Hey everyone,
This could either be a ridiculously stupid question or a genius one. My question to you is: what's the point of working out?
Haha let me explain! No, I am not downward-spiralling from a bad workout. Essentially, I calorie count and I spent my night reading articles discussing "eating back your calories" (I know we all have different opinions on this). I started to wonder about calories, weight loss in general, etc. This is what is bugging me:
Ultimately, if a person wants to eat 1500 calories a day only, vs. eat 2000 and burn 500 working out, why bother working out in general? The calorie amount is going to end up being the same if they just ate 1500 in the first place!
Now, I KNOW working out boosts your mood, helps fight disease, makes you happy mentally/emotionally/physically, but when it comes to weight loss, why does it matter? Jillian Michaels always talks about burning calories, but if you only ate 1200, you couldn't really "burn" anymore, as you'd be possibly entering dangerous levels, depending on your size. With me, for example, I eat more calories on days I work out because otherwise, my calorie intake would only be 900. If I just didn't work out, I wouldn't have this particular problem!
We all have things we struggle to get our head around and this is mine for the night. I love working out for a variety of reasons, but can't understand, in layman's terms, why it's essential for weight loss. Wouldn't watching calories for a specific deficit be all the burn you need, mathematically speaking? Do we work out for other health benefits, and not for weight loss if we're already eating healthy?!
Thoughts?