Do you burn empty calories before fat?

fitmama0914

I am recommitting myself to a lifestyle change, and yesterday I quit drinking pop, but today I realized that I have been drinking 3,584 calories every week, just in pop and coffee. I am trying to figure out how this translates to my workouts. Am I working out just to burn those calories? Do I burn that before I even get to the fat?

With the exception of pregnancies, I have weighed 113 for the last 12 years. I don't lose weight (other than the time I unintentionally went down to 102), and I have trouble gaining weight on purpose (during pregnancy). When I was tracking my calories before, I had trouble getting to 1600. I have somewhere between 27 and 32% bodyfat (mostly in my hips and belly). I don't think I need or can afford a calorie deficit. I think I just need to workout, because I'm fairly sedentary. I don't eat junk food, so once I cut out my drinkable bad calories, and get into my workouts, should it be fairly easy for me to burn fat?

ndj1979

if you are in a deficit then you are burning fat…if you are in a surplus then you are not burning fat…

Your post is kind of confusing…are you trying to lose weight, gain weight, etc? Why can't you afford a calorie deficit?

Are you using MFP method or TDEE method?

DancingMoosie

Yeah, I'm confused, too. Are you trying to lose fat, but not lose weight? The only way to do that would be to gain muscle, and you won't do that without a calorie surplus. I would suggest eating more and lift. Then, if you gain more weight/fat than you would like, cut.

lemurcat12

Cutting pop and coffee, if you don't replace them (people often do), would lead to a loss of 1 lb/week assuming you are right about the calories.

My interpretation of your post is that you don't want to lose weight, but recomp--lose fat and add muscle? If so, that's tough to do, but you'd want to eat around maintenance. If you add exercise and cut the drinkable calories, you'd want to add healthy calories to replace them, quite possibly protein depending on what you are currently eating. You'd also want to be doing some weight training with heavy weights and not just any exercise.

fitmama0914

Thanks. I have a hard time eating even 1400 calories, even when I was clean eating, and eating so often that I was never hungry. If I go into deficit, I'll be eating much less than maintenance. I am replacing the coffee and pop with water. I'm OK with gaining muscle weight, I'm just not sure if I can loose much more and it still be healthy? I can't remember my lowest "acceptable" weight for my height.

As far as my mfp goals, I'm not sure if I qualify as losing, gaining, or maintaining. If I lose fat and gain muscle, regardless of together or one at a time, will I end up a lower muscular weight, or higher? Right now, I am doing a combination of compound exercises for upper and lower.

Kalikel

You're going to lose if you don't replace those calories.

AJ_G

fitmama0914 wrote: »

Thanks. I have a hard time eating even 1400 calories, even when I was clean eating, and eating so often that I was never hungry. If I go into deficit, I'll be eating much less than maintenance. I am replacing the coffee and pop with water. I'm OK with gaining muscle weight, I'm just not sure if I can loose much more and it still be healthy? I can't remember my lowest "acceptable" weight for my height.

As far as my mfp goals, I'm not sure if I qualify as losing, gaining, or maintaining. If I lose fat and gain muscle, regardless of together or one at a time, will I end up a lower muscular weight, or higher? Right now, I am doing a combination of compound exercises for upper and lower.

If you're in a calorie deficit, you will not gain muscle mass, it just won't happen. If you do it right, you can have a net gain in muscle mass and a net loss in fat mass by cutting and then bulking, or bulking and then cutting. By doing it right, I mean you have to have patience, you have to consume adequate protein, and for best results you have to incorporate heavy lifting. During a bulk you will gain muscle mass and fat mass, but you will gain more muscle than you will fat. During a cut you will lose fat mass and most likely lose muscle mass, but you will lose more fat than you will muscle. The net result of this is a drop in overall fat mass and an increase in overall muscle mass.

fitmama0914

AJ, I was explaining why I don't want to go in a deficit. So I basically have to decide if I want to lose fat first, or gain muscle while gaining fat too?

AJ_G

fitmama0914 wrote: »

AJ, I was explaining why I don't want to go in a deficit. So I basically have to decide if I want to lose fat first, or gain muscle while gaining fat too?

