Burning the Calories you Eat..?!?
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SkimpyMrsCarter
Posts: 105 Member
Hi guys, do you feel that the calories you eat can be equally burned off by the amount of calories you burn while exercising??
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Replies
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No. You burn way more calories just by living and going about your day than you do exercising (unless you run a marathon or something). That's why MFP sets you up to lose weight without exercise and when you do work out, you're expected to eat the calories back.16
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It doesn't work that way unfortunately. Also It would be very hard for me to burn 2100 calories in exercise every day (my current maintain), unless I were an athlete. Things come to mind like recovery issues; over training, injury, etc.2
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SkimpyMrsCarter wrote: »
I'm guessing RoxieDawn meant a whole day when she spoke of 2100 calories, not just one meal.
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You can burn off some calories sure but it's more efficient to just reduce your intake.2
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SkimpyMrsCarter wrote: »
Not one meal, but how do I wish.
This is a whole days calories I burn in 24 hours including my exercise. 0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »SkimpyMrsCarter wrote: »
I'm guessing RoxieDawn meant a whole day when she spoke of 2100 calories, not just one meal.
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When you burn calories through exercise is it the same as the calories you eat is what i am asking.0 -
SkimpyMrsCarter wrote: »
Not one meal, but how do I wish. This is a whole days calories I burn in 24 hours including my exercise.
Ok that's good0 -
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I traveled 11.8 miles on hike one-way. It took about 2,000-3,000 calories. I was eating chicken and gorp and a whole lot of water. And my companion wouldn't eat or drink anything! (Was kind altitude sickness) I convinced him to eat chicken and water, to fuel his assent toward the peak...but it wasn't easy.
You got to fuel that hike.3 -
Are you asking if, for example, 100 calories eaten = 100 calories burned through exercise? If so, then yes, calories are measuring same amount whether they're eaten or burned.4
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Chunkahlunkah wrote: »Are you asking if, for example, 100 calories eaten = 100 calories burned through exercise? If so, then yes, calories are measuring same amount whether they're eaten or burned.
Yes thats exactly what i am asking, thanks so much for your advice. Thanks☺2 -
SkimpyMrsCarter wrote: »
When you burn calories through exercise is it the same as the calories you eat is what i am asking.lynn_glenmont wrote: »SkimpyMrsCarter wrote: »
I'm guessing RoxieDawn meant a whole day when she spoke of 2100 calories, not just one meal.
Yes, they're the same in the sense that they represent the same amount of energy. Like if you deposit $20 in a checking account, or withdraw $20 at the ATM -- the dollars are the same. But in both cases, one is adding and one is subtracting, if that makes sense.
**Edited to fix the quotes that have gotten messed up in this thread.3 -
No problem!
Be aware, though, that tools which measure calories burned are notorious for inflating the number. So if you're on a treadmill or whatever at the gym and it says you burned 500 calories, you likely burned less than that (maybe even only half). So to be on the safe side, you don't usually want to take that number too literally.7 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »SkimpyMrsCarter wrote: »
When you burn calories through exercise is it the same as the calories you eat is what i am asking.lynn_glenmont wrote: »SkimpyMrsCarter wrote: »
I'm guessing RoxieDawn meant a whole day when she spoke of 2100 calories, not just one meal.
Yes, they're the same in the sense that they represent the same amount of energy. Like if you deposit $20 in a checking account, or withdraw $20 at the ATM -- the dollars are the same. But in both cases, one is adding and one is subtracting, if that makes sense.
**Edited to fix the quotes that have gotten messed up in this thread.
Ok Thanks so much☺0 -
Just to be clear, because this COULD be one of the common enough misconceptions I see on MFP, and nobody has addressed the possibility...
It is a very bad idea to plan to exercise away a calorie for each calorie that you eat or drink.
At the end of the day you WANT to eat more calories than you exercise away. This is because your body burns calories all day long and not only when you exercise.
As such, even when you eat at a deficit to lose weight, you still have to provide enough calories to your body to ensure normal functions and to ensure you're not having adverse effects from too great of a deficit.
The bare minimum net calories that you should consume is 1200 for a female and 1500 for a male.
While there do exist some exceptions to the "rule", if you're not some combination of shorter than average, older than average, less able to move around than average, or suffering from one of a few medical ailments... you're not one of the exceptions.
Therefore you would have to ensure that after you "burn" away a whole bunch of calories you still have at least 1200/1500 calories than you did NOT burn away (for most people it would be more than 1200/1500 calories that they do not burn away, but baby steps
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I am deliberately trying not to eat back exercise cals - I don't usually get much!
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I remember reading one study that showed if you took 2 groups one that reduced their calorie intake by 700 and another that ate the same but burned 700 calories by exercise. The second group lost more weight and kept it off for longer, either way you are creating a deficit but the exercise route will have additional advantages.2
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Pastaprincess1978 wrote: »I am deliberately trying not to eat back exercise cals - I don't usually get much!
Why? MFP is designed to give you a calorie target based on activity that doesn’t include exercise. If you do, you are meant to be eating those back, at least a portion, to keep your NET calories at the level suggested by MFP so that you lose at the desired rate.
Creating a larger deficit is not always advantageous, it can cause fatigue, loss of lean body mass, hair loss, brittle nails - and in general may not be sustainable. You may not be exercising much now and so that may not be a significant deficit but many people have a goal to increase their activity and exercise for overall fitness and fueling that activity is important.8 -
OP did you get the answer you were looking for with regards to calorie intake and calorie burn? I’m concerned that the original question suggests you may be confused about how the fundamental energy balance of calories in calories out (abbreviated CICO) works.
As others have said, and pardon if I’m being redundant now - you burn a total amount of calories each and every day from being alive, your general activity like moving around your house and workplace, and then purposeful exercise. All of those added together are called your TDEE or total daily energy expenditure. The amount of cals you burn from just being alive represents the biggest part of that equation, then the daily activity and for most people, the exercise burn is the smallest part.
To lose weight you need to have a calorie deficit from that TDEE, if you want to lose 1 lb/week that’s a 500 cal deficit. You don’t need to burn off the amount of food you take in through exercise - you just need to find a way, through either calorie reduction going in, or increased exercise burn - to have the equation of CO-CI = 500. MFP does most of the work for you on set up and figuring out how many calories you need. You just have to do the work to figure out what foods you want to eat, log them accurately, and then determine if you’re going to exercise and track that accordingly.
Hope that helps - good luck.3
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