You Overestimate the Calories You’re Burning
People often think that because they’re exercising they can eat more. “Maybe you’re getting hungry now that you’re exercising, but it does not give you an excuse to eat what you want,” says Keri Gans, RD, author of The Small Change Diet. To lose a pound a week, you should maintain a deficit of about 500 calories per day, which you can achieve with a combination of burning and cutting calories—just make sure you monitor how many you’re really consuming and expending.
Solution: Keep tabs on your actual burn by paying attention to the exercise machine or using a weight calculator. “If you’re exercising, you should refuel before and after workouts with mini meals, not actual meals,” Gans says. Before exercising, eat some cottage cheese with fruit and whole-grain crackers or peanut butter and honey on toast. Afterward, try a smoothie made with frozen berries and yogurt or graham crackers with peanut butter served with low-fat chocolate milk and a banana.
