EATING BACK CALORIES HELPPPP CONFUSEDDD

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s_arahmariee
s_arahmariee Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Is it true that i need to burn just over 500 calories within each workout i complete to lose 1 pound of fat by the end of the week?
(say i workout 5 times a week for 30-40 minutes?)

And do i have to eat back the calories i burn after each workout?

If so why??

and if not why?

Replies

  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    No, you don't have to do any exercise to lose fat.

    All you need to do is eat a deficit. The amount of calories MFP recommended you is a built-in deficit to how much you burn each day just by living. Using the MFP method, when you exercise, you're meant to eat those calories back otherwise you'll be in too much of a deficit, which is unhealthy. Most people tend to eat maybe 50-80% of their exercise calories back as gym machines and MFP's database can often overestimate calories.

    EDIT: Just noticed you posted the same topic twice and already got some answers... oh well.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    You lose weight by eating at a deficit. Most people create that deficit through a combination of diet & exercise.

    MFP is structured so that you choose an activity level, choose a weight loss goal, log your exercise, then eat back 50–100% of your exercise calories. Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
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    No, you don't have to do any exercise to lose fat.

    All you need to do is eat a deficit. The amount of calories MFP recommended you is a built-in deficit to how much you burn each day just by living. Using the MFP method, when you exercise, you're meant to eat those calories back otherwise you'll be in too much of a deficit, which is unhealthy. Most people tend to eat maybe 50-80% of their exercise calories back as gym machines and MFP's database can often overestimate calories.

    EDIT: Just noticed you posted the same topic twice and already got some answers... oh well.

    I agree with eating most but not all estimated calories back. In a way I've learned this using MFP and tracking my weight. I have been cutting hard with a -1000 calorie per day deficit. By tracking my weight I now know roughly what I need to book to give me a 2lb per week (-1000 cal per day) deficit. I don't want to do more than 2lb per week because there is strong scientific research showing that doing so may affect my muscles and health in general. Protein appears vital . - the peer reviewed research I have seen says that to hold on to muscle and drop fat I should eat as much protein as I would normally eat which means i tend to eat more protein than MFP suggests and less carbs. Also there is research which seems to show that when it comes to exercise. Peoples weight was measured while some lost though just diet and some lost though just exercise and people who lost though just diet had a bigger loss in weight than just exercise BUT the loss from just diet resulted in less muscle - people became physically weaker and less able to exercise without risk of injury. Long and short of this is that it is better to exercise than just diet. Also there is similar results that show less muscle loss for people who do resistance training. So based on this I run a deficit, mainly based on exercise which includes cardio and resistance :-)

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