EASY way to understand the WHYS of Eating Excercise Cals....

Fitness_Chick

I have to say...I think this is the most simply put way of understanding WHY and how IMPORTANT it is for us to be eating back our excercise cals.... glad I found it so simply put...so I wanted to share it with anyone interested in reading it!:drinker:

thoughts from a PT on eating your excercise cals.....responding to someone's question.
_________________________________________________
Your Body will.......
1. Burn lean muscle tissue first. (We always burn lean muscle tissue as we
lose, but when we restrict calories dramatically, the body starts to
"catabolize" muscle more than fat)

2. Lower your metabolism to reserve energy and use less.
I don't believe that Jillian is basing her information on sound science.
Starvation mode is a real situation where the body senses a famine and
reacts in the same way we would if we sensed a fuel shortage.
Here's the analogy I use. Let's say you're in a cabin in the woods. It's
Fall, you have TONS of fuel in a few different forms; You have gasoline, you
have kindling very very dry wood, and you have wood that is seasoned, but
doesn't burn as fast or as hot

It gets cold, you are kind of cavalier about things. You start your fire
with the gasoline, you feed it lots of kindling (fat) to get it going nice
and hot, and you slowly feed it wood (muscle) to keep it burning.

Then a serious snow storm hits. You're completely snowed in with no hope of
obtaining more fuel. You don't have electricity or any way to tell how long
this snowstorm is going to last. So what do you do? Do you keep pouring
gasoline on the fire and burning your kindling so you can heat your cabin to
80?

Nope! You set aside your best burners (fat) so that you have that in a
real emergency. You pile on the jackets and slow down. You burn a slow fire
at about 60 degrees (lower your metabolism) using the seasoned but not as
efficient wood because it burns slowly. You ration your fuel.

That's exactly what your body does. It has no way of knowing you're "on a
diet". It only knows you're asking a LOT of it and you're not fueling it
appropriately. If you were my client I would put you on no less than 1400
calories a day at your weight, and insist you eat back the majority of your
exercise calories.

If you truly are eating 2130, but burning 1800 you left
you body with only 330 calories to LIVE ON! If your basal metabolic rate
(the amount of calories you burn just laying around for 24 hours) is let's
say....1400 at your weight you didn't even provide enough calories to
perform normal bodily functions.

So your body says "Oh no! We still have to
perform these functions...quick, slow everything down (especially that
metabolism), go for that lean muscle tissue. That doesn't mean your body is
catabolizing your biceps...lean muscle tissue is your heart, your organs,
etc. Not just the muscles we think of when we think muscles.

In other words, I'm not a doctor, but I do believe that you're putting your
health at risk with this behavior. Plus think about this as a "rest of your
life" deal. **If you mess up your metabolism it can take up to two years for
it to return to normal.**

That would mean you'd have to eat normally for two
years, which would end up in a weight gain. You wouldn't want to gain, so
you'd try to go lower to lose...still impacting your metabolism. Don't you
want to eat "normally?" around 2000 calories a day with reasonable exercise?

You won't be burning 1800 calories a day forever. (I do wonder where you get
that number. I exercise about 700 minutes per week and don't come close to
an average of 1800 calories per day. I am lighter, but I have a roaring
metabolism.)

You want to lose weight, but you want to do it in a healthy manner. I think
you have some great things going for you. You exercise regularly, you eat
good clean wholesome food. You just need to work on balancing your input and
output before you cause damage.

I know it's hard because you have a habit of
eating too little, so start moving back into balance slowly by adding some
calories every week so you're averaging closer to a MINIMUM of 1200 net
calories per day. I know this is a WWers board, but I'd also suggest you
count calories and points. You may be eating more than you think (which in
your case, probably isn't a bad thing) or less. You can go back to points
when you have found a better balance.

Just my 2 cents, or 2 points...whichever! Health is what this should
ultimately be all about, so please don't compromise yours!

