Working Out And Calories...how Does This Work?

[his2my2our4 120]

I'm hoping someone can shed a little light on this for me. I average between 800-1000 cals a day. I've been cleared to resume zumba (YAY!) and when I entered it into MFP it said that I burned 800 and something cals. How does that work if I'm only eating that many calories anyway? I wouldn't eat more calories....that would seem to be a waste. But, if I don't will I be in a negative?

Someone with a little workout knowledge please help me out! lol

Kristin

[Rootman 1,101]

Yes, excesizing off the calories you eat will burn more fat and casue you to lose weight faster. There is no danger in doing this as long as you have plenty of fat to burn. If you keep it up and dip past a proper weight then THAT starts getting potentially dangerous.

I would continue to do as you are doing. As you heal and approach 6 moths or more your appitite will pick up and you will generally eat more.and the issue will not longer be relevent. If you've already past that point then just watch your weight and adjust your caloric intake upwards if necessary to maintin a health weight.

[circa 333]

You're not in danger - you have excess stores that the zumba will burn - that's the plus size and the ultimate goal of the sleeve - to burn more calories than you take in. That's how we lose weight.

[his2my2our4 120]

Thank you!!!

[andersonlj 32]

I believe that your body has to burn 2000 calories more than your body is taking in order for you to lose 1 pound of weight on the scale. When I did my liquid fast diet for 8 months they had a table that would tell you how many calories you body would burn each day depending on your weight. Then you would add how many calories you took in and subtracted how many calories you burned by exercise. This would give you and idea as to how much weight you should lose by weighing on the scale. I will see if I can get this info again and post it.

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

I keep hearing about ZUMBA - is that some kind of extensive, super hard exercise? Thanks for explaining.

kathy

[PdxMan 4,292]

3,500 calories = 1 pound. Injest 3,500 more calories than you burn, you gain a pound. Burn 3,500 calories more than you injest, you lose a pound.

Now, the real trick is to not lose muscle mass. From my research, in a nutshell and severly paraphrased, this is how it works:

Your liver burns glycogen for energy. As you eat, nutrients are stored there first. If there is an excess, it gets stored in your body as fat. If your liver requires more glycogen and it has no stores, it retrieves fat from the body for which it then converts to glycogen and then is burned. But this takes time, something like half an hour or so. It is in this period that you run the risk of muscle being consummed. So, there is a fine balance of carb and Protein intake. Burning 800 calories in a single session may not be the most beneficial thing for you as your body will canabalize itself, even though it has fat reserves. Shorter workouts with breaks inbetween are suggested and ALWAYS follow a workout with Protein, whether that be a shake (quick absorption) or lean meats.

Talk to your NUT about this. If you are at a health club, talk to a trainer who KNOWS about nutrition and working out. Don't take my word for it as I am not an expert, but I have been researching this for my own program. I have lost a lot of muscle in the past 6 months and believe I have been able to reverse that. I workout pretty much everyday and monitor what I eat (carb/protein balance) closely. I carb up a couple days before I do my weekend long run to ensure my glycogen stores are full.

Research this some more and find what truly is best for you.

Lika, the best way to describe Zumba is to show you. Go to YouTube and enter Zumba in the search terms.

[andersonlj 32]

I stand corrected...........to get a 1 pound loss you have to burn an excess 3500 calories