Whats the point of exercise?

slowbutsure2

Hi all

MFP recommends eating back your exercise calories. If losing weight is about calories in and out, and you eat back what you burn - then in what way does exercise contribute to weight loss?

JenMc14

Exercise doesn't really contribute to weight loss other than allowing you to eat more. You can not eat back all the calories for a higher deficit, but you need to fuel your activity. Exercise makes your body healthier, and it often, especially when it comes to resistance training, makes you look better than just eating little and not exercising.

SideSteel

Hi all

MFP recommends eating back your exercise calories. If losing weight is about calories in and out, and you eat back what you burn - then in what way does exercise contribute to weight loss?

Please read this regarding exercise calories:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf


Exercise, especially resistance training, improves nutrient partitioning, improves skeletal muscle retention/growth, increases bone density, and generally makes you look sexy, increases your badassery, and does all these very good things so you should do it.

howardheilweil

Because exercise is good for you beyond weight loss. The reason you eat back your exercise calories is there is already a caloric deficit built into you MFP daily calorie goal, so when you exercise and burn calories, you need to eat at least some of those back to ensure that you are getting the energy/nutrition that you need. In addition to health benefits of exercise (cardio-vascular, musculo-skeletal, etc...), it is also beneficial because it allows you to eat more, therefore, many people find it easier to hit their daily calorie goals when they exercise. Good luck!

beachlover317

Hi all

MFP recommends eating back your exercise calories. If losing weight is about calories in and out, and you eat back what you burn - then in what way does exercise contribute to weight loss?

Please read this regarding exercise calories:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf


Exercise, especially resistance training, improves nutrient partitioning, improves skeletal muscle retention/growth, increases bone density, and generally makes you look sexy, increases your badassery, and does all these very good things so you should do it.

Oh my, YES.

Capt_Apollo

Hi all

MFP recommends eating back your exercise calories. If losing weight is about calories in and out, and you eat back what you burn - then in what way does exercise contribute to weight loss?

it's like some people don't even want to survive the zombie apocalypse.

Ainar

It increases your metabolism. So you lose weight faster and easier then if you would not work out.

When MFP recommends that it assumes that you are already eating at calorie deficit, so being in deficit and burning cals off by exercise as well crates too big calorie deficit. All tho if exercise is the only way how you reach that deficit, not diet, then obviously you don't have to ate it all back.

TwinsRaGift

I am probably a good example of why exercise is important. I lost 50 lbs since the birth of my twins, but did not start exercising until recently. Though I lost 50 pounds and am now in a "normal" BMI I still look kind of fat. I have no tone to my body and I'm still flabby. I also still wear a bigger pant size than my friend who is the same weight/height as I am because of my flab.

freebirdfitness

If you are eating at TDEE you do not have to eat exercise cals back. If you are eating at BMR you eat your cals back.

This is so your body does not become under nourished. If your deficit is too large you can make your organs work over time, mess with hormone secretion, and reap less of the health benefits that normally comes with excellent nutrition and exercise.

Also exercise promotes bone health & bone growth, and is great for your body's hormone balance, and organ function, especially the cardiac muscle. Everyone should exercise at least 20 mins three times per week even if its not for vanity reasons.

AmyRhubarb

You don't have to exercise to lose weight - the daily goal MFP gives you already has a deficit built in, meaning eat TO goal every day, do zero exercise, and you'll lose. If you do exercise (benefits include fitness, strength, fun), the burned calories leave you with a much larger deficit, which is not good - this is why MFP adds the burned exercise cals back into your daily goal. Food is fuel.

MinnieInMaine

To be fit, to be strong, to have better balance, better endurance, to eat more, etc etc. Why would you NOT be happy with being able to eat more by earning calories through exercise? I never understand why people have an issue with this...smh

Eat at a deficit (already built in by MFP) to lose weight, exercise for better physical health.

Francl27

It helps you not get too flabby as you lost weight, and it lets you eat more.

TavistockToad

Exercise makes you look good naked....

Plus I like food, the more exercise I do, the more I can eat!

If you use MFP you should eat back the exercise cals as MFP calculates a deficit before exercise. If you use tdee you don't need to eat them back.

HartJames

Just as a polite FYI- some people live in horrible pain and cannot exercise.

bonjalandoni

You should exercise so when the zombie apocalypse come you can be strong and fight them or run fast and escape the zombie mobs.

slowbutsure2

Dudes, and dudess'

Thanks for your replies. Many of you seem presuppose that I wanted to know what the health benefits of exercise is, and assumed I needed convincing that exercise is a good thing. I actually exercise a lot, who wouldn't with the coming Zombi apocalypse? (I also enjoy it).

My question was more theoretical, about how exercise contributes to weight loss, as exercise seems to be the second component (diet being the first) that most everyone says is essential for weight loss. Your replies suggest that it does not, at least in the mfp regime, contribute to weight loss at all. Which is interesting. thanks.

TeaBea

Hi all

MFP recommends eating back your exercise calories. If losing weight is about calories in and out, and you eat back what you burn - then in what way does exercise contribute to weight loss?

Please read this regarding exercise calories:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf


Exercise, especially resistance training, improves nutrient partitioning, improves skeletal muscle retention/growth, increases bone density, and generally makes you look sexy, increases your badassery, and does all these very good things so you should do it.

^This!^

Do you just want a "number" on the scale? ......or do you want to like how you look?

Yes, you can lose weight with zero exercise. You will end up looking like a smaller version of the current you. The current me is jiggly.....and becuase I don't want jiggly, I eat back my exercise calories to FUEL my muscles. The calorie deficit was built in BEFORE any exercise was factored in.

Sarauk2sf

Hi all

MFP recommends eating back your exercise calories. If losing weight is about calories in and out, and you eat back what you burn - then in what way does exercise contribute to weight loss?

Please read this regarding exercise calories:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/818082-exercise-calories-again-wtf


Exercise, especially resistance training, improves nutrient partitioning, improves skeletal muscle retention/growth, increases bone density, and generally makes you look sexy, increases your badassery, and does all these very good things so you should do it.

You REALLY should take some of your own advice....

Mr_Knight

MFP recommends eating back your exercise calories. If losing weight is about calories in and out, and you eat back what you burn - then in what way does exercise contribute to weight loss?

Apart from the usual benefits of increasing fitness, health and virility, achieving your deficit using a combination of eating less and exercising more allows the body to maintain its full metabolic capacity. IE, your BMR and NEAT won't drop if you stay active, even though you are running a caloric deficit.

Exercise also allows you to accelerate weight loss by allowing you to run a larger TDEE. This can be particularly important in smaller, lighter people, who have limited fat stores and can't otherwise support large deficits. The idea that exercise doesn't contribute to weight loss is one of the more common myths percolating around MFP.

deksgrl

Eating less is for weight loss. You do not need to exercise in order to lose weight. Exercise is for health. Of course, a healthy person exercises and needs food to fuel the exercise. A person who exercises can eat more than a person who doesn't because their calorie fuel needs are greater.

MFP calculates your calorie needs without including your exercise, you would lose weight on the calorie deficit it gives you without doing any exercise. Then when you DO exercise, you need to add more food for fuel.

geekyjock76

It doesn't make sense to you because the "burn more through exercise than you eat" is not an accurate portrayal of the Energy Balance equation.

Please read the following:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-energy-balance-equation.html