What's the point of exercising?

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  • GiGi76
    GiGi76 Posts: 876 Member
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    http://www.guzer.com/pictures/europe_vs_usa.jpg

    So true!!! And so SAD!!!!
  • RooChilders
    RooChilders Posts: 44 Member
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    It depends on who you are about eating the calories back. I rarely eat the calories back. I lose about an average of 3-5lbs every two weeks. I know exercising can be difficult to fit into your schedule but the point is to be healthy. Its worth it if you care about your over all health. My whole life I have been told how skinny I am but the truth is I wasn't on the inside. My body was almost half fat. I wasn't in any kind of healthy shape at all. You started your weight loss for a reason. Do you need to remind yourself why???
  • pandafoo
    pandafoo Posts: 367 Member
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    i agree with everyone's comments about the value of exercise even if you're going to eat back your calories.

    eating back some or most or your exercise calories is definitely important if you want to prevent muscle loss. sure, you may lose weight faster with a much greater deficit, but your body is more likely to burn calories from muscle rather than fat in that situation. i can speak from personal experience - of the 5 lbs that i lost last month, all of it was muscle loss, and my body fat percentage actually went up as a result. according to my trainer, a huge reason that happened is because i didn't eat back enough exercise calories (my avg calorie deficit was 800 every day). the other half was because i wasn't strength training enough.

    if you're willing to risk losing muscle by not eating back some exercise calories, for the sake of slimming down faster, that's your decision. but for myself, i don't think it's worth it at all.
  • 3LittleMonkeys
    3LittleMonkeys Posts: 373 Member
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    I agree with you not eating them back...I don't excercise just to eat..I excercise to tone and lose weight

    Oh Gawd. That's the freaking "T" word. :explode:

    :wink: :laugh: :happy: Read my thread on how I hate that word.
  • MommyRobot
    MommyRobot Posts: 268 Member
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    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.

    I never quit or caved before because I didn't have enough food. I quit because I was" too busy", "eating healthy was too expensive", or any other number of excuses in the book. It wasn't because I was hungry and couldn't live with the diet...It's because I was lazy and wasn't ready mentally to change my life.

    I don't think food is the enemy at all- I lovvvvvve me some food. ;) But I'm full and happy with my 1200 calories, and I'm not going to eat if I'm not hungry just because one theory says it'll help me lose weight. But, if I am hungry I will eat. I won't starve myself just because I've had 1200 calories already.

    Honestly, I thrilled for you that eating back your exercise calories is working for you. Not eating them back is working for me. I'm losing at a good rate, and I'm healthy doing it. I'm not saying that your theory is wrong, obviously it is working for you, and a lot of people. :)
  • 3LittleMonkeys
    3LittleMonkeys Posts: 373 Member
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    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.)

    Give your kitty a hug for me. {{{hugs}}}:heart:
  • 3LittleMonkeys
    3LittleMonkeys Posts: 373 Member
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    TO AVOID THIS:
    Osteoporosis-kyphosis_progression.jpg

    Well the 40 year old looks kind of like me. Except I have bigger boobs. :laugh:
  • Aylilth
    Aylilth Posts: 125
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    Whats the point??

    So when I'm talking to other mum's at my son's school and mention about my upcoming 4k run I'm doing they look at me and go really!! Then I can hear it in their heads she's fat how can she run that far.......... I even had one mum who is a toothpick say she couldn't run around the block let alone 4k.

    Then there's also the gym being one of those ppl on the treadmill running along at my own pace ( slow) have the girl beside me look at me think well shes running I can run too crank her treadmill up to run and not last for even 5 mins. Stops and starts walking again only to keep staring at me with that same thought look at the fat chick run.

    The point is simply to be healthy. As far as eating back mine well some days yes and some no. I listen to my body if i am hungry I will.
  • 12by311
    12by311 Posts: 1,716 Member
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    Honestly, I thrilled for you that eating back your exercise calories is working for you. Not eating them back is working for me. I'm losing at a good rate, and I'm healthy doing it. I'm not saying that your theory is wrong, obviously it is working for you, and a lot of people. :)

    I notice you have quite a bit of weight to lose. Eating your exercise calories back right now probably isn't a big deal at all (besides maybe slowing your metabolism a bit). You will lose at a steady pace. However, when you get close to goal weight, it WILL be more difficult to get to that healthy weight. You may change your tune.

