EXERCISE AND WEIGHT LOSS

Kasey_Ford

Ok, I'm seeing a lot of different opinions here about diet and exercise. I work mostly sedentary; so, I don't really see a lot of action throughout the day. I'm really struggling with my diet plan, but I'm hearing two sides: One, if I exercise moderately, I can indulge more because I'm burning those calories. or Two: Diet counts for 90% of weight loss and I can run a marathon and not lose an ounce. HELP!!!! I'm meeting with a dietician 2x a month for the mental issues, but no workouts incorporated yet. Is it going to help, or am I just fighting in vain. Only my diet is going to trim my pant sizes down????

jemhh

Weight loss comes down to eating fewer calories than you burn. Doing that creates what is called a "caloric deficit." You can achieve a caloric deficit either by eating less or by being more active or doing a combo of the two. In general, it is easier to cut 500 calories from your daily intake of food than it is to burn an extra 500 calories. That's why people say that diet counts for more when it comes to weight loss. Yes, you can definitely lose weight just by changing your diet. Then when you get to the point where you want to add exercise, you can eat the calories you burn doing that while keeping the caloric deficit that you built into your diet or you can not eat those extra exercise calories and your caloric deficit will be even larger.

Pandora_and_her_box

I think everyone is different, but personally I find exercise has very little effect on my weight loss, but a big impact on my outlook and motivation. I've run a few half marathons before and the only time I could add 200-300 calories more to my diet was on my Sunday long run, and I mean running 11 or 12 miles (and most of that was wasted on Lucazade!)

Working out will definitely help though, you'll tone up and feel wonderful for it.

jemhh

I wanted to add that training for an running a marathon is not a time when people should be trying to lose weight. I know that you were using that as an example but that kind of thing is brought up from time to time so I wanted to address it. A marathon is a major event and when you are training for it, you need to be fueling your runs and any other type of work you're doing for it. It's not the time to be cutting calories. IMO weight loss and trying to run 26 miles are completely opposing goals.

punkrockgoth

Exercise is going to help your weight loss in different ways than your diet. It will help you feel more energized, less depressed and help build/maintain muscle which will help with your metabolism. It works together with your diet and as long as you continue eating less than you burn, your weight loss will continue.

cwolfman13

Kasey_Ford wrote: »

Ok, I'm seeing a lot of different opinions here about diet and exercise. I work mostly sedentary; so, I don't really see a lot of action throughout the day. I'm really struggling with my diet plan, but I'm hearing two sides: One, if I exercise moderately, I can indulge more because I'm burning those calories. or Two: Diet counts for 90% of weight loss and I can run a marathon and not lose an ounce. HELP!!!! I'm meeting with a dietician 2x a month for the mental issues, but no workouts incorporated yet. Is it going to help, or am I just fighting in vain. Only my diet is going to trim my pant sizes down????

think of it this way...your body is a machine...as with any machine, energy is required for operation...the more the machine is moving and working, the more energy is required...so yes, the more you are moving, the more energy (calories) you require and thus you can eat more and achieve the same goals. As for the marathon point though...that's just to say you can't outrun your diet...meaning you can still do all the exercise you want and gain weight...so you see, it's still about your diet.

let's look at actual numbers...

let's say that without any exercise, I maintain on 2500 calories per day. This means that to lose 1 Lb per week without exercise I could eat 2,000 calories...a 500 calorie per day (3,500 calorie per week) deficit. Now let's say I start exercising and I burn 300 calories per day...at this point, I could eat 2,300 calories per day and still lose that same 1 Lb per week because now my maintenance number would include additional exercise activity of 300 calories...so my new maintenance would be 2,800 calories and 2,800 - 500 (deficit) = 2,300 calories.

A lot of people mistakenly think they can train for a marathon or triathlon or whatever...and because they're doing so much exercise, they can just eat whatever and will lose weight...they might and they might not...it depends on if their consumption is commensurate with their weight management goals. If you train for a marathon but you still eat to a maintenance level of calories, you are going to maintain...if you train for a triathlon and eat a surplus of energy (calories) you are going to gain weight.

It's simply a math equation...that's it.

Kasey_Ford

I appreciate the help. It makes more sense broken down that way. I have really been trying to be true to myself and log everything I'm eating, and stick to the "calendar" for how I'm supposed to eat throughout the day. My weight bounced from a 5lb loss to a 3lb gain. It's discouraging, but I can tell what I have done for the positive and negative results. That means I can more easily determine how to fight the cravings, and what stimulates them in the first place. I am not a runner or exerciser for sure. Just knowing that any additional calorie deficit will help does mean a lot.