Rookie Exercise Question

aberdeen40
aberdeen40 Posts: 5 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm not a big work out person but know I must to lose the weight. I don't understand the concept of calories in work them off. If I eat 1200 calories I have to burn that many working out? Seems I'd be working out all day. Even though I don't burn that many calories are the calories I'm burning helping? I have a treadmill and am usining it I also have a bike and once the heat of summer is gone I plan on using it. Thanks!

Replies

  • alexkirkp
    alexkirkp Posts: 26 Member
    You burn a lot of calories every day by just being alive. The number of calories you burn a day, without doing exercise is called your basal metabolic rate (BMR). MFP estimates this number for you by using your gender, height and weight, if you want to see what it is for you try temporarily changing your goal to maintaining your weight. The number of calories it suggests you get a day is your estimated BMR.

    Losing weight is a matter of eating fewer calories than you are burning in a day. If you aren't exercising at all then the number of calories you cannot exceed in a day to lose weight is your BMR. This can be a very difficult amount of calories to come in under. If you exercise then you get to add the number of calories you burned during exercise to your BMR to find the number of calories you cannot exceed to lose weight. For example if your BMR is 1200 calories and you go for a run that burns 300 calories, then you simply have to eat less than 1500 calories to lose any weight.

    So, you don't have to do any exercise to lose any weight. But, for most people it is easier and quicker to lose weight with a combination of dieting and exercise, in addition to the nearly endless list of benefits from exercising.
  • lipps4
    lipps4 Posts: 1
    Hi, Diet and Exercise is a balance. Both on different ends and BMR in between. Take in more cal's than needed you have the potential to gain weight, take in less you lose...500 cal's per day less for a week 1 lb lost. Exercise removes cal's, and enhances your well being in so many ways. So eat clean, exercise responsibly and your body adapts over time. :smile:

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