Can someone please explain this in the easiest terms for me? I have always read/heard that in order to lose weight, one must burn more than one eats.....now, I know all about basic calore needs, etc...so I am trying to wrap head around it ---does the burn more than you eat concept for weight loss mean: if I eat 2300 calories for the day, I need to burn more than that 2,300 cals to lose weight? I dont understand. Wouldnt that mean I'd be basically not leaving body with any calories? What would I use for energy?????
Or does it mean, if for eg. I need 2000 cals just to get out of bed, brush teeth and perform natural functions, but you end up eating 3000 calories, then I need to burn off the extra 700 that I ate in order to lose weight? Kinda lost here
I've always just worked out for at least 2 hours 3-4 days per week and seen good results, so I'm not quite sure what the burn more than you eat
Your body could end up using some Fat for energy too, but if you imagine, using an exercise bike on an empty stomach, you're still registering a burn of calories, even though you have had none.
Your body will use the nutrients you eat, but it's about conditioning yourself to burn as more as you use, bearign in mind if you are often walking about, and doing things like typing on a computer, cutting food etc etc, you're doing things that will increase Heart rate, and possibly metabolic calorie burn.
So you're burning calories all day, but itu doesn't mean you're going hungry does it, unless you don't adequately.
so let me get this straight -----if I consume 2,500 cals, I need to burn more than that 2,500 to lose weight? Exactly what kind of xercises burn 2,500 cals or more??? I already do 2 hrs at the gym, and that probably adds up to about 850 cals between aerobics and weights...when I'm done, I'm TIRED. I couldnt possibly go any more....would I need to add more exercises, or what?
I'm still a little confused.
Training, will increase Metabolic burn anyway, mostly after you've finished, so you burn calories more, but 2 hours is probably overkill.
Remember you burn calories doing stuff like cutting up food, walking up stairs, around the house, typing on a computer, as you are increasing Heart rate, and therefore increasing caloric burn potential, so you don't need to stress about doing a shed load of Gym stuff, to burn more than you consume, as that could cause muscle reductions, and lead to possible fat gains, which is not helpful.
What you could do is buy something that tracks calorie burn. I did hear of something called a Bodybugg, (not sure if that's spelt right), and possibly other devices might be out there, thst might as well.
It somehow clips onto trousers, or a belt, something like that, and attaches itself with some kind of strap, or sticky electrical patch, like the sticky patches they use in hospitals to monitor Heart activity. It's one of those methods, either sticky patch or Strap, so try looking up one of those on Google, and seeing if that helps at all, as that would give you an electronic display, telling you caloric burn on a daily basis.
Ok, I think its much clearer now. Thanks for explaining....as for the two hours, I'm not exhausted when I'm done, just tired, like I expect I should be after a workout...I workout for this length of time now because I am trying to reduce body fat so I that can begin to really focus on building muscles...
So I do about 50 - 60 minutes of some aerobic activity and then another 45 mins - 1 hour of weight training...sometimes I only do 30 mins, so I'd say I work out most days for 1hour and 30-45 minutes, not two hours. Is this ok BM? or still too much?
Your body burns calories (quite a lot, actually) just keeping itself alive, breathing, pumping blood, etc. This is called your basal metabolic rate, or BMR.
You can use the Harris-Bendict formulas to calculate your BMR:
Formula for Basal Metabolic Rate
BMR = 66 + (13.75 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) – (6.8 x age in yrs)
Female Formula for Basal Metabolic Rate
BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1.8 x height in cm) – (4.7 x age in Yrs)
Or you can use an online BMR calculator.
Once you to that, you can calculate your total daily energy expenditure by multiplying your BMR by
1.2 for little or no exercise
1.375 for light exercise (1 to 3 hrs per week)
1.55 for moderate exercise (4 to 5 hrs per week)
1.75 for heavy exercise (6 to 7 hrs per week)
1.9 for heavy exercise (more than 7 hrs per week)
Once you have your total daily energy expenditure, subtract 500 and that is number of calories you should eat per day to lose approximately 1 pound per week.
For example, the BMR of a 180 lb, 6 ft tall who is 30 years old would be approximately 1900 calories. If that person works out 4 hours per week, then their total daily energy expenditure would be
1900 x 1.55 = 2945 calories/day
Subtract 500 calories to lose approximately 1 pound per week:
2945 - 500 = 2445 calories/day
Also, to find out approximately how much exercise you need to lose weight based on how much you are eating, divide your calories per day by your BMR. Use the total daily expenditure multipliers above to find the one closest to your result. You should exercise slightly more than the result.
So, if you eat 2500 calories per day, and your BMR is 1900 calories, then:
2500/1900 = 1.32
1.375 for light exercise (1 to 3 hrs per week)
You would need to exercise more than 1 to 3 hours per week to lose weight.
Let me add a couple more things to this discussion:
(1) When trying to lose weight, all calories are not created equal.
If you consume 2300 calories a day, you are likely to lose more weight if a smaller fraction of those calories are due to fat and sugar.
(2) It is better to take in those 2300 calories in several small meals a day than in fewer large meals.
Fewer meals a day means you go longer between meals without eating. When your body goes a long time without eating, it will tend to try to protect itself from starvation by limiting use of its stored fat. In addition, more food eaten at one given time (as when eating few meals a day) means you are taking in more food than is needed for the immediate future, and your body stores the excess as fat. This problem is lessened if several small meals a day are eaten. And lastly, you are likely to be hungrier if you go a long time between meals, and are therefore more likely to overeat.
Disclaimer: I have not seen the primary science which supports the above claims, but I have seen the claims above made in books, and based on results from applying the above practices, I believe them.
