not the typical eating exercise cals back question.

denisec26

ok so i eat back my exercise calories. i know WHY u should. i get it. if your at 1200 and burn 500 then your to far below, starvation mode, gotta eat them back..ok i get that.. but then why work out at all? not that i do this, but unless u are doing strength type of exercises and building muscle and getting rid of that fat..why work out? i know it seems like a stupid question and believe me, im not about to stop working out at all...but couldnt u just eat 1200 calories and call it a day? unless u were looking to tone that stomach or get some muscles..why burn 500 and eat back 500 just so u can be at 1200 again. do i make sense? like i said, im not gonna stop working out...just something on my mind. and sometimes it hard to eat back all of them, ive been working out alot more and if i have to eat back 400, some days i can but like yesterday i wasnt hungry, didnt have much in the house, and now im looking at what i can eat cause i got 400 left to go. none of this crap works for me anyway, 1200, more calories, exercise cals..either way i dont really lose.

denisec26

and ps. because its hard for me to loose, alot of people suggest upping my calories. ok so if i do that to lets say 1400-1500. thats 1500 cals a day, then i exercise 500 of it off, to eat back 500, to be at 1500. how is that helping me loose more weight as opposed to doing the same exact thing at 1200.

fcrisswell

MFP already hads the calorie deficit built into it BEFORE you exercise. So, when you exercise your calorie deficit is even bigger. IF it is too big a deficit then you could be hurting more than helping your weightloss efforts.

Do keep in mind however that if you are adding in what a computer or even workout equipment says you burned caloriewise....these numbers could be off in either direction by quite a bit....it all depends on your lean body mass, muscle mass, etc.

If you have an HRM and get a reading based on your own heart rate....these numbers are probebly more accurate but can also be flowed as well.

So, take all this info with a grain of salt and expriment a bit to see what works best for you. Give it a few weeks (one week is not enough time to see accurate results), then tweak what you are doing if necessary. What works for one person will not work for all. GL!

hpsnickers1

Actually you can lose weight just by cutting calories and not exercising but cardio will give you extra calories and it is good for your heart and systems and organs.

Weights/strength training will help you preserve your lean muscle mass because calorie restriction and intense cardio will cause lean muscle mass loss and this is what makes your metabolism. You lose this and you will require less and less calories to stay at one weight or to continue losing weight.

And it is healthier for you as you get older. It keeps you healthy and your bones strong and your mind alert as you age.

and when you make a change you need to give your body a month to adjust to the changes. You won't always lose immediately.

Plan to eat more during days you exercise. I have to plan ahead and make sure I get enough calories in during the day (I only average a 250 calorie burn for my exercise though).

NoAdditives

Because if you don't get exercise you'll end up burning some muscle in addition to fat. You need exercise. You need cardio to strengthen your heart and lungs and you need strength training to strengthen your muscles and bone density. If you just want to be skinny, don't exercise. If you want to healthy you need exercise.

kdiamond

I agree about doing an hour of cardio just so you can eat an additional 500 calories...that drives me nuts and it is a no-no in the bodybuilding world. Endless cardio is basically just wasting away muscle and just makes you hungrier anyway so basically pointless.

As for doing weight training, there is a reason to eat those calories back. You need to eat "additional" calories to support muscle growth and repair and to build muscle mass (when I say mass I don't mean bulk, I mean muscle development). Also training with weights expends extra burn after the fact, so you need more calories to support the "after-burn".

Read this - good article that explains a lot.

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/weight-training-tips

MooseWizard

Everyone has pretty much said it all, but I'll sum it all up.

You decrease calories to lose weight. You exercise to improve health. You can lose without exercise. If you exercise, you need to account for it in your diet by eating more calories.

cedder1

Exercise boosts metabolism and makes your body run more efficiently. Plus, it builds strong bones, tones muscles and is good for your heart.