Exercising without a completely healthy diet?

rachellelfisher

Can you lose weight by exercising 5-6 days a week (cardio and strength) with a moderately healthy diet? Like eating healthier but not really following any plan and still eating what you want without counting calories

gothchiq

If you don't want to count calories you can try the My Plate method. Learned that from my doctor. She said it works like this: Half your plate is nonstarchy vegetables, 1/4 is meat or protein, 1/4 is starch like potatoes/pasta/rice.

Mycophilia

You can. But only if what you're doing is resulting in a caloric deficit. Without actually counting your calories, there's no way to be certain.

rachellelfisher

So is it possible to count calories but try to stay around 1500 for example but still allowing myself to eat what I want in moderation?

SergeantSausage

Prepare for frustration.

Without accurately recording, you never really know how much, do you?

psuLemon

You can but at some point you might plateau. What i would suggest is log for a few weeks to get an estimate and then transition away. I would also focus on lean proteins, fish, fruits and veggies...

yirara

What is your gender, size and weight? We don't know if you would lose on 1500. If you are very petite you might not. I know I'd still lose on that amount - but only if I use a foodscale and weigh everything.

CloudyMao

moderately healthy?
As long as you are feeding yourself enough protein & energy for your workouts there shouldn't be an issue, you'll have to figure this out yourself based on your energy levels if you're eating enough.

If you do start to plateau you'll probably have to switch to counting calories.

If your only goal is weight loss then all your need is a calorie deficit, work out your TDEE and remove 500-1000 calories from it to create a deficit. (500 = 1lb p/w | 1000 = 2lb p/w)

If eating whatever you want in moderation (to fit within your calorie goals) is going to be easiest for you, then there is 0 problems with that.

haildodger

It's like moving forward... in reverse. Slow, pointless, and frustrating.

LAWoman72

The problem with a "healthy" diet, at least as regards weight loss, is that one can go plenty over on healthy calories (this beside the fact that everyone's ideas of healthy food is different).

I have never been able to lose weight on exercising but not restricting calories. Just my experience, FWIW.

rachellelfisher

I'm a female, 18 years old, and about 145 pounds!

SLLRunner

rachellelfisher wrote: »

Can you lose weight by exercising 5-6 days a week (cardio and strength) with a moderately healthy diet? Like eating healthier but not really following any plan and still eating what you want without counting calories

Healthy is in the perception.

You must eat less than you burn to lose weight. The method you use to get there is individual.

Kalikel

Yes, of course you can lose weight without counting calories. It's the Eating Less that drops the weight, not the actual counting. If you eat little enough, you'll lose, exercise or no exercise.

Many people find the counting helps, though!

TimothyFish

Basically, no. People who exercise and eat whatever they want tend to maintain their weight rather than lose weight.

Liftng4Lis

If what you're doing results in a deficit, then yes you will lose....cuz science.

psuLemon

TimothyFish wrote: »

Basically, no. People who exercise and eat whatever they want tend to maintain their weight rather than lose weight.

I would say that is entirely true. Many people who just begin to watch their intake (not logging and aiming to get more whole foods, fruits and veggies) and start training, frequently lose weight. In fact, there are a ton of people, to include myself, who lost weight before coming to MFP. The bigger issue is when you are lean already or barely overweight. It's easier to lose weight when you have a lot of weight to lose, so it's easier to create a deficit. But when you are lean, you don't have much room for error. And honestly, if you are going to put in the effort of training hard, I would recommend logging so you aren't spinning your wheels for three months, when you don't get the results you expect.

ana3067

I eat any food I want as long as it fits my calorie and macro goals. I've recently realized that carb timing on workout days is important as well (eating a bunch of carbs beforehand for energy), but otherwise I prefer keeping carbs to the evening so I can minimize hunger during the day. I do not look at individual foods as being healthy or not healthy. Individual foods have better macro breakdowns for my goals, or better micros, or generally more nutritious, but all food serves a purpose. I eat whatever food serves my current needs and desires.

Track your caloric intake if you really want to lean out. When I first lost weight I did it withut tracking, but I only did it by "eating clean." When I'd introduce higher calorie items again I'd gain weight. Eating that way ensured I was eating low calorie without meaning to. I was unable to get down to my desired leanness though, but I did get down to 140ish lbs. Still pretty squishy though.

999tigger

For weight loss purely then you cna eat whatever you like as long as you are at a deficit.
If you arent counting then you are guessing, so it depends if you eat at a deficit or not and not what you eat.

Exercise helps burn calories, but then you cant out exercise a bad diet, so it will depend whether you are doing enough exercise for it to have an effect against the amount you are eating, which you have no idea. Unless you do a lot of exercise then its hard to brun significant calories.

Healthy diet is for other things like health....

AllOutof_Bubblegum

HaiLDodger wrote: »

It's like moving forward... in reverse. Slow, pointless, and frustrating.

I tend to agree with this.

You can work your butt off, but in my experience, it is simply a MUCH easier route to make reasonable choices in your diet than it is to work off silly choices. For example, it's very easy to snarf down a McDonald's McFlurry and forget about it, but to work it off, you'd need a solid hour or more (probably more) to burn off the calories in it.

And that's just ONE treat in your day. Forget the added sugar to you coffee, the extra helping of fried potatoes at dinner, or those two beers at the end of your day. It adds up and snowballs so head-spinningly fast, it's just smarter and easier to watch what you eat, in addition to reasonable exercise.

kenmiller75

You can lose weight without counting calories but you can also heat your home in the winter with the doors and windows open but I wouldn't recommend that!

You have to control portion sizes and make healthy choices. Its a good idea to know the calorie content of the food you're eating. 8 oz. of carrots has considerably fewer calories than 8 oz. of chicken or 8 oz. of pistachios. I Googled food portion sizes and here's what I found.

Whole grains (6-11 servings daily)
Brown rice, barley, quinoa - 1/2 - 1 cup, size of the 8 ball in pool to the size of your fist.
Bread - 1 oz., 1 small slice, 1/2 bagel, 1/2 bun, size of index card.
Cereal - 1/2 cup, 8 ball

Fruits & Veggies (5-9 servings daily)
Fruits - Raw, 1/2 cup, 8 ball
- Dried, 1/4 cup, size of an egg

Veggies - Raw, 1 cup, fist
- Cooked, 1/2 cup, 8 ball

Proteins (2-3 Servings daily)
Meat - 3 oz. portion or the size of a deck of cards.
Beans - 1/2 cup, 8 ball
Dried Nuts, Nut butters - 2 tablespoons, size of a ping pong ball

Dairy (2-3 servings daily)
Cheese - 1 oz., size of a pair of dice
Milk - 8 oz., size of a baseball

Its also important to make sure your getting enough calories in the day so your body doesn't go into starvation mode and prevent you from losing weight.