Exercise! Love it or hate it, let's motivate each other to just DO IT!

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Old 07-16-2004, 12:03 AM   #1  
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Default Is a lot too much?

Hello everyone! I got a good question for you. I have been watching what I eat and exercise much. I have read over and over that you should lose one pound per week, but I am not shedding any. I now just found out a possible reason as to why and it is actually frightening *shivers* I read that if I attempt to burn more than what is necessary of calories per day I would be losing lean body mass, have a slower metabolism, and increase my body fat. So I truly wonder...is doing all of this fun exercising really that bad?! *confused*
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Old 07-16-2004, 05:50 AM   #2  
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Blueberry -- if your exercising and not losing any scale weight, it's not because you're burning off muscle and retaining fat -- don't worry! Exercise, especially weightlifting/strength training, will do exactly the opposite for you -- allow you to drop fat while preserving muscle and lean mass.

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I read that if I attempt to burn more than what is necessary of calories per day I would be losing lean body mass, have a slower metabolism, and increase my body fat.
I'm puzzled by this because it's the only way to lose fat. You have to burn more calories off than what you use in a day in order to create a calorie deficit. I'm curious where you read that statement?

Perhaps if you post some particulars about what you're doing, we can see what's going on. Do you track the calories that you eat -- like in Fitday? What are you aiming for per day? What kind of exercise are you doing and for how long?
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Old 07-16-2004, 09:53 AM   #3  
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Meg!!! Thanks so much for fielding this one lol, you always beat me here in the morning I'm not a particularly early riser. But I agree with you about the calorie defecit the only way she could have one is if she is burning more than she is taking in.

BTW Meg, I love your avatar picture, its so inspiring to me!!

Blueberry, you should be noticing some NON scale victories, such as looser clothing or inches lost too which don't show on the scale number Good job with the exercise!!

Michelle
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Old 07-16-2004, 09:55 AM   #4  
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True true--if I am weight-training along with my cardio then there shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for pointing that out

But yes what I read is confusing. Maybe I read it wrong. Let me post the entire convo. *rummages online...* Here it is:

The formula to lose one pound per week is simple: burn 500 calories more than you consume each day...The best way to burn this extra 500 calories is through a combination of diet and exercise. Eating 250 calories less than your TCB and doing an additional 250 calories worth of exercise will result in a difference of 500 calories each day. This will ensure that the weight you lose is fat and will keep your metabolism from shutting down. You can use our powerful calculators to figure out how many calories you are consuming each day and how many you burning through exercise. Attempting to burn more than 500 calories per day may result in the loss of lean body mass, a slower metabolism, and an increase in body fat.

I found it at a site that measures you. It is a cool site But it turned me right off to counting calories. I definitely can't calculate calories throughout the day and make sure I am in a limit and then exercise only a certain amount of calories. Then having a healthy lifestyle will become more like a chore





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Perhaps if you post some particulars about what you're doing, we can see what's going on. Do you track the calories that you eat -- like in Fitday? What are you aiming for per day? What kind of exercise are you doing and for how long?
I try to keep track of my calories, but not with a calculator or anything like that. In fact, sometimes I feel I don't take in enough because I get so strict on myself. One day, I ate nothing but eggs, salad and fruit. So now I have been focusing on having good meals. Now that I read about BFL, I know better as to what to eat. I try to keep the portion small and try to eat numerous times throughout the day. Note how I said I try

What is Fitday?

Every day I aim to eat just healthy and do any sort of movement.
I do almost everyday Nordictrack for 35 (300 calories) and then I jump into my pool. It feels good after sweating
I then do a little weight-training on other days. I say little because I had that fear of fat turning to muscle--remember Now I will definitely do my and with heavy weights thanks to your inspiration and knowledge.
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Old 07-16-2004, 10:18 AM   #5  
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ok I don't like that article for one reason and that reason being that the opening line says
Quote:
burn 500 calories more than you consume each day
I don't believe that is healthy in any respect. Your body need calories to function well!! You must also realize that "dieting" shouldn't just be about losing weight, it should be about getting healthy which encompasses a whole lot of variables!! When I started my new way of life I cut my calories from 2000 to 1200-1500 daily and then exercised on top of that, but I wasn't burning more calories than I took in. You are doing wonderful with your exercise!! I want to recommend that you speak with your doctor about a healthy eating plan so perhaps you can set up a well rounded eating and exercising plan. I see my doctor once a month for a weigh in and she helped me set up my plan, which is invaluable to me I only suggest this because I'm worried that you aren't consuming enough calories each day and then burning all of those and then some off.

