Question regarding weight loss

teresa011

I would like someone to explain something to me..........Ok, we all know that the concept of losing weight is you have burn off calories that you are taking in.....sooooooooo why then on the days that I exercise and burn calories, which is a good thing, do they add back ON the calories that I supposedly burned........isn't that kind of defeating the purpose?? If someone can explain the logic to me it would be greatly appreciated...........Thanks!!

iRun4wine

Rather than re-invent the wheel, read the first 4 links here- the ones up at the top with a picture of a red push-pin next to them. Those should answer your question (and then some!) :flowerforyou:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/9-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help

carrieberrie

That is exactley the way I feel!

questionablemethods

The short answer is that your body burns calories just keeping you alive and moving around. You burn calories every time you take a step, every time you put on your shoes, every time you brush your teeth. So, you are always burning calories. You need to eat fewer calories than the total calories that your body burns by living and moving around. As I understand it, that is how the calories are calculated on this site.

The exercise does more than simply burn calories while you are doing it, but it benefits you by keeping your metabolism up so that you body continues to burn a lot of calories in its normal "alive and moving around" state. If you don't eat back your exercise calories, you risk eating too few calories and slowing down your metabolism.

(But yeah, it is explained much better in those "pinned" threads.)

teresa011

LOL, thanks Carrie, so glad i'm not the only one that feels this way.

sonjavon

Everyone who first comes to this site feels the same way you do - until it's explained to them. Which is why the posts that are "pinned" were created. MFP has already calculated the "deficit" that you need.

Think of it this way.... Depending on the car you have you may have a gauge that tells you how many miles you have left until your gas tank is empty. If you increase your speed, that number goes down considerably... right? That's because you use more gas when you're going faster - the faster you go, the faster you need to refuel and the more gas your car will use.

With your body - it is burning fat at a regular weight and we can assume that you need X number of calories to continue at that pace. MFP has taken that number and subtracted the number of calories that it will take for you to lose (half a pound, a pound or 2 pounds) a week. SO... when you start to move faster (exercise) - you increase the need to refuel more. Your body is working harder to burn more. You need to eat a certain amount of calories to keep your body going and working efficiently - which is why we add those calories back in. Does that make sense?

teresa011

thank you sonjavon..........that really explains it well for me