Should You Eat Fewer Calories On Non-Training Days?

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When you are trying to lose weight the idea of “oh I’m training today so I’ll have more calories but tomorrow I’m not gonna train so I’ll eat fewer calories” seems plausible. Mathematically, there is some logic to it — you don’t need those calories because you don’t burn them off so why the fuck would you eat them?

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I’m taking issue with this idea because it is unnecessary. Here’s my reasoning:

First, how many calories do you actually burn in a 90-minute resistance training workout? Based on the METs or metabolic equivalents — not a whole lot (if you haven’t heard of METs, google it). If you are a female weighing 160 pounds, you would burn around 300 calories in a 90-minute INTENSE resistance training workout. Like I said, not a whole lot.

Now, if you hadn’t gone to the gym and for that same 90 minutes you chilled on a couch looking for interesting ways to kill brain cells scrolling the Instagram feed, you would have burned around 80 calories. Or if you were doing some everyday activity, like cooking or grocery shopping, you would have burned 140–200 calories.