Whoa whoa whoa!! You can't burn fat via exercise????

EDesq

You ever notice that Americans TALK A LOT about the "Science" and "Theories" of weight loss and WE are the Fattest and one of the UNHEALTHIEST nations on earth, Especially considering that we are the wealthiest nation on earth. MOST other Cultures have a "Stable" way of eating and activities....as well as less negative factors that also help contribute to over-eating and eating the wrong foods. Is there A Formula...NO, Not in THIS Culture, nor is there a magic pill or bullet, ohhh, and none of the science is any good-and all of the science is good.

I have found out that the More "we" talk, the less we lose weight, and the more Unhealthy we become. MFP Forums are becoming BORING to Me Now. I've seen this stuff 1000's of times, with that fact and the Site Viruses coming into play, I think Imma start just logging.

juliefrog6

So who wants to do an experiment? Exercise plenty, in particular cardio, but eat in a calorie surplus. See if you lose fat.

i already did this experiment. i lifted heavy weights, ran 5ks and 10k, played capoeira, kickboxed and generally worked out 60-90 minutes a day 5-6 days a week but i still gained a lot of weight because i was eating 5-7K calories a day :laugh:

i ended up gaining 80 pounds total. granted it might have been 100-160 pounds i;d have gained had i not been working out, but the fact still remains that i worked out like a boss and still got fat

I've done expiriment myself, just from getting a physically active job. Initally I lost weight even though I was eating a ton, problem is, my body adjusted and I started gaining again. I think if you kept challenging yourself and didn't let your body get used to the amount of work you are doing then you would theoretically keep loosing. But that's just because of the muscle mass. It almost makes me want to be a competitive athlete, but nah

Rayman79

To be honest I haven't read the replies in this thread (as I knew that several of them would want to make me repeatedly hit my head against a solid object).

To break it down into the simplest form, you just need to know the basic energy balance equation. Energy in (calories) vs energy out.

Your question focuses on the 'energy out' part. You burn a certain number of calories just by staying alive (organ function, breathing etc), you burn a little more through your daily activity (how much depends on how active you are obviously). The final part of the equation is exercise.

The simplest answer to this question is just to keep the balance so that your total expenditure (you will hear that referred to here as TDEE) HIGHER than the amount of calories you consume.

GaryRussell123456

Calorie deficit burns fat. Whether that be from diet, exercise or both does not matter for weight loss. The end result is better with both though. It's easier to create the deficit with exercise. If you want a deficit of 500 calories it's easier to reduce your intake by just 250 calories and burn 250 with exercise than it is to reduce your intake by 500 so why wouldn't you?

bcattoes

If your going to steal my answer, you might as well give me credit.

My answer was not ignorant, nor is was it meant to make anyone laugh.. It's called the truth.

You lose fat through a calorie deficit... Exercise helps you maintain that deficit, but exercise it's self does not burn fat.

Get it now?

No. Exercise does burn fat. If you eat too much you may gain that fat right back, sure. But the reason exercise helps to maintain or create a deficit, is because it takes energy to do it and some of that energy is going to come from burning fat.

When I lost 27 lbs I didn't even eat less calories. The only change I made was to start doing Zumba 5-6 days a week. Zumba burned the fat I lost.

Sloth_TurtleGirl

IMHO I am going through this thread looking at people with the biggest weight loss and assuming they are the ones who know what they are talking about the most. I do know after boxing for half an hour last night, I feel amazing (although a little sore). When I'm just eating low calorie, I do not feel amazing, just happy to be losing weight.

When I watch Biggest Loser (please don't kill me for this analogy) they are losing 11 pounds in a week. That isn't done by just not eating a lot. They are exercising and creating calorie deficits. lost most of my 16 pounds by not exercising. I wanted to lose a little first before I started. This week, I've started the exercising part. These kinds of threads just confuse me.

BrianSharpe

For all you people arguing that exercise burns fat.. Think about this.

If exercise burns fat, then why is MFP set up so that people can lose weight(and fat) on a calorie deficit without any exercise what-so-ever?

I suggest all of you chew on that for a while before you keep arguing.

I would suggest that before you make blanket statements about exercise not burning fat you may want to research training regimens for endurance athletes. As you are probably aware glycogen stores are quite limited whereas even a 140lb Kenyan marathon runner will have 10 to 14lbs of body fat which is what they rely on to fuel their races.

