This might be a dumb question...

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
This might be a dumb question...
9
Fri, 06-25-2004 - 1:30pm
but I'll ask anyway cuz I've been thinking too much today. Lets say you are burning 500 calories a day with exercise and your goal is to consume 1500 calories a day. So should you still eat just the 1500 or should you eat 2000 because you are burning 500? If you eat 1500 is your body more likely to hold onto the fat because you are really only getting 1000 calories?

BTW, these are hypothetical numbers not what I'm doing personally.

Amanda

285/239.5/150

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-13-2003
Fri, 06-25-2004 - 5:23pm
Don't increase your eating just to exercise; That just cancels out any weight loss benefit.

I'll give you an example: I used to justify eating entire boxes of Hamburger Helper, Pizza buffetts, and triple-cheeseburgers because I was "working out". Do you think I lost any weight? If anything, I gained 10 lbs. a month. To lose weight effectively, you must cut back eating AND exercise more.

Have a nice day,

Tony

323/283/220

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-26-2004
Sat, 06-26-2004 - 5:22pm
Good Question! I've been wondering the same thing, but never thought to ask anyone... I'll Google it + get back to u.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2003
Sat, 06-26-2004 - 8:04pm
It's not a dumb question.

Here's a good website that you can plug in your activity level/current weight to see how much you should eat.

http://www.dietitian.com/ibw/ibw.html

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Sat, 06-26-2004 - 9:34pm
Thanks for the web site. It helped clear up a few questions for me.

Hugs, Brenda

Hugs, Brenda 

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-19-2004
Sun, 06-27-2004 - 4:32am
Oh my God that site is AWESOME!!!!! I'll be spending a little time there !

Thanks for posting that reference!

Amy

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 06-27-2004 - 4:59pm
Thanks for posting that, it had a lot of great information!

But now I have another question... It says for me in order to lose 2 lbs a week I should be eating 2,600 calories a day. My Fitday profile says I should eat almost 2,400 calories a day. That just seems like an awful lot to me, I think I've been averaging around 1800-2100 a day thinking that is too much as well, but with the increased exercise I've been doing the past 2 months I'm hungry a lot. Should I really try to eat 2,400-2,600 calories a day?? It just seems wrong to me to be able to eat that much a lose weight, but I've been struggling lately with only losing about 2 lbs a month and have been thinking I need to try something different. Last month I somehow managed to lose 4, but I still feel like I'm working awfully hard for only 2 or 4 lbs.

Amanda

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2003
Sun, 06-27-2004 - 7:44pm
But there is something you have to understand. When you are heavier, you burn more calories a day because it takes more calories to move (which is why heavier people get exhausted quicker...they spend more energy to do things). If you eat too few calories, your body is going to conserve energy. As you lose weight, your calorie needs will decrease (keeping checkingn that site for adjusted calorie needs every 10 lbs or so). Ask your doctor/dietitian to be sure, but I was a dietitian and that does not seem all that unreasonable.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2004
Mon, 06-28-2004 - 12:53pm
I read somewhere recently that most of a person's calories are expended in just keeping body functions going (BMR) and exercise really counts for very little. We exercise for lots of reasons, not all of them to lose weight. Generally, the biggest reason is to stay healthy, for our hearts etc. So I don't really see where it would make a difference. If you want to exercise more to burn more calories for purposes of losing weight....that's good. And of course, hypothetically, it "could" allow you to eat more (since those calories would be burned off), but isn't that self-defeating if the "goal" (hypothetically) was to lose weight through exercise? One would cancel the other out.

hippolytes

Avatar for jess9802
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-02-2003
Tue, 06-29-2004 - 12:16am
Oh, phooey.

If you don't think exercise can dramatically affect the number of calories required to sustain the body, go to any of the BMR calculators on the web and run the figures. My BMR is approximately 1660 calories; but depending on my activity level, I should consume somewhere around 1900-2800 calories a day to maintain my weight. If I go 500 calories below that figure, then voila! I lose a pound a week. Exercise makes a HUGE difference, but it's most effective when combined with a sensible eating plan.

To 2littlefischers: If you eat 2400 calories and continue to exercise as you have been, you will maintain your weight. If you eat 1900 calories a day and maintain your current activity level, you will lose one pound a week. If you ate 1400 calories a day and maintained your current activity level, you could lose two pounds a week. Or, you could continue to eat 1900 calories a day and increase your activity level. Good luck!