    Also.....just to restate what someone else said....You are not building muscle at a calorie deficit. It.just.can't.happen.
  • MissyBC
    MissyBC Posts: 10
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    to be healthy and get in shape
  • corpus_validum
    corpus_validum Posts: 292 Member
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    Oh to be young and foolish again...

    Or it's a really effective troll post by the OP
  • chiremba
    chiremba Posts: 30 Member
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    What's the point of exercising if I have to eat back the calories that I burned?

    This is a common theme and I am curious about were it come from and the logic behind it . Why would you have to eat back the calories you have burnt. makes no sense to me. if you are overweight your have a lot of stored energy ( fat ) to burn. You got overweight by suppling your body with more energy than you needed plain and simple. I have no medical problems I am obese because I just get too much and do too little.
  • nsueflorence
    nsueflorence Posts: 295 Member
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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.


    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.....

    NICE
  • dfong27
    dfong27 Posts: 2
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    I suppose to increase your muscle's mitochondria so the next time you eat the same amount your muscles will burn twice as much? But then my problem is the more I exercise, I feel like I need to eat more and I usually do so that is something I need some control on. May be best to work out in the mornings so even if you do eat alot at least it's early in the morning instead of sleeping on it at night.
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    What's the point of exercising if I have to eat back the calories that I burned?

    This is a common theme and I am curious about were it come from and the logic behind it . Why would you have to eat back the calories you have burnt. makes no sense to me. if you are overweight your have a lot of stored energy ( fat ) to burn. You got overweight by suppling your body with more energy than you needed plain and simple. I have no medical problems I am obese because I just get too much and do too little.

    MFP creates a built in calorie deficit based on your chosen loss per week goal, regardless of exercise. If you do not replace the calories added for exercise, you make that deficit larger than you (presumably) intended, which is usually unhealthy and unsustainable. This website (unlike many other plans) is designed for you to eat them, because it allows for weight loss whether you exercise or not.
  • Jess21684
    Jess21684 Posts: 202 Member
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    whats the point?!?! TO FEEL GOOD :D to look SEXY and toned. to loses inches and completely re-shape your body. if you just diet and not workout, your not going to look nearly as toned as if you were to workout. The biggest way to change your body is thru excercise and strength training. you will also burn more calories at rest if your doing strength training! plus of course to keep excercise that heart of yours and keep you living a long-healthy life! if you dont like the idea of eating every single calorie of your workout, just stick with eating at least some of em. I usually only eat maybe at least half of them, as well as a lot of other people i notice.
  • chicnsweet83
    chicnsweet83 Posts: 97
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    Take for example, some skinny guy with a high metabolism...he can eat what he wants but never exercises. then when he takes a physical he fails it completely. Why? because he's not "fit". It's barely muscle, it's enough to keep him going through out the day. Exercising keeps you toned and helps you manage your weight better.

    Or you could take this example...a lean woman that at least watches what she eats. But when it comes time for summer and she puts on that bikini, her butt sags, her boobs aren't very perky and her legs might look like a lean chicken wing. ......but yet she imagines herself with a sexy, toned body that looks awesome in a bikini. If she exercised alongside her healthy eating than she could be that hot chick down by the beach.

    heh...There's more to exercising than just looking good. Exercising gets your blood flowing and boosts your immune system. You don't see many fit people getting sick often.
  • Jess21684
    Jess21684 Posts: 202 Member
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    lol that shouldieatmyexcercisecaloriesornot.com is funny! I act just went to it lol :D
  • Jess21684
    Jess21684 Posts: 202 Member
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    who wouldnt want to try to be active? it is healthy for you, will keep you younger longer, good for your heart and body and it makes you feel empowered and so accomplished there are so many pros to working out... my friends always say im the "athlete" of the group and that makes me feel so good. for me, knowing how fit, empowered & strong im becoming and being able to say that Im an active person is worth everything ;)
  • Finallyhappy03
    Finallyhappy03 Posts: 11 Member
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    To have a healthy heart and from a vanity perspective to reduce cellulite. It's worked for me ....27 pounds lost and the dimples I used to have on my thights and rear are less and less visible with every pound I lose. I know it's because of all the Turbo Fire, step aerobics and total body conditioning - just watching my food intake would never get me the results I'm experiencing. I know because I've been down this weight loss road several times before. Thanks to MFP I finally feel like this lifestyle is forever!

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