What's the point of exercising?

Meh. I don't eat exercise calories back. My average daily net is around 500 and I'm losing just fine. I'm also gaining muscle just fine. Different strokes for different folks.

Um. I hate to burst your bubble, but it's pretty much a mathematical impossibility to build muscle on 500 net a day (this is proven in medical literature). Like saying you're building a building with one 2 x 4. Doesn't work. You're a grown up, make your own choices. But at least be aware of the actual consequences.

There is a possibility that you aren't actually netting 500 calories a day. Maybe you're not being completely precise in tracking food and if that is combined with high estimates on exercise calories burned, you could be netting much higher than you think.

I use a HRM at the gym and I track everything that goes in. Down to the sugar free cream in my coffee. Your way of losing isn't the only way.

Sorry Hun..but this quote is from your profile......
"If I lost one pound for every time I've tried to lose weight, I would've surpassed my goal years ago."
and your regime is the reason why.....

I just blogged about that: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LorinaLynn/view/why-exercise-79107

One of my cats is the perfect example of "skinny fat." She was a tub of lard, but she had a bad tooth and needed dental work. When her tooth was hurting, she barely ate and lost a lot of weight, fast. And she didn't just lose fat, she lost muscle, because she's a cat, and a really lazy one at that. So instead of losing weight and looking like my sleek, muscular, trim cat, she ended up with bony hips and a droopy belly.

When I get smaller, I want to be sleek, muscular and trim, not bony and droopy.

(FYI: She's eating well now and gaining her weight back.)

Meh. I don't eat exercise calories back. My average daily net is around 500 and I'm losing just fine. I'm also gaining muscle just fine. Different strokes for different folks.

Um. I hate to burst your bubble, but it's pretty much a mathematical impossibility to build muscle on 500 net a day (this is proven in medical literature). Like saying you're building a building with one 2 x 4. Doesn't work. You're a grown up, make your own choices. But at least be aware of the actual consequences.

There is a possibility that you aren't actually netting 500 calories a day. Maybe you're not being completely precise in tracking food and if that is combined with high estimates on exercise calories burned, you could be netting much higher than you think.

I use a HRM at the gym and I track everything that goes in. Down to the sugar free cream in my coffee. Your way of losing isn't the only way.

Just keep doing what works for you All that matters is your doc and trainer approving. I also don't eat my exercise cals back. Like someone else said, different strokes for different folks.

You don't have to eat them back. Everyone's body works differently. Some people do and some don't but when I was my fittest in my life, I was eating 1000 -1500 calories a day and that was it. That included a couple glasses of wine. So up to you how you want to approach it, but you do need the exercise. That is what builds muscle decreases fat and increases metabolism. Without that you are wasting your time, and depleting your energy.:bigsmile:

Did you really just ask that question?

i wanted to say that so badly, but didnt want to be rude. lol THANK YOU FOR THAT!!

I rarely eat them back... I work out in the evening and if I ate them back I would be eating all night.

Same here!!! I work out at 6-7:30p.m. I usually end the night with a bowl of cereal or a bowl of icecream after the workout. I view those as my time to cheat cals burned. I never eat them back at all! Normally I eat around 1270 a day and am allowed 1350. On exercise days, when I use my elliptical I burn over 1230 cals! no way I am eating back that many cals! Those are my awesome weight loss days! I only get "yelled at" by MFP when I eat under 1200 cals period. I listen to my body and if I am hungry I will eat, and try for something healthy, though it ain't always the case!

Did you say that right? Did I read it right? You eat 1270 a day and burn 1230 in excercise? So your body has to function for 22-23 hours (assuming a 1-2 hr workout) on a whopping 40 calories? OMG - how long have been doing this without yet being brought to the hospital on a stretcher? I really think you need to re-think this. If you don't believe us on MFP, PLEASE explain this to your doctor and see what she/he thinks.

I feel the need to repeat myself, because I too was eating around 1000 to 1200 a day and probably burning 3000 or more in exercise a day when I was in college and I was the fittest and healthiest I ever was in my life and did not end up on a stretcher from it. It depends on your individual body.

I at that attended an hour and a half of kickboxing, the gym running 45 mins lifting weights for another hour, took tai chi, karate and kabuto these varied per day due to them being college classes, and then I bladed 2 miles at night on 1200, so I say blah!

Meh. I don't eat exercise calories back. My average daily net is around 500 and I'm losing just fine. I'm also gaining muscle just fine. Different strokes for different folks.

Um. I hate to burst your bubble, but it's pretty much a mathematical impossibility to build muscle on 500 net a day (this is proven in medical literature). Like saying you're building a building with one 2 x 4. Doesn't work. You're a grown up, make your own choices. But at least be aware of the actual consequences.

There is a possibility that you aren't actually netting 500 calories a day. Maybe you're not being completely precise in tracking food and if that is combined with high estimates on exercise calories burned, you could be netting much higher than you think.

I use a HRM at the gym and I track everything that goes in. Down to the sugar free cream in my coffee. Your way of losing isn't the only way.

