What's the point of exercising?
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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.0 -
If you don't want to eat your exercise calories then eat your maintenance calories and everything you burn will be weight loss. It is much healthier to burn your calories than it is to not eat them. And your metabolism will, by definition, be higher and busy burning those extra calories.
This way if you burn 500 exercise calories a day, you will lose a healthy 1 pound a week and never even flirt with "starvation mode".0 -
I don't eat my calories burned. To me that's just maintaining your weight not losing.0
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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:
LMAO0 -
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?0
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I'm sure this has been said somewhere in here, but your muscles will continue to burn calories long after you are done working out, so even if you eat back what you burned while exercising, you will still have a deficit in the long run. I am the perfect example of this:
I lost 70 lbs in 7 months (~ 2 lbs per week) -
diet - only cut pop (maybe 400-500 per day, but still probably consumed at least 2500 per day :noway: )
workout - 2 spin classes a week (HRM said I burned ~700 calories per class) otherwise, pretty sedentary.
As you can see, this doesn't add up if you don't factor in the burn afterwards.0 -
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.0 -
It's not an opinion, it's the laws of physics. As you lose weight and the fat on top of the muscles decreases, muscles may be come more defined, and therefore appear "bigger". But they cannot grow in size without a surplus of energy.
If what you're doing is working for you, that's great. I just prefer that people be aware of what they are actually doing.
Thank you. Thank you. Putting on muscle is the reverse of losing weight. To lose weight you need a deficit. To put on muscle you need a surplus. I wish people would get this simple equation.
Perhaps we need a new website: www.CanIPutOnMuscleAtADeficit.com
Oh and to answer the question...why exercise?
-your heart
-your lungs
-your skin
-your brain
-your muscles
-your bones0 -
The difference between this:
OR THIS:
Just for the record this is my favorite post
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I'm grateful for the amount of posts regarding how exercise is so important! However, it sounds like you have already made up your mind and are defending your decision. So why ask? People put time into reading and responding to your post with intelligent and useful information (backed by research I might add), you should at least respect them for trying to help.0
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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.
No worries-I don't take much personal on an internet forum. I just wish the people here would be willing to accept that there really is more than just one way to lose weight. I do trust both my doctor and trainer. My trainer is a registered dietitian and health consultant. I trust his knowledge, results, experience and opinions. I've asked him about eating more, or eating back exercise calories and he said that once I am closer to a healthy weight we will reevaluate my diet.0 -
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.....
Wow! I'm so happy for you that you succeeded in losing weight the very first time you tried. Oh-except that in your profile you speak of yo-yo dieting...So I have to assume you've also tried and failed in the past...
I didn't. Not due to my regime. Due to my willpower for the most part. I've overcome a lot of the reasons I've failed in the past. I can assure you it wasn't what I was doing.0 -
The difference between this:
OR THIS:
this. at least, that's my reason. the health stuff is good too. but mostly it's just ^0 -
That's the whole point, Mommyrobot. If you eat adequately and have a small deficit of 500 or so calories, you CAN easily sustain such a diet instead of caving in or quitting (ie willpower).
If you don't eat enough for your body to function over a long period of time, your body sends out hormones to signal that all systems are to focus on food. Thus you begin to crave sweets and carbs and such cravings are impossible to resist. And predictably, everyone in this state will eat. Usually the instant fixes, because that is what your body needs immediately (quick energy).
Food is not the enemy, it is fuel for your motor.0 -
A better question - what is the point of losing weight if you're not going to be healthy?
Great answer0 -
This is by far the silliest question on the face of this earth... there's no hope for some people.0
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*blink* *blink* *blink*
Someone pinch me...I must be dreaming. Is this question for real????
Kinda like: What's the point of breathing?0 -
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The reality is that you don't have to exercise - It is after all about the food, the calories you consume.
You are perfectly welcome to make your weight loss a long, drawn out, excruciatingly slow process that results in sagging body parts and flabby, hanging skin. Totally your choice.0 -
I'm working on improving my health overall.
I find it very difficult to stay within my recommended calories consistently without having the exercise calories to add back in. I'll do well for a few days and then have a cheat day because I want to participate in a dinner party or something. I find that using the exercise I can compensate for almost everything.0
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