Question about calories

Cheilsea

My calorie intake goal for each day is 1200 calories. I've noticed that every time I work out, the amount of calories I burned is added to my remaining calories as though I need to take in that many more calories for the day that I just lost working out. I thought when you want to lose weight, you should try to lose more calories than you take in. Sorry if this is a completely obvious and ignorant question, but I'd appreciate it if someone wouldn't mind explaining it to me. Thanks so much!

LuckySue333

I felt the same way... I thought you exercised to tone up your body plus to lose the weight faster......
Eating more to me seems like you would gain. But according to everyone else no... You still lose. When you earn calories exercising your body needs more food from what I understand. so that is why you can eat more... Sounds strange but others that have been on it longer would know...

nikkijennings

I used to think the same.... shows what we all know before joining sites like this and educating ourselves!!!!

I've now realised my body was in starvation mode, I was actually trying to do too much on too little, the less I ate, the more I gained....

Here's one I read posted on here earlier..... and makes sense!!

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

If you don't eat enough, your body gets defensive and stores what it can as fat.... just in case you don't feed it again for some time!!

I have been eating more but calorie counting and making sensible choices, and have lost 11lbs in 3 weeks... with very little exercise. Fantastic.

It's these lessons that make me realise how far I have come in such a short time.

bmatthews

im still confused on this.. i just eat the cals that it says in the morn when i come one..

alantin

You must not only burn more than what you consume but also keep an optimal and steady deficit. Losing faster is a lie! Keeping it steady and reasonable is the key. That is why you need to eat the exercise calories too. If the deficit gets too large, all sorts of problems start to arise. It wont sink your ship if you screw up one day but it will be shooting your hull with a canon if you eat too little for extended periods.
Exercise is for maintaining and improving your physical health and it also helps (with a good diet and an optimal caloric deficit) to minimize the inevitable muscle loss that comes with losing weight.

Eat your exercise calories so that you can exercise. Not the other way around or even worse, stumble in to the trap of thinking that you can leave them off. There is a lot of science and discussion out there about this but it pretty much boils down to what I wrote above.

Cheilsea

Thanks for the responses everyone! I'm beginning to understand it now.

alantin

Btw.
That's a great passage you have there in your signature! Felt a bit off context at first but still made my day! We are leaving bad eating habits behind and learning to show proper respect and care for our own bodies. :flowerforyou:

Thanks for that! (and good night.. I'm off to bed. Way too late already! :grumble: )