Just keep doing what works for you All that matters is your doc and trainer approving. I also don't eat my exercise cals back. Like someone else said, different strokes for different folks.

I'm seriously not attacking anyone. I don't want anyone to take this personally.

But what is with this blind faith in doctors and trainers? Neither of them receive adequate education in nutrition, unless they specifically seek out the info or specialize in a certain area. Do you ask your dentist or orthopedist about nutrition? No, because that is not their area of expertise or education.

This is what the average GP knows about nutrition:

On average, students received 23.9 contact hours of nutrition instruction during medical school (range: 2–70 h). Only 40 schools required the minimum 25 h recommended by the National Academy of Sciences.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430660/?tool=pubmed

"We received.... 6 lectures on nutrition, however these were not about calories or how to lose weight but more vitamins and how to recognize a vitamin deficiency (VERY rare in civilized societies). On the first national exam one section is devoted to nutrition (not sure how many questions) but again this was all about vitamin deficiencies."

And as for trainers, their formal education is about physical exercise and conditioning, not much about nutrition. Some trainers know more than others (like Banks, of course), but most are not qualified to give valid nutritional information.

In essence, don't trust that your doc or trainer knows everything (or anything) about proper nutrition and how to safely lose weight and keep it off. That subject is for a dietitian.

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

It has been done.

how has this not gotten any love.

Amazing!

lolololololol!

ehehehe, because they are forced to post it like 20 times a day. :P

Damn right, 6.

And I will counterforce this site on anyone that forces me to glance towards the right side of my screen because I see another new topic posted that reads:

"Why eat what I burn?";
"How is eating more helping lose weight?";
"Why am I not losing weight even if I'm not eating?";
"Why do exercise calories even matter?";
"What does it mean if I keep posting the same recycled question?";
"Please invoke The URL on me";
"Thank you sir, may I have another?";
"I smoke cheese and eat sea monkey brain stew..."

So on, and so forth.

Yes, I have the choice to look at those posts just as much as I have the choice not to look at them.
But I will.
And I do.
Because I can.
Because it needs to be stickied.
Because myfitnesspal should change its domain to shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com.
And pay taso42 for his genius.
And me for endorsing it.

Wait, so you think I should eat back my calories?

Have you seen this site? shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com? If you haven't, you should check out shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com. Because shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com is a site for answering the question of "should I eat my exercise calories" with a dot com at the end. Then when you go to shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com, if it doesn't answer your question of "should I eat my exercise calories" then click on the "how about now?" link, and it will take you to shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/index2.html with various related topics to shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com.

Oh, and check out the site in my signature. This guy, taso42, created shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com. He's pretty cool. But thinks that science shouldn't interfere with the shape of the world. So he made shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com instead.

ROFLMAO :laugh:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

TO AVOID THIS:

Aside from all the other good reason, exercising gives you more freedom about what you eat. It gives you a higher calorie total for your diet, which makes it easier to get the nutrients you need. To get those nutrients on a 1200 calorie diet, pretty much everything you eat has to be chosen for its nutritional value.If you do a little exercise each day and bring it up to 1700, you can do what you like with the extra 500. Maybe a piece of chocolate or a glass or two of wine, if that's your fancy. Maybe a larger serve of rice with your dinner, if it's starch that you miss.

I feel the need to repeat myself, because I too was eating around 1000 to 1200 a day and probably burning 3000 or more in exercise a day when I was in college and I was the fittest and healthiest I ever was in my life and did not end up on a stretcher from it. It depends on your individual body.

I at that attended an hour and a half of kickboxing, the gym running 45 mins lifting weights for another hour, took tai chi, karate and kabuto these varied per day due to them being college classes, and then I bladed 2 miles at night on 1200, so I say blah!

Actually, with what you describe, at that age and that fitness level, you probably didn't burn all that much. The better shape you're in, the less cals you burn. A fit, young athlete can go for hours, and burn very little, because their body is very efficient.

I don't eat my calories burned. To me that's just maintaining your weight not losing.

Could it really be 4 pages in and some people really don't know that MFP factors in a deficit? I hate reading that eating back your calories means you won't lose weight. I eat back most of mine and have been losing quite steady. At the start I was losing 2lbs a week so I have to say that eating back your calories is NOT maintenance it is the healthy approach to how MFP works no?

I agree my first thought was "really? you just asked this?" Then I felt bad for you. Your clearly not getting the big picture as so many have pointed out to you.

If this helps: I was at my goal weight 3 sizes ago, I was running and completed a marathon. Exercising 5-6 days per week, but not really doing my utmost. I added P90X and now Insanity to my plan, and have lost sizes... not weight, but sizes. At 40, I'm more fit than I was at a very underweight 18 yo with an eating disorder.

To me - Strong is sexier than skinny. You can get thin and still have high cholesterol, trouble breathing when walking up stairs, have slow metabolism or other health related issues like edorice pointed out in her pretty pictures.

And - I think the best part - IMO when you have muscle, you can occasionally eat that chocolate cake and your body burns it up anyway and you don't gain weight by cheating now and then.

The difference between this:


OR THIS:

Just for the record this is my favorite post