What the *&^%?? Why EVEN EXERCISE?

mymonkeymoos

Not kind just truthful and honest......keep up the amazing journey xxx

missveeoh

To lose weight- you just need a deficit. I did not do any exercise and still lost weight ate 1200/1300 cals( sometimes even 1300-1500).
I was extremely sedentary- just going to school and back home and focused on my school work, I did not want to exercise either.
You don't have to exercise if you dont want to but it will affect you. Exercise is great for CV health and if you're adding in strength training, you will end up strong and fit. Eat back your calories so it makes your deficit not so high and so it wont negatively affect your metabolism or your body in general. Let's say I burned 1000 cals, I should eat back 500, because you only need an average deficit of 500 to lose a pound per week (half a pound is a lot more realistic to achieve since this isn't a short term thing...there's no need to rush in this new and healthy lifestyle) Goodluck!!

JoRocka

Exercise is for physical fitness, not for weight loss.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
it certainly helps- but this this this

I've been exercising with years without ever losing weight... I never wanted to "lose weight"

I hate that people think working out is ONLY for losing weight- it actually kind of saddens me- mostly because I think they are missing out on some of the greatest aspects of fitness.

arl1286

So you can eat more.

ironanimal

If your only reason for exercise is to burn calories, you're doing it wrong.

kathyvstephan

bump

glheureux56

I do not usually eat back calories. It is there if I need it, but I usually dont. As an important note, I am diabetic. I think when I get in maintenance then I may, but not while losing. As long as I am over 1200 calories (before exercise), then I'm good. In my case, I count carbs and dont really worry as much about the calories. I attempt to keep my daily carb limit at 150 or less. I do look at the calories, but I dont focus on them as much as others probably do. I use the exercise as a method of burning sugars in my system.

ArtemisRuns

I don't always eat back all of my exercise calories, but it is not unusual for me to eat back some or even most of them. If I eat too little and exercise hard, after a few days my body feels awful. It's important to listen to your body (only not listen to it when it tells you to eat massive amounts of really bad stuff...lol)

honeysprinkles

it's good for you and your body. exercise isn't only to burn calories, that's by far not its only benefit!
also, is getting to eat more really such a bad thing? lol

astartig

If you start at 1200 and after exercise, you now have 2000 calories, it sounds like you're burning roughly 800 calories in exercise… am I getting that right?

So imagine telling someone who wasn't exercising to eat 400-600 calories a day. Most people would say this sounds like a bad idea. But burning 600-800 calories in exercise and then only eating 1200 is pretty much the same thing, because it's leaving that little amount for all your body processes -- heart beating, breathing, kidneys and liver, immune system, etc.

If you don't like the idea of eating back calories, I would suggest going to one of the TDEE calculators (you can google TDEE calculator) and entering in all of your stats. Include how often you exercise in your activity level (this is where the big difference comes from - MFP doesn't include exercise and adds it back in after, most TDEE calculators add it in before and you don't "eat them back") and set it for 15% to 20% reduction. It'll probably give you something around 1600-1800 calories (just a guess). Then go to your settings and do custom goals, and enter that in as your calorie goal, and feel free to ignore your exercise calories!! :flowerforyou:

that's not true. your body gets it's energy at that point from stored fat. if you're a pro athlete with no fat stores what you say would be true but for most of us we have ample fuel for our body. the 1200 rule is for nutrients. they say it's very hard to get all the nutrients we need below that number. If you've eaten that amount not eating your exercise calories back is not a big deal at all. Especially for people whose daily needs aren't that high anyway.

Dunsirn

plus let us not forget, muscle mass burns more calories per day just by being there - i suppose rather like a moped ticking over burns a little fuel, but an SUV ticking over burns a lot.

astartig

someone else probably already said but you don't need to exercise to lose weight, infact exercise can contribute to an increase in weight through water retention and muscle gain.

A) Exercise increases your fitness which makes you healthier on the inside and increases muscle mass and makes your body more efficient thats why you exercise, also the ability to burn off body fat with diet alone is probably almost zero

Exercise keeps the blood flowing, the heart rate pumping, and uses up muscles the old addage if you dont use it you will lose it.

C) Exercise will tone your body, diet cannot do this

IMO you shouldn't be eating 1200 for more then a very brief period unless you are obese or very overweight and have lots of fat to burn and even then it's still not adviseable. (If a doctor told you to then yeah ok) But the only thing doing that will do is force your body to hold onto every scrap of energy it can or decrease your motabolism so you dont need as much energy, and lastly you will cannibalise muscle guarenteed.

