Worried about the quarantine lbs?

I’ve been getting this question from my clients- “I’m working out at home, should I decrease my calories? ⁣
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Not necessarily⤵️⁣
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You need to realize your lift at the gym does not burn a lot of calories🏋️‍♂️Females 200-300 calories, a bit more for your hardest lifts, males could be burning 500, or more if you’re bigger. ⁣
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Now you’re working out at home, but even with body weight and bands your pushing to an RPE 8-9.5, so you still are burning 100-200 calories as a female, and again a bit more for males. So that’s maybe 100-200 calories less than your normal session. ⁣
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You also need to keep in mind your body maintains weight within a 5-10% range of calories. ⁣
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If you were eating 2100 calories, and now you’re burning ~150 calories less a day, that’s still within your 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞. ⁣
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Your exercise activity makes up a very small piece of your metabolic rate. A larger piece is your NEAT or non exercises activity thermogenic- Science for calories burned during daily living.⁣
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If you find your step count/overall activity has decreased since being home, I’d recommend finding ways to ⬆️increase movement to make up for that drop in NEAT and activity. ⁣
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I rather, if possible, my clients use their time to create a higher energy flux with more movement (walks, cleaning, walking during phone meetings etc) or light cardio ➡️rather than decreasing calories and keeping movement low. ⁣
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This will lead to less metabolic “consequences,” decrease the likelihood of overeating, set us up to be in a better spot after this, and potentially improve affect.
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Yes, every situation is different, for some we may decrease calories slightly, but the initial step is to maintain and focus on daily movement. ⁣
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You’re still alive, moving and thinking (hopefully). You still need calories to fuel that!