In respect to fat/weight loss yes, it's the caloric deficit but it's a factual error to state that exercise doesn't burn fat.

mlegosz

A followup to something I wrote previously - I typically read well respected fitness articles & blogs, then turn to forums for additional insight or for info on how people have put that knowledge into practice.

This article is a great read:

http://www.livestrong.com/blog/the-worlds-largest-body-transformation-program-an-interview-with-dr-john-berardi/

bcattoes

So many exercise facts get twisted and turned around partly because none of them are 100% proven.

Exercise absolutely can burn fat. Most likely what got twisted is that we used to think that exercise would burn tons of extra calories even once we were done performing it and that doesn't seem to be true. Of course I'm sure someone will argue with me on that.

Excessive cardio can mess with women's hormones and cause them to store fat. It's individual though - I've never had that issue.

Dammit! I've always cherished the claim that you continue to burn higher calories for a while after exersizing!!! I HATE exersizing and I want to gleen every last bit of benefit from it! :sad:

Your body can still burn exercise calories for a period of time after anaerobic exercise (resistance training). Usually after aerobic training (cardio), the exercise calories stop being burned upon completion of the workout.

No, this is not true. It used to be thought that metabolism slowed back to at rest state within an hour of doing aerobic exercise. But it's been shown to last for several hours.

tigersword

IMHO I am going through this thread looking at people with the biggest weight loss and assuming they are the ones who know what they are talking about the most. I do know after boxing for half an hour last night, I feel amazing (although a little sore). When I'm just eating low calorie, I do not feel amazing, just happy to be losing weight.

When I watch Biggest Loser (please don't kill me for this analogy) they are losing 11 pounds in a week. That isn't done by just not eating a lot. They are exercising and creating calorie deficits. lost most of my 16 pounds by not exercising. I wanted to lose a little first before I started. This week, I've started the exercising part. These kinds of threads just confuse me.

Biggest Loser is a horrible analogy. They are basically on starvation diets (they eat around 1500 calories a day, with about 8 hours of exercise a day, they'd still lose weight eating 6000 calories a day, just for some perspective.) Also, a "week" on Biggest Loser is more like a month in reality. There's a reason the vast majority of contestants (including most of the winners) gain back all the weight as soon as the cameras stop rolling.

bpotts44

A followup to something I wrote previously - I typically read well respected fitness articles & blogs, then turn to forums for additional insight or for info on how people have put that knowledge into practice.

This article is a great read:

http://www.livestrong.com/blog/the-worlds-largest-body-transformation-program-an-interview-with-dr-john-berardi/

Great article.

alarae

You have to take everything you read on the forums with a grain of salt.

Every move you make with your body burns calories. Those calories come from carbs, fat and protein in your diet. Carbs are easier for your body to burn. When they're there in mass quantities your body will either burn them (if you're active) or store them (if it doesn't need them all when you eat them) as fat. If you burn more calories than you take in, your body will make up the deficit by burning fat on your body. A safe caloric deficit is 500-1000 calories/day from the total amount you burn.

The caloric deficit MFP creates for you when it gives you your calorie intake target is based on you being sedentary or lightly active (or whatever setting you put in the goals calculator). So if you exercise on top of that, you are increasing the size of your caloric deficit by however much you burned. So, if you said you are lightly active and want to lose 1 lb/week, MFP calculates that you burn, say 1800 calories/day and you want to create a 500 calorie/day deficit to lose 1 lb/week so it gives you a goal of 1300 calories/day to eat. If you exercise and burn another 400 calories in that workout, your new deficit is 900 calories for the day.

For many people that's okay. But if you're already really lean or if the original deficit you created is already 1000 calories/day (because you told MFP you want to lose 2 lbs/week) your deficit is then 1400 calories/day, which is likely to have metabolic implications. Or, if you're a competitive athlete, a 1400 calorie/day deficit is going to impact your athletic performance.

Basically, you can lose weight just fine without exercise. You probably won't be that fit, but you'll be thinner. In fact, I find it's easier to lose weight without exercise, but then I'd rather be able to run fast and have big muscles.

This makes sense.

Cindy393

OK, after reading all of this, I feel like I've wasted my time with treadmills and stationary bikes. So basically, I'm on a 1200 cal/day diet. If I keep sitting on my couch every night, eating only 800 of those 1200 calories, I will lose weight???

Wow, no more sweating, no more showers twice a day....I like it!

bcattoes

OK, after reading all of this, I feel like I've wasted my time with treadmills and stationary bikes. So basically, I'm on a 1200 cal/day diet. If I keep sitting on my couch every night, eating only 800 of those 1200 calories, I will lose weight???

