Eating alot of calories but burning them off?

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moonbeam_muffin
moonbeam_muffin Posts: 45
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so I eat quite alot of calories during the day, around 1400 to 1600, but I burn ALOT of it through exercise, so I net around 800 or 900. Is this bad? Will it help or hurt me to lose weight? I mean, I'm at a kind of a low weight to begin with, and I feel like eating more will make me gain even though I exercise for around 3 hours a day... I'm new to the whole fitness thing, if someone can help it would be much appreciated!

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  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    It would be impossible to maintain 3 hours of daily vigorous exercise unless you were eating back the bulk of those exercise calories or losing weight at a very very high rate.

    How complete is your logging of both intake and exercise?
  • moonbeam_muffin
    moonbeam_muffin Posts: 45
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    Um as for how much I've been losing...I have no idea, I don't have a scale at my house, my weight may be lower than 118, which was when I was last weighed about 3 months ago..

    I think I underestimate calories in definitely but it's hard to accurately count them, right? I think I log in exercise accurately though. When I exercise I feel really tired and sometimes a little dizzy... my resting heart rate is high and is around 200 when I've been exercising for a few minutes.
  • One_Fur_luck
    One_Fur_luck Posts: 49
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    Why are you exercising for 3 hours?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    Why are you exercising for 3 hours?

    This

    Also, how tall are you? And I sure hope you are eating 3000+ calories.

    BTW, the dizziness is probably a result from lack of nutrition.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
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    Um as for how much I've been losing...I have no idea, I don't have a scale at my house, my weight may be lower than 118, which was when I was last weighed about 3 months ago..

    I think I underestimate calories in definitely but it's hard to accurately count them, right? I think I log in exercise accurately though. When I exercise I feel really tired and sometimes a little dizzy... my resting heart rate is high and is around 200 when I've been exercising for a few minutes.

    Feeling really tired and dizzy isn't a good sign. Just saying.
  • scrapjen
    scrapjen Posts: 387 Member
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    I don't really consider 1400-1600 a LOT of calories ... many people could actually maintain or lose on that without any exercise. I do enjoy exercising, and get in quite a bit each day. I try to keep my calories around 2000 and have a hard time doing that (I'm still eating a lot of junk, so empty calories add up quick).

    You might want to start off a bit slower (if you are new to this as you said) ... you don't want to burn out.
  • godsgrl33
    godsgrl33 Posts: 307 Member
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    If she was walking slow on the treadmill, it is possible to exercise for three hours, but it is unnecessary to work out for so long. A resting heart rate should not be high. It should be between about 60-80, if not lower. And, working out for three minutes should not get you up to 200. That's too high for anyone. You should get checked out by a doctor, and see what is going on with you. You probably need to eat more.
  • unFATuated
    unFATuated Posts: 204 Member
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    You don't need to do so much exercise, especially if you're only taking in 1400-1600 cals per day (yes *ONLY*, that's a lot of people's BMR!). What are you aiming to do? If you already weigh 118, I would say you don't have a lot to lose!
  • unFATuated
    unFATuated Posts: 204 Member
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    Um as for how much I've been losing...I have no idea, I don't have a scale at my house, my weight may be lower than 118, which was when I was last weighed about 3 months ago..

    I think I underestimate calories in definitely but it's hard to accurately count them, right? I think I log in exercise accurately though. When I exercise I feel really tired and sometimes a little dizzy... my resting heart rate is high and is around 200 when I've been exercising for a few minutes.

    Feeling really tired and dizzy isn't a good sign. Just saying.

    Also this.
  • moonbeam_muffin
    moonbeam_muffin Posts: 45
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    I'm like REALLY out of shape though, like before I started doing this I never exercised, so maybe that has some influence as to why my heart rate gets high when I excercise? My resting heart rate is about 80 ish...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    I'm like REALLY out of shape though, like before I started doing this I never exercised, so maybe that has some influence as to why my heart rate gets high when I excercise? My resting heart rate is about 80 ish...

    So you think eating low calorie and exercising like crazy will help?


    Realistically, you either need to eat a ton more calories or cut exercise. There really isn't a benefit to workout more than an hour a day. If you aren't happy with your body, it's probably you don't have good body composition.. aka your muscle mass is low and you have high body fat.

    FYI, the average 18 year old women I know working out 1 hour a day for 6 days a week is eating 2000 calories.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    There are lots of good reasons to be working out for 3 hours in a day, everything from training for a marathon to "just another day in the Infantry".
  • alisonlynn1976
    alisonlynn1976 Posts: 929 Member
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    I work out almost that much, but I also eat more than you (and am successfully losing weight anyway!).
  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
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    1400-1600 really isn't that much, especially if you are exercising a lot. I burn over a thousand a day sometimes (decided to change my life and train for a Tri) and because I eat back my calories I can sometime end up eating 2000+.

    One thing I would ask you if you were on my friend list... what is the purpose of your exercise. If it is purely to lose weight then you don't need to do so much because if you are in this for the long haul you really need to be eating most of them back anyway. If you are determined to get into shape though then good for you....but you will still need to eat most of them back and therefore a lot of it wont affect your weight loss :-)

    Good luck
  • samrockrocks
    samrockrocks Posts: 251 Member
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  • infamousdrew76
    infamousdrew76 Posts: 176 Member
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    It would be impossible to maintain 3 hours of daily vigorous exercise unless you were eating back the bulk of those exercise calories or losing weight at a very very high rate.

    How complete is your logging of both intake and exercise?

    Impossible? Not saying I agree or disagree, but do you have proof to back your statement?

    It annoys me when people talk in absolutes!
  • davert123
    davert123 Posts: 1,568 Member
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    "When I exercise I feel really tired and sometimes a little dizzy... my resting heart rate is high and is around 200 when I've been exercising for a few minutes. "

    resting heart rate is your heart rate when you are sitting down for a significant length of time or are in bed. If you are new to exercise you really need to be hitting a heart rate of 70-80% of your max heart rate. A common guess at max is 220-age. I am now very confused because you are giving conflicting info. You say you exercise 3 hours a day but your HR goes to 200 after a few minutes. Its not physically/chemically possible for you to exercise at 200 bpm for hours. Is you heart rate monitor on correctly ? Also if you go much above 80% for any length of time (being new to fitness) you are not going to help yourself very much. If you want to get fit then keep your heart rate between 70-80% most of the time and go up to 90% for a little bit of time (a minute or two if your doc has told you it is ok). Our bodies are very cleaver. If we run at 80% or less we predominantly are using energy in a certain way which allows us to continue doing so for a long time. When you go much past 80% your body reduces this long term effort and starts burning energy in a very inefficient way. They are two separate systems and training the second will only have marginal effects on the first. If you continue to go so vigorously you are going to injure yourself though over training (or you will just feel whacked out completely and not be able to do anything) :-) I know all this as fact because I know it at least happened to me repeatedly and after reading a couple of books on it I know that this seems a basic response that everyone has :-) Also make sure you have days off :-) If you are training for fitness then may I suggest you think about exercise in this way. Fitness increases due to your body changing. The change occurs because of the exercise but it happens after you exercise when your body rests and recovers. During the exercise you are actually reducing your fitness, your body over compensates for this and makes itself a little stronger as an adaptation. If you don't rest you will never recover and you will be sending your fitness the wrong way. This is the way it is - we can hope it isn't, wish it isn't , pretend it isn't' but is still really is :-)

    good luck

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