Eat around 1600.

lastly you don't need to eat back exercise calories you should however eat so you are holding onto atleast your Basal Metabolic Rate needs which depends on your age height and weight but on average is around 1600-1800 calories a day.

To keep things manageable and not starve yourself too much just have half your deficit coming from food intake and the other half from exercise.

When you log exercise into MFP it gives you calories you can eat back to keep the same weight loss you would've if you hadn't exercised and also adds back probable nutrients lost ie Protein, Fats etc. will have an increased allowance.

Least thats my take, i'll probably get flamed but it has worked for me for 6 months now
Eat around 1600-2000 calories with a goal of 1Kg a week

Lastly in order to lose 1Kg a week which wont happen every week just on average over time, you need a deficit of 7000 calories a week however that deficit comes you will lose the weight but exercise will make it easier and make you look better in the end not to mention all the health benefits.

those numbers may be true for you but they're definitely not true for everyone. When I reach my goal weight my MAINTENANCE calories will only be about 1500

Healthy_4_Life2

If your goal is simply to see a lower number on the scale, then there really is no point to exercise.

But if your goal is to be healthy, to like what you see when you look in the mirror, to have energy, then exercise is key.

My doctor told me 90% of my weight loss will be from nutrition. She said the purpose of exercise is to give me a body I'll be happy with after I lose the weight.

^^^^This

SaberEsPoder

Because eating a low-calorie diet sucks, and with exercise I can eat a normal-calorie diet and still lose weight. Also, all of the additional benefits of exercise like increased cardiovascular fitness, increased neurogenesis, lower stress level, etc.

What she said

81Katz

http://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1026720-how-does-myfitnesspal-work-

Turnaround2012

Bump for future reading

Dunsirn

quick point of order - the body doesn't technically get its stored energy from fat, it gets it from glycogen stored in the liver. in times of stress, the body will break down fat (and muscle) to replenish the glycogen store if it's severely depleted, but the body will (as its first and preferred) option replenish that with recently ingested calories because thats an easy process, and breaking down the body to fuel itself is a difficult one.

Imagine you need a single nail, and you've got 1,000,000 nails stored high in your attic in sealed boxes - but you also live next to a nail shop doing a super saver buy-one-get-ten-free offer. Thats what the body in the western world is largely dealing with on a day to day basis, it's no wonder we keep collecting nails even when we don't need them. Metophorically.

songbyrdsweet

quick point of order - the body doesn't technically get its stored energy from fat, it gets it from glycogen stored in the liver. in times of stress, the body will break down fat (and muscle) to replenish the glycogen store if it's severely depleted, but the body will (as its first and preferred) option replenish that with recently ingested calories because thats an easy process, and breaking down the body to fuel itself is a difficult one.

Imagine you need a single nail, and you've got 1,000,000 nails stored high in your attic in sealed boxes - but you also live next to a nail shop doing a super saver buy-one-get-ten-free offer. Thats what the body in the western world is largely dealing with on a day to day basis, it's no wonder we keep collecting nails even when we don't need them. Metophorically.

No, the body will break down stored triglycerides in a fasted state. That's part of the role of glucagon. Skeletal muscle isn't broken down until the later stages of fasting when gluconeogenesis is ramped up, but in the very late stages of fasting/early starvation that actually decreases as ketone production replaces the amino acid role in providing substrate for the Krebs cycle. Fatty acids are an excellent energy source as long as oxygen is available because they are inexpensive to break down and yield a great deal of energy. After a meal this doesn't happen, but that's only for the hour or so that insulin is elevated. It's called the Randle Cycle.

P.S. OP: Exercise and healthy diet can help prevent obesity, diabetes, heart disease...why wouldn't you want to do the one thing that can keep you this healthy??

marathon_44

I totally agree with the consensus - exercise is just good stuff. In addition, I would add that it provides yet another indicator of progress and success. When you first start walking, running or lifting, you will probably feel tired, winded or weak. Remember that feeling. As the weeks progress, and your body weight lessens and you become fitter, one day during your workout you will be thinking "holy crap, this is so much easier today than it was before! I'm a totally strong, kick some *kitten* rockstar!" That is a GREAT feeling.

cwolfman13

WHAT is the point of exercising, if I’m going to be forced to eat all my calories back?

Ummmm....maybe fitness.

Diet for weight control; exercise for fitness. You can lose weight with diet alone...but you'll look a lot better in the end if you exercise. Exercise reshapes your body...and has many, numerous health benefits as well.