Well that's a kind of a personal choice. Do you think you can handle putting on weight right now, or would you like to lose more fat before you start that process? It's really just preference. Either way if you do it right you'll end up where you want to be.

kharev

I believe what would be good for you to do is go slightly above maintenance. So about 150 - 250 calories above. You should also make sure you eat back your exercise calories to make sure you are not in a calorie deficit.
In terms of exercising, strength training would do great for your body composition, that mixed with a little bit of cardio will make sure you stay pretty good. You can pick any beginner program and make sure you have progressive overload and you will be fine
I have found this routine pretty good and you could start with only 2 out of 4 of the days instead if its overwhelming
As for not being able to eat, i would suggest looking up calorie dense healthy food to fit into your diet
Don't forget a good ratio of protein everyday would help your composition immensely (i find the mfp ones a little too small).

fitmama0914

I think I'd rather start with less fat, really. I have definition in my arms and legs (I know there's no such thing as spot reducing) but I'm more concerned with the fat I have than a 4 pack. But I think what I was trying to get at, is that if I continue to eat the same calories, but increase my activity drastically, won't that in itself, create a deficit?

fitmama0914

kharev wrote: »

I believe what would be good for you to do is go slightly above maintenance. So about 150 - 250 calories above. You should also make sure you eat back your exercise calories to make sure you are not in a calorie deficit.
In terms of exercising, strength training would do great for your body composition, that mixed with a little bit of cardio will make sure you stay pretty good. You can pick any beginner program and make sure you have progressive overload and you will be fine
I have found this routine pretty good and you could start with only 2 out of 4 of the days instead if its overwhelming
As for not being able to eat, i would suggest looking up calorie dense healthy food to fit into your diet
Don't forget a good ratio of protein everyday would help your composition immensely (i find the mfp ones a little too small).

Thanks

fitmama0914

That's pretty much how I was trying to work it out in my head.

fitmama0914

I'm 5'2 and 113lbs

AJ_G

fitmama0914 wrote: »

I'm 5'2 and 113lbs

Bulk

mccindy72

fitmama0914 wrote: »

Thanks. I have a hard time eating even 1400 calories, even when I was clean eating, and eating so often that I was never hungry. If I go into deficit, I'll be eating much less than maintenance. I am replacing the coffee and pop with water. I'm OK with gaining muscle weight, I'm just not sure if I can loose much more and it still be healthy? I can't remember my lowest "acceptable" weight for my height.

As far as my mfp goals, I'm not sure if I qualify as losing, gaining, or maintaining. If I lose fat and gain muscle, regardless of together or one at a time, will I end up a lower muscular weight, or higher? Right now, I am doing a combination of compound exercises for upper and lower.

as far as having a difficult time eating enough calories, if you are dedicated to what you call "clean eating" (which I assume is what people say when they mean they avoid fast food, cookies, chips and the like), adding in higher calorie foods like avocado, peanut butter, almonds and other nuts, and things like that will help you reach your calorie goal. Also full-fat milk will add calories.

fitmama0914

Yes, I was eating no processed foods. I was eating avacado, whole grain, high protein... For awhile I was paying attention to macros... 5 to 6 times a day. I had been looking for higher calorie healthy foods and snacks, but didn't know what. So I was always under my goal.

fitmama0914

Is it OK to increase the portion size to make up the calories?

GaleHawkins

fitmama0914 wrote: »

Thanks. I have a hard time eating even 1400 calories, even when I was clean eating, and eating so often that I was never hungry. If I go into deficit, I'll be eating much less than maintenance. I am replacing the coffee and pop with water. I'm OK with gaining muscle weight, I'm just not sure if I can loose much more and it still be healthy? I can't remember my lowest "acceptable" weight for my height.

As far as my mfp goals, I'm not sure if I qualify as losing, gaining, or maintaining. If I lose fat and gain muscle, regardless of together or one at a time, will I end up a lower muscular weight, or higher? Right now, I am doing a combination of compound exercises for upper and lower.

fitmama it sounds like other than the sugary drinks you are eating well. I expect you are correct you could be getting into trouble if you cut more calories plus if one cuts calories the body hormones just slows the metabolism and you may even gain fat in unwanted places on the lower calorie diet. Well at first you may lose weight but over time many can expect to see a net weight gain and many of us are living proof of losing weight only to find it again plus a few pounds. Our bodies are quite complex and good at surviving on less than a maintenance diet but the long term damage may lead to a health wreck.

mccindy72

fitmama0914 wrote: »

Is it OK to increase the portion size to make up the calories?

Definitely!

cwolfman13

A calorie is just a unit of energy. You need XXXX amount of energy to maintain the status quot...just to live...to fuel your day to day...to workout, etc. When you consume less energy (calories) than your body requires to do the above, your body has to make up the difference...it does this by dipping into your energy reserves...aka your fat stores...and you burn fat...and a bit of muscle, etc...large deficits tend to lead to a greater ratio of the later than necessary.