While the concept of calories in/calories out has been challenged in recent years, everyone agrees that if you move your body more you will burn more calories (even if the amount of calories burned is less than expected). That also means that if you move your body less that you will burn less calories.
If you have ever followed an exercise routine before you likely have some days that included more activity and some days that included less activity. For most people they have enough time to exercise 3-4 times a week which therefore means they will have 3-4 “rest days” with less physical activity.
Even for the serious exercisers out there, those that really enjoy exercise and have the time to exercise more, nearly everyone has at least 1 rest day built into their training schedule.
If on your rest days you are moving less and expending less energy the question comes up as to whether you should be eating less on the days you don’t exercise to compensate for the lower energy expenditure?
It seems like a straightforward answer, if you are moving less and you don’t want to put on weight then you should probably not eat as much.
Case closed, blog post over, right?
Unfortunately no, I don’t think that the answer is that easy.
Let me explain why.
Complexity
Complex habits sound sexy but the problem with them is that they are hard to follow consistently. Consistently performing our most important health habits day in day out trumps everything else in terms of predicting success in reaching our goals. If I design the world’s best diet for you that involves changing your food intake based on your exercise and activity but you could only follow that diet 20% of the time, you would actually get worse results than a very basic diet that you could follow 100% of the time.
For example, let’s say that changing the calories you eat based on whether you exercise or not got you to your body composition goals 10% faster (I am making that up by the way there is no evidence that it would), but you could only follow that protocol 20% of the time and the rest of the time you were eating a bunch of garbage then ultimately you are moving yourself further away from your goals. If instead you ate the same calories every day regardless of your exercise or activity, but you do it consistently everyday, you will actually reach your goals quicker!
Why is changing your calories based on whether you have exercised or not so complex?
Consider the fact that making a single dietary change that needs to be repeated day in and day out for months is INCREDIBLY challenging for people. For example, asking someone to drink more water is probably as basic of a change we can make to someone’s diet, but even that throws people for a loop and people fail to do it consistently long term.
Now consider changing your diet on a near daily basis, how do you think most people will handle that? As a coach who knows the struggles clients have with making dietary changes, I can tell you it’s not the right fit for most people.
Recovery
Recovery? I am not an athlete, why do I care about recovery?
First, let me say I want you to be an athlete! You may not compete and never will, that is fine, but if you care about your performance, as a parent, your performance at work, or your ability to do recreational activities (hiking, golfing, tennis, dance, etc) then you are an athlete.
Now to perform in your area of life that is important to you requires that after you exercise you recover properly. Oftentimes it’s the day(s) after your workout that you need to focus on your recovery in order to see the adaptations you are after.
https://www.performforlifesf.com/our-blog/2018/11/1/mx2vd6000pwhdtovi8b8dbj7t2ync3
Food is part of the recovery process because your body needs the calories in order to repair and build. Skimping on your food intake in the days after you exercise will slow your recovery and adaptation resulting in slower progress!
Fuel For The Next Exercise Session
This next potential detriment to alternating food intake based on exercise is related to recovery but has a more acute impact. If you eat too little on a rest day(s) your next workout may feel like garbage or worse yet you might start skipping workouts. Like I mentioned above, consistency is the most important factor in achieving your goals. If eating less food on your rest days zaps the energy for your next workout and you can’t effectively workout or need to skip the workout it’s actually hindering you in achieving your goals.
When To Eat Less On Rest Days
I will start this section off with saying I have only had 1 client successfully follow a diet that involved altering caloric intake on rest days. I have tried this approach with a few other clients who I thought had the skill and discipline to implement it but they didn’t end up liking it.
I also recently tried basing my caloric intake on how active I was on a given day and I didn’t like it either. I am back to eating a consistent caloric intake regardless of activity. The reason I didn’t like it is because it requires too much mental energy to figure out what I should and shouldn’t eat for the day. For me my mental energy is better used for my work, my family, and my workouts.
If you would like to consider changing your caloric intake based on whether you exercise or not here are some recommendations for implementing it successfully.
First, I think this protocol is only useful if you are in a fat loss phase and willing to potentially sacrifice some recovery and performance. If you need to recover optimally to perform at your best or you are trying to add muscle mass, I would not suggest alternating caloric intake based on exercise.
Second you need to still hit your protein goal on days where you lower your caloric intake. You can take calories away from carbs or fats but protein must always remain constant throughout the week.
Lastly I find in order to be successful with a protocol like this some form of time restricted eating makes sense because it keeps things simple. You want to lower your caloric intake so taking out a meal by using some form of time restricted eating will make your lower calorie days easier to implement and take a little less mental effort.
I think for most people a consistent caloric intake day in and day out is best no matter what the goal is. It allows you to know exactly what to expect no matter what day it is. It also allows you to build habits and habits are the keys to success. Certainly if you are just starting out on your journey, alternating calories in any form is not going to be something you should be concerned about. You should be focusing on making simple changes to build better habits. If you are already doing all the basics right and have been for years and want to try modifying your calories based on exercise that is OK, but again remember it’s not going to be superior in any way to a more consistent caloric intake.
I am all about simplicity when it comes to helping people reach their goals, simple is easy, easy equals consistency, consistency leads to results. So if you are looking for more simple practices that lead to better results in your own health, sign up for my newsletter using the form below.