By the way WELCOME TO 3FC!!!!
HTH
Michelle
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Old 07-16-2004, 10:19 AM   #6  
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Oh yeah Fitday will help you track your calories fat carbs etc... check it out at www.fitday.com wonderful tool I think
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Old 07-16-2004, 11:00 AM   #7  
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Michelle — a word about that article and its quote:
Quote:
ok I don't like that article for one reason and that reason being that the opening line says
Quote:
burn 500 calories more than you consume each day
I don't believe that is healthy in any respect. Your body need calories to function well!!
I don’t think it’s as unhealthy as you do — maybe we’re reading it differently. I think it’s just talking about creating a typical 500 calorie a day deficit in order to lose fat. That’s actually a pretty conservative recommendation. Most nutritionists and weight loss experts recommend a safe weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week — we’ve all read that, right?

Well, the deal with calories is that there’s 3500 calories in a pound. In order to lose a pound of stored fat, you have to create a 3500 calorie deficit in your body. That way your body has to turn to stored fat for it’s energy needs (unfortunately, there's no other way to get rid of the fat!) So … a 500 calorie deficit per day equals one pound of fat lost per week (7 x 500 = 3500). Safe and conservative. In order to lose two pounds of fat a week, you'd need to create a 1000 calorie deficit per day, totaling 7000 calories for the week. And so on. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with what the article recommends as far as calorie reduction.

When you say:
Quote:
When I started my new way of life I cut my calories from 2000 to 1200-1500 daily and then exercised on top of that, but I wasn't burning more calories than I took in.
Well, you might not realize it, but actually you ARE burning more calories than you’re taking in, since you’re losing weight. If you were taking in as many calories as you were using each day, your weight loss would stop dead. The 500-800 calories that you cut from your diet, combined with the calories you burn during exercise total up to the daily deficit that lets your body use up stored fat for energy.

The bottom line with calories is you have to use more than you take in if you want to lose fat.
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Old 07-16-2004, 11:18 AM   #8  
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Ahhhhhh!!!! it all becomes clear now!!! DUH!!!!!! I'm smacking myself in the forhead, I think I was reading it differently. I always forget too that we burn calories just living our normal daily lives lol. So I was reading the article as: Eat 1200 calories a day and exercise 1700 calories away each day, so I was thinking that we wouldnt have energy to do anything but exercise. Excuse my brain fog this morning!!! Thanks for clearing that up!! Did any of what I just said make sense or am I rambling again

Thanks Meg!!
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Old 07-16-2004, 11:23 AM   #9  
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Back to you, Blueberry!

Your exercise plan looks good to me and I don't think you're overexercising, so no worries there. In my opinion, it's very hard to overexercise unless you're finding yourself at the gym for more than two hours a day -- which most of us aren't! Adding in the weights will be a good thing and might help to kick your metabolism into high gear (you already had the sermon about the virutes of weight training over at LWL so I won't go into that again ).

If someone is exercising and not losing weight, the next place you have to look is at what and how much they're eating. Here's where something like Fitday is invaluable (and easy to use). I hear you that you don't like tracking calories but maybe try it for a few days just to see where you are? You may be surprised at how high or low your calories might be and need to make some adjustments. Too low of calories can stall your weight loss just as badly as too many calories by slowing down your metabolism -- ever hear about "starvation mode"? That's what they're talking about.

If the scale is still stuck in another week or so and you want to give us a few more particulars about your height and weight and calories you're eating, I'm sure you'll get some good ideas on how to tweak your diet.

Hope that helps!
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Old 07-16-2004, 11:40 AM   #10  
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Michelle -- you made total sense and I knew you just read it a little differently. Anyone who's doing as well as you are with their weight loss knows what's up with calories -- congratulations on your progress, chickie!
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Old 12-21-2005, 02:46 AM   #11  
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help me plzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
i am 5.4 and i weighed 163 lbs. in aug i joined an aerobics class n started a healthy food regimen. now after 4.5 months of regular xercise n occasional cheating i look half my original size but weigh 167 pounds??????????
am i ABNORMAL
farukh!
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Old 12-22-2005, 05:47 AM   #12  
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No - you're not abnormal - and how great is that, that you look so tiny! HOORAY to you!

You may have built muscle which is denser (so 1lb of muscle is smaller than 1lb of fat) and also burns calories, hence the looking small but weighing more!

I would give anything to look smaller and bugger the scales! Who cares what they say as long as your clothes are baggier and you look and feel better!

You're doing GREAT! Keep it up!
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