Fitness_Chick

I have to say...I think this is the most simply put way of understanding WHY and how IMPORTANT it is for us to be eating back our excercise cals.... glad I found it so simply put...so I wanted to share it with anyone interested in reading it!:drinker:

thoughts from a PT on eating your excercise cals.....responding to someone's question.
_________________________________________________
Your Body will.......
1. Burn lean muscle tissue first. (We always burn lean muscle tissue as we
lose, but when we restrict calories dramatically, the body starts to
"catabolize" muscle more than fat)

2. Lower your metabolism to reserve energy and use less.
I don't believe that Jillian is basing her information on sound science.
Starvation mode is a real situation where the body senses a famine and
reacts in the same way we would if we sensed a fuel shortage.
Here's the analogy I use. Let's say you're in a cabin in the woods. It's
Fall, you have TONS of fuel in a few different forms; You have gasoline, you
have kindling very very dry wood, and you have wood that is seasoned, but
doesn't burn as fast or as hot

It gets cold, you are kind of cavalier about things. You start your fire
with the gasoline, you feed it lots of kindling (fat) to get it going nice
and hot, and you slowly feed it wood (muscle) to keep it burning.

Then a serious snow storm hits. You're completely snowed in with no hope of
obtaining more fuel. You don't have electricity or any way to tell how long
this snowstorm is going to last. So what do you do? Do you keep pouring
gasoline on the fire and burning your kindling so you can heat your cabin to
80?

Nope! You set aside your best burners (fat) so that you have that in a
real emergency. You pile on the jackets and slow down. You burn a slow fire
at about 60 degrees (lower your metabolism) using the seasoned but not as
efficient wood because it burns slowly. You ration your fuel.

That's exactly what your body does. It has no way of knowing you're "on a
diet". It only knows you're asking a LOT of it and you're not fueling it
appropriately. If you were my client I would put you on no less than 1400
calories a day at your weight, and insist you eat back the majority of your
exercise calories.

If you truly are eating 2130, but burning 1800 you left
you body with only 330 calories to LIVE ON! If your basal metabolic rate
(the amount of calories you burn just laying around for 24 hours) is let's
say....1400 at your weight you didn't even provide enough calories to
perform normal bodily functions.

So your body says "Oh no! We still have to
perform these functions...quick, slow everything down (especially that
metabolism), go for that lean muscle tissue. That doesn't mean your body is
catabolizing your biceps...lean muscle tissue is your heart, your organs,
etc. Not just the muscles we think of when we think muscles.

In other words, I'm not a doctor, but I do believe that you're putting your
health at risk with this behavior. Plus think about this as a "rest of your
life" deal. **If you mess up your metabolism it can take up to two years for
it to return to normal.**

That would mean you'd have to eat normally for two
years, which would end up in a weight gain. You wouldn't want to gain, so
you'd try to go lower to lose...still impacting your metabolism. Don't you
want to eat "normally?" around 2000 calories a day with reasonable exercise?

You won't be burning 1800 calories a day forever. (I do wonder where you get
that number. I exercise about 700 minutes per week and don't come close to
an average of 1800 calories per day. I am lighter, but I have a roaring
metabolism.)

You want to lose weight, but you want to do it in a healthy manner. I think
you have some great things going for you. You exercise regularly, you eat
good clean wholesome food. You just need to work on balancing your input and
output before you cause damage.

I know it's hard because you have a habit of
eating too little, so start moving back into balance slowly by adding some
calories every week so you're averaging closer to a MINIMUM of 1200 net
calories per day. I know this is a WWers board, but I'd also suggest you
count calories and points. You may be eating more than you think (which in
your case, probably isn't a bad thing) or less. You can go back to points
when you have found a better balance.

Just my 2 cents, or 2 points...whichever! Health is what this should
ultimately be all about, so please don't compromise yours!

Teria

I like I like, I lost about 40lbs while not eating my exercise calories and burning 600-800 calories a day by just running and I was eating1200 calories a day. Then BOOM! I stopped losing weight and gained back 10lbs(I was also very short on muscle and very soft). My body's metabolism is all crazy (I'm working on it) and I am losing the 10lbs gained PLUS the last 30lbs!...Life is tough! Lesson of the day :EAT YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES AND INCORPORATE WEIGHT RESISTANCE FROM THE START|!!!

GOOD LUCK!

Fitness_Chick

:drinker:

Fitness_Chick