Okay.

Bare with me I'm learning! I want to be a personal trainer / registered dietitian when I get a coule years older!

Okay, it says I need 1800 calories a day to stay my size with no activity.

To lose a pound of fat a week you need -500 calories a day, so

whats the difference:

1300 a day, no exercise
1550 a day, burn 250 calories
1800 a day, burn 500 calories
2300 a day, burn 1000 calories.

They all end the day with -500 calories.

So can anyone answer the question in whats the best way to go?

it doesn't matter as long as the deficit is the amount that you need.

eg. you could eat 9500 cals and burn 10000 its still a 500 deficit, roughly 1lb of fat loss per week

Good stuff, Good stuff.

but, wouldn't you think making the body work more is better to an extent? maybe burning 500 a day and eating 1800 is better than eating 1300 and no exercise because the body gets some kind of stimulus therefor it can respond more better?

yes,

but keep it reasonable because if you over do it you will burn out.

~v

exercising helps mobalise fat stores, if you just use diet and 0 exercise, you will likely lose more muscle than if you weight trained

also there are ALOT of other health benefits to exercising, so its always good that you include it!

it doesn't matter as long as the deficit is the amount that you need.

eg. you could eat 9500 cals and burn 10000 its still a 500 deficit, roughly 1lb of fat loss per week

Sorry, but you are quite mistaken. It does matter, very much so actually.

If you eat so few calories, first of all, your body will be lacking a number of nutrients it needs to function properly. You will probably end up feeling run down, getting sick and not have any energy. So for health reasons alone, getting your defecit by not exercising and not eating is a very bad idea.

You should NEVER eat below your BMR on a regular basis. The reason you use exercise to burn the excess calories is because you need to "trick" your body into burning them. If you eat so few calories, your body will strip away your lean mass as fuel since it's not getting it from food. It will also slow down your metabolism, so you will end up burning less calories each day.

IMO, you should alyways rely on activity to burn excess calories. Assuming you can just eat like a bird and do nothing to burn them is going to end up hurting you in the end. You will slow your metabolism and risk losing more muscle than actual fat. You want to eat enough calories to at least support muscle maintanence and use exercise to burn the calories as opposed to your body relying on your lean muscle as a source of energy.

Okay.

Okay, it says I need 1800 calories a day to stay my size with no activity.

To lose a pound of fat a week you need -500 calories a day, so

whats the difference:

1300 a day, no exercise
1550 a day, burn 250 calories
1800 a day, burn 500 calories
2300 a day, burn 1000 calories.

They all end the day with -500 calories.

So can anyone answer the question in whats the best way to go?

The way to learn is to study and work out problems on your own. How else will you know the answers you get or even in ball park. Spend some time at these pages and learn out to use Google (http://www.google.com/).

A good place to find how many calories are burned in Activity is here (http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html)

A good place for BMR information is here (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/)


Then if you have questions after more study ask them. BTW: How would you burn 1000 calories?

The way to learn is to study and work out problems on your own. How else will you know the answers you get or even in ball park. Spend some time at these pages and learn out to use Google (http://www.google.com/).

A good place to find how many calories are burned in Activity is here (http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html)

A good place for BMR information is here (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/)


Then if you have questions after more study ask them. BTW: How would you burn 1000 calories?

:tucool:


And just as a side note, you could burn 1000 calories through cardio and/or weight training. I know I'm stating the obvious, but there are days where I lift, then do cardio right after and take a martial arts class at night. I'd say I come very close to 1000 calories burned on those kinds of days.

:tucool:And just as a side note, you could burn 1000 calories through cardio and/or weight training. I know I'm stating the obvious, but there are days where I lift, then do cardio right after and take a martial arts class at night. I'd say I come very close to 1000 calories burned on those kinds of days.

I am one of those that believes overtraining is possible and probable if we overextend ourselves. Man! you do a lot, good for you. But it is hard to expend 1000 calories in exercise. The site I gave above allows a fair honest look at things.

Totals: 629 calories in 1 hr 20 min
Male 21, 5' 6", 160 lb BMI=25.8 RMR=1,673
Weight Lifting - free weights or machine, vigorous
290 calories in 40 min
Jogging - general
339 calories in 40 min

You say to eat enough to maintaine muscle mass, so whats the formula for that? think I saw a thread about it but didn't see a formula, like muscle per pound burns so many calories, so first take your weight, minus BF%, then you have lean mass, now minus bones organs etc, anyone know basic formula for bones and organs? I assume it goes by height and frame, so I'm about 5"9 and medium frame, 175 pounds at 17% BF, so I'm about 140 pounds of lean mass. now all I need to know the formula to remove the bone and organs etc weight then multiply that by how much calories my muscles burn per day to really make my my personal formula for calorie intake.


So it seems eating 9500 calories and burning 10,000 is way to exessive, and eating 1300 and no exercise isnt good enough, maybe 1800 and 500 calories burned is a good rule of thumb?

But what would be a better guideline? 1800 a day for me or going with how much my muscles burn? this is such an interesting subject theres no way im not taking something like this in college

I am one of those that believes overtraining is possible and probable if we overextend ourselves. Man! you do a lot, good for you. But it is hard to expend 1000 calories in exercise. The site I gave above allows a fair honest look at things.

Totals: 629 calories in 1 hr 20 min
Male 21, 5' 6", 160 lb BMI=25.8 RMR=1,673
Weight Lifting - free weights or machine, vigorous
290 calories in 40 min
Jogging - general
339 calories in 40 min

Burning more than 1K calories in one day only with exercise is not so unusual. I use to run half marathon distance every Sunday. It takes me 1 h. 50 min to cover the 13 miles. Since, I'm around 147lbs. that puts me around 1300 calories burned only with jogging. I aim to be slightly above maintenance intake on those days, of course.

Sorry, but you are quite mistaken. It does matter, very much so actually.

If you eat so few calories, first of all, your body will be lacking a number of nutrients it needs to function properly. You will probably end up feeling run down, getting sick and not have any energy. So for health reasons alone, getting your defecit by not exercising and not eating is a very bad idea.

You should NEVER eat below your BMR on a regular basis. The reason you use exercise to burn the excess calories is because you need to "trick" your body into burning them. If you eat so few calories, your body will strip away your lean mass as fuel since it's not getting it from food. It will also slow down your metabolism, so you will end up burning less calories each day.

IMO, you should alyways rely on activity to burn excess calories. Assuming you can just eat like a bird and do nothing to burn them is going to end up hurting you in the end. You will slow your metabolism and risk losing more muscle than actual fat. You want to eat enough calories to at least support muscle maintanence and use exercise to burn the calories as opposed to your body relying on your lean muscle as a source of energy.


this is what i mean't and obviously did not comunicate quite correctly (my exaggerated example was in the opposite direction)
i would not reccommend eating too little and i agree on eating on or over your BMR to create your defecit.

EDIT: re read the original question, realising my original answer is far to vague, for which i am sorry.

~v