Exercise and Calories???

Morning all my lovely non-op friends I posted this to the main board, figuring there would be some answers. But, forgive my cynicism but they obviously didn't seem able to answer the questions. So I come back here, where I should have started. I have been having confusion over the relationship between exercise and calories. I am aware that exercise is integral to sustained weight loss and good health. I do know that the objective with exercise is to burn off more calories than you consume, and that it takes 3500 calories to gain a pound and that one pound of muscle burns 50 calories compared to one pound of fat burning 1 calorie. I understand all that. My confusion lies in how many calories we consume per day and how many of those we "burn off." I take in on the average of 950 - 1100 calories a day, 1100 on a good day. If I am exercising and burning off 450-500 calories, should I be upping my intake to 1600 calories?? I have been consuming around 800 - 1100 since starting my program. I'm comfortable with what I am eating, considering it repetitive but that works for me. I am not sure I'd be comfortable consuming more than that. Anybody else sharing the confusion? Donna - non-op 342/259/200

I was going to Bally's at one time, and had a personal trainer. I was on the treadmill, doing sit-ups, lifting weights, doing step exercises, pushing up and down with my legs, as well as sideways, etc. I didn't lose a damn pound, but I did lose inches. I wanted to lose both, so I realized something. The Bally's diet wasn't working for me. I have personally found that how I eat has more to do with how much weight I lose than how much I exercise. This is just my humble opinion. Denise Phares

Morning Denise I agree entirely that portion control is at the base of how much "weight" one loses. However, I am going for the entire package. If I have both the portions under control and get healthy in the process I have completed my journey in my head. I know what you are saying about exercising though. The first time I started my program I lost a ton of inches and ten measly pounds. Thankfully this time my head was in the right place and I realized it was all a package. Get some exercising in girl!!!! Donna

Hey Donna. There are some obnoxious calculations that will dictate how many calories one burns doing nothing but being alive; breathing and pumping blood through your body. It's all based on gender, height, weight, and activity level--and you can get this information from a nutritionist. But the facts remain the same, and you already have those down pat. Remember, though, excercise is cumulative; which means, over the course of a week, you may vary your caloric intake, and vary you calories burned during exercise, and at the end of the week, it all works itself out on your body---not necessarily on your scale. We all know the frustration of exercising faithfully for a whole week, and sticking to our eating plan, just to see the scale sit still or even go up a pound or two. When I say exercise is cumulative, I mean just do it! Day in, and day out; burn as many calories as you can. If you exercise more than 20 minutes at a time, from that point on, you are burning stored fat, not available carbohydrates. That's the trick that I have learned that has made my scale weights move to the left!! The first 15 to 20 minutes of exercise will burn the sugars and circulating carbohydrates as fast energy. After that, your body reverts to your stored fat---unless you're not taking in enough calories, then it begins to burn muscle---let me explain. Our bodies are regulated by some prehistoric need to save every little bit of fat it can for a period of starvation. In our society---we are in NO danger of starving, but our bodies don't give much of a rip about what century we're in; it's just doin' it's job. So, your job becomes overpowering, and outsmarting your own body's desire to save you! Our bodies need minimally 1000 calories a day to sustain basic homeostasis (life). After that, we start manipulating it with diet, and exercise. So remember that simple sugars, if not burned off daily, are turned to fat and stored (thank you homeostasis and happy-go-lucky-pancreas!!). So, if it is possible to decrease or avoid white foods like sugar, rice, potatoes, white bread, and things with white sugar in them, you get a leg up on your pancreas sending out insulin to deal with the large amounts of sugar--then the bodies automatic function to store that sugar as fat (for a rainy day when we can't get any food and to save us from starvation...). So bottom line is, limit sugar and white food, and corn, because they all send the pancreas into overdrive with the need to store those sugars as fat. After that, keep your calories at at least 1000 per day; preferably 1200 to 1500 was suggested by my doctor, since I exercise daily, and don't want to make my body start pulling of my muscles for energy while I exercise. I know many people who have done the Adkins or South Beach diets, and did not exercise for months--and lost weight. They allowed their bodies to benefit from the pancreas not storing sugars as fat. My partner has been doing Adkins since January of this year, and lost 124 pounds without exercise!!! Fair or not, that the reality of sugar and processed foods in our diet. The less, the better. I'm no Nazi---I'm all about eating what I want sometimes, but if 90% of your diet is on track, you can go off here and there and continue to lose weight. My nursing experience helps me to understand a lot of the metabolic homeostaisis, and pancreatic function, but you don't need all that babble and BS. We just have to know to keep our bodies from spiking high blood sugars with processed foods and sugar; so we can keep our pancreases from automatically trying to store fat. That's the basis of Adkins and South Beach--and all the other Sugar Busters-types of diets. Does this help any?? Jessica

Hey there Jessica YES it helped me a lot. I read it at least 4 times before responding. You've answered what I guess I knew from the beginning. It's a whole process that we are aiming for here. I am not an exercise nazi, so I really only go to the gym 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then one day on the weekend for cardio. If I aim for every day I merely fail at doing so and feel bad and beat myself silly. I tried to do it for the exercise challenge but only made it a few times on my "off" days. I have cut out all sugars and processed foods since I started my program. I wish sometimes I were brave enough to venture into unknown territory but I'm just not ready yet. I need to remain in control, hyper control it seems, until I reach a point where I feel I can slip a little and KNOW that I'll get right back on track. I just think that all the literature out there is both misleading and contradictory. There are those low-carb zealots who say even whole grains are bad. My head spins from reading everyones take on the subject. As all of us here on the non-ops board know, they key is portion control and exercise, the overall healthy product. I thank you Jessica for the intelligent response, it has helped me a great deal. Donna