Wow, no more sweating, no more showers twice a day....I like it!

Yes, you will. But you are more likely to be flabby and unhealthy if you do it that way, and it will likely take longer.

Cindy393

and that makes sense, but I guess it almost sounds like working out isn't necessary at all to lose weight. I never eat my exercise calories back, so in a sense, that means it's just creating a bigger deficit to help me lose quicker? Exercise (of course other than toning up) is basically a deficit-creating tool?

bpotts44

and that makes sense, but I guess it almost sounds like working out isn't necessary at all to lose weight. I never eat my exercise calories back, so in a sense, that means it's just creating a bigger deficit to help me lose quicker? Exercise (of course other than toning up) is basically a deficit-creating tool?

Exercise has tons of benefits besides increasing your calorie burn. You should exercise not just because it will help you lose weight, but because it will lower your blood pressure, regulate your hormones, give you confidence, lower your chance of heart disease, etc. Yes, you can lose weight by diet alone, but this is really about life changing and increasing your overall fitness not just losing weight.

bcattoes

and that makes sense, but I guess it almost sounds like working out isn't necessary at all to lose weight. I never eat my exercise calories back, so in a sense, that means it's just creating a bigger deficit to help me lose quicker? Exercise (of course other than toning up) is basically a deficit-creating tool?

Exercise has tons of benefits besides increasing your calorie burn. You should exercise not just because it will help you lose weight, but because it will lower your blood pressure, regulate your hormones, give you confidence, lower your chance of heart disease, etc. Yes, you can lose weight by diet alone, but this is really about life changing and increasing your overall fitness not just losing weight.

Yep. Everyone should exercise regularly, no matter what their weight. But you can lose without it. For example, if an obese person went into a coma they would lose weight.

chrisdavey

IMHO I am going through this thread looking at people with the biggest weight loss and assuming they are the ones who know what they are talking about the most.

I wouldn't be doing that.
A) many people are here for more than weight loss
many people have already lost weight & use the site for monitoring

OK, after reading all of this, I feel like I've wasted my time with treadmills and stationary bikes. So basically, I'm on a 1200 cal/day diet. If I keep sitting on my couch every night, eating only 800 of those 1200 calories, I will lose weight???

Wow, no more sweating, no more showers twice a day....I like it!

Well for starters you're supposed to eat 1200 minimum.

Yes you will lose weight as long as you're cal intake is less than you're TDEE. If this deficit is too large then you're body will also lose LBM as well as fat (especially without strength training and adequate protein intake). This will depend on you're current BF% also. This results in a lower BMR/TDEE.

As well as this, constant undereating will lead to metabolic slow down.

drgndancer

and that makes sense, but I guess it almost sounds like working out isn't necessary at all to lose weight. I never eat my exercise calories back, so in a sense, that means it's just creating a bigger deficit to help me lose quicker? Exercise (of course other than toning up) is basically a deficit-creating tool?

The question you have to ask yourself is, "What are my goals, and how soon do I want to meet them?" Yes, you can lose weight with a simple calorie deficit . It will take longer and you will have to deprive yourself more food wise, but you can do it. So, is that your goal? Make the number on the scale go down? Because realistically that's a poor goal in my opinion; but if it is your goal, then you can stop exercising, eat next to nothing and be patient. The weight will eventually come off.

Most people want to lose weight as a means to an end. They want to be fit, they want to be healthy, they want to look good In a bathing suit, they want to be strong... You won't get any of those things from diet alone. You ever seen someone skinny with no muscle tone in a bathing suit? It's not a lot better than a fat person in a bathing suit. You won't get fit sitting on the couch. A lot of recent studies on mortality and quality of life are showing that fitness is actually more important to overall health than weight. A fit-fat person has better overall health than a skinny out of shape person. Of course a person with a healthy weight and in good shape is better off than either, but still...

So what is your goal? Is it to make a pointless little number on the scale move? Or to get healthy.

Cindy393

wow, you really put it into perspective for me. Of course I won't quit exercising-it makes me feel really good and I don't like sitting around all night long. It was more of a rhetorical question. Of course I want to lose weight, and I definitely want to look good, be fit and be healthy. I'm looking forward to the day when exercise will be sort of an "obsession" for me. I've just started this journey, and I've got alot to learn. Thanks for opening my eyes!