Do you eat what you burn?

Exercise Question:
How many calories must I burn to lose 1 pound?



Exercise Answer:
There are 3,500 calories in one pound of body fat. You should focus on creating a deficit of 500 calories a day, which over the course of one week will result in one pound of weight loss (500 calories X 7 days = 3,500 calories). This can either be accomplished through burning the calories through exercise, creating a caloric deficit through your diet or a combination of both. I recommend a combination because its the easiest way to incorporate into an overall fitness plan. Work on making a small change in your diet to create a 250 calorie deficit and then add about 30 minutes of cardio training a day to burn the other 250 calories. A great workout will consist of cardio cross training a few exercises such as jogging on the treadmill and jumping rope.

So what this means is if you want to lose weight then you must burn more calories than you take in and to continue the loss you must do it week in and week out.

Now once you reach your goal weight then you should increase your calorie intake gradually not all at once to bring you back to maintenance role. At this point if you like the weight you are currently at you then just equal the amount of calories burned with those you eat. Repeat the cycle as needed, you eat a little more for a few days then decrease other days. Those calories must be healthy calories, not going back to what had you gain the weight in the first place.

I have been able to successfully maintain my weight to the pound one year after losing 50 pounds. I have put on 2 pounds of muscle and kept my Body Fat to 10.2%.

Of course I have kept up my exercise and eating right. Pretty straight forward.

You need the calories even if you feel full bc your body needs the fuel to push you through your workouts so you can get toned & lean

After about 8 months of dieting and exercising, I was eating my exercise calories back and not losing weight. Not I'm not eating them back and I'm finally seeing some results! I guess it all comes down to body type. (There are some good articles out there on exercising for your body type that are very eye-opening). But, I did come across this article that might also help add to this discussion.

Secret Weapons for Weight Loss - Don't Overcompensate for your Workouts:

http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/secretweightlos_5.htm

To reiterate...unless you're trying to gain weight DON'T eat back your exercise calories, but DO add a protein shake after a workout. Mine acts as my "fourth" meal - with all meals ranging from 300-400 calories each.

I am not trying to be mean but can you point me to the facts where you derived this statement from?

Thanks

ZH

Personal experience, and this article is also helpful.

http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/secretweightlos_5.htm

Eat the extra calories because you need to refuel to keep from getting hungry and running too much of a deficit. Your body will go into defense mode and you will stop losing weight. You will still be on target. On my long workout days I have a good time because my daily limit goes up from 1280 to 4300 and I can pig. Healthy food of course. If I don't, my body won't recover and adapt to the workouts. {I'm training for Ironman and losing too much weight per week is worse than not losing enough.}

A lot of your long bike rides and long runs will be basic steady state cardio, which doesn't burn anywhere near as much as people often think.

I gained 25 pounds during my Ironman training by re-eating the calories burned as according to my Garmin HRM.

You might find it interesting to read this some time:
http://figureathlete.t-nation.com/free_online_article/training/the_final_nail_in_the_cardio_coffin

To reiterate...unless you're trying to gain weight DON'T eat back your exercise calories, but DO add a protein shake after a workout. Mine acts as my "fourth" meal - with all meals ranging from 300-400 calories each.

also, cat urine will make you fit and ripped, so drink cat urine!

HAHA Funny! Seriously people, how much weight have you lost? 7 pounds? I'm on my way to 30 pounds lost after an entire year of trying and doing what everyone on here told me to do. I'm trying to make this easier for us all by shedding some light on the situation.

But not eating back your exercise calories is not how MFP is designed to function. Your issue was not that MFP didn't work (in general) but that your specific numbers were off. If you overestimate your exercise calories and/or underestimate your calories eaten and/or miscalculate your activity level, you can completely obliterate your deficit and not lose a pound. So please be careful when you give advice that may be detrimental to the next person.