eating more food just because I trained that day.

Instead, I make a mental note to myself.

“If I’m feeling weak or sluggish today, especially after my post-workout meal, you probably went pretty hard today. You can afford to eat a little more.”

See how those extra calories are consumed with purpose?

Compare that to the vast majority of people who feel entitled to a treat just because they did a workout.

Use your smart watches with caution!