Calories and Exercise

laikenlove

Ok... I've never counted calories until I joined this website. And I've been amazed that I don't take in that many calories at the end of the day. And I've been looking up info on burning more calories than you consume. Is this a wise choice? Am I depriving my body in any sort? I've been working out like there's no tomorrow. I have a morning workout, evening workout, and an occasional boredom workout. I eat 3 meals and i might eat a pack of crackers in between. Does anyone have any advice to offer?

Thanks Guys!

VballLeash

Well are you losing with what you are doing? In my opinion I don't think you need to eat ALL your exercise calories... I just look at how much I work out and then go by that, if I didn't work out that much than I don't really eat them but if I worked out a lot, like a really long run then I eat more. I think it depends on the person and how your feeling, if your feeling hungry than eat more because you need to make sure you fuel your body for your next workout. But I don't think you should burn more than your consume cause then your basically at negative net calories for the day so its like you aren't eating, make sense? Hope this helped...

~Leash

BrendaLee

If you want to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you consume...that's the basic rule of weight loss. When in doubt, just follow MFP's guidelines for calorie recommendations for the amount of weight you want to lose per week.

VballLeash

I'm an idiot... what did I read? I like kept reading it over and over haha... what brenda said...

laikenlove

Yeah I understand what you're saying. On other websites where I've read about this everyone talks about how it's a great thing for weight loss. I don't know if it's working or not! In three days time I've lost 1lb. But I've lost a about 2 inches.

slieber

A pound of muscle and a pound of fat is still a pound. But fat is WAY larger than muscle, so you might not see much of a scale change but you would see a size change.

It won't maintain, though. After a while, you will want also to see a scale change, so look at how much you're eating vs. what you're burning. If you work out a lot, but don't eat much, you might have put your body into starvation mode. It's saving the weight to use because you are starving the body.

When I first, FIRST, joined WeightWatchers, I was afraid to eat so much food. My points put me way higher than I was used to eating. Still, I crammed it in and lost 7 pounds the first week, 5 the second and about a pound and a half to two pounds thereafter.

THEN it got hard, because I was used to eating more. I work out a lot, too - somewhere around 400-900 cals burned a day (not using the machines but my own heart rate monitor, so I know they're more accurate). Balancing the cals in and cals out now is much harder because of how much and what I do.

MFP gives an automatic 500 cal deficit, I think, for losing 1 pound a week. Add to that what you're burning and you may be in desperate deficit. Check it out and see.

pkgirrl

Well, that depends.

Do you mean burning more than you are consuming with your BMR calculated in? (How much energy your body needs to breathe and keep your heart beating, if you were to lay on a couch and do nothing all day)

Or burning all the calories you eat with exercise?

If you mean the first one, then awesome! That's what you need to do to lose weight.

However exercising more calories than you eat can be dangerous. I know getting the weight off as fast as possible seems optimal, but you could be doing long term damage to your body. You need nutrients, not just calories. I know some people on here believe you need to eat ALL of your exercise calories, but my doctor told me if you're trying to lose weight that's not necessary, but you DO need to eat 1200 a day minimum, and if you're exercising like a machine, make sure you're body is getting adequate nutrients to repair itself. If you don't feel like eating the calories (anything beyond the 1200) then don't, but listen to your body. It will tell you if you need more. If you take a really long time to recover from your regular workouts, you're tired, even on a goodnights sleep, cranky and irritable, these are pretty good signs you're not eating enough.

Just feel it out, no science can tell you what's best for your body better than your body can :flowerforyou:

kaylarose123

instead of eating 3 meals a day, eat every two hours(something small 100 cal snack)... that way you trick your metabolism into burning a LOT faster b/c it knows more food will be coming in... Also! With working out, If you workout 3-4x a day it all depends on how much calories you are burning... So try keeping track of that. If you are really looking to loose weight and say are burning 1,000 calories a day through working out, you should be taking in 1,300 calories at the VERY least with this workout... If you aren't working out you can skim 100 calories and take in 1,200. You would looose so quick and healthy! Also! Remember!!!!!!!!! eat everyyyy 2 hours.....almonds, apples, cottage cheese, bran cereal, lots of fiber, mix carbs and protein for lunch...GETS you fulL!

laikenlove

Ok.. I think I'm catching on to to this! Well when I work out and cool down I feel very refreshed. I know when I've worked out int the past I'm gasping for air at the end. But I'm going to eat more! I love whole grain cheese crackers! Thanks guys! Any other info's surely appreciated!