Eat/exercise less, eat/exercise more, or both?

tomatoey

I thought some stuff in these blog posts was interesting, curious to see what MFP thinks

http://www.metaboliceffect.com/how-to-lose-stubborn-fat-belly-butt-hips-thighs/

http://www.metaboliceffect.com/female-belly-fat/

tomatoey

I realize the author ultimately wants you to buy his book, but just try to ignore that part for a bit.

The idea is that eating less and moving more might trigger a compensatory effect (overeating --> regaining --> worse body composition). He's saying it's worth cycling through periods of eating less and exercising less, and eating more and exercising more, to get around this compensation.

Machka9

For years, decades, I maintained my weight by exercising lots and eating lots. But my exercise burned what I ate to the point where there were times I struggled to keep from slipping into the "underweight" range.

Then my exercise level dropped, and I reduced the amount I ate to compensate, but slowly my weight went up.

Eventually it hit a point where I needed to actively focus on losing some so I just cut back on my eating. I wasn't exercising much at all then ... it was winter so I wasn't getting out much. Just cutting back on eating helped me lose the weight I wanted.

Gradually over the next 4 years I gained again, and this time I'm doing a combination of exercising more and eating less which has worked remarkably well so far.

I expect I will gain again, and don't care. I know that when I reach a certain point, I'll just exercise more and eat less and the weight will come off again.

But I will say this, exercising more does seem to help me keep the weight off for longer. I have a fairly big appetite and don't like to limit my intake much. So exercising lots helps compensate for that.

azulvioleta6

tomatoey wrote: »

I realize the author ultimately wants you to buy his book, but just try to ignore that part for a bit.

The idea is that eating less and moving more might trigger a compensatory effect (overeating --> regaining --> worse body composition). He's saying it's worth cycling through periods of eating less and exercising less, and eating more and exercising more, to get around this compensation.

I would guess that a lot of us do this without even meaning to, as conditions change from time to time in our lives.

tomatoey

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

tomatoey wrote: »

I realize the author ultimately wants you to buy his book, but just try to ignore that part for a bit.

The idea is that eating less and moving more might trigger a compensatory effect (overeating --> regaining --> worse body composition). He's saying it's worth cycling through periods of eating less and exercising less, and eating more and exercising more, to get around this compensation.

I would guess that a lot of us do this without even meaning to, as conditions change from time to time in our lives.

I'm sure you're right, actually.

What I thought was neat here was how he addressed the influence of hormones (e.g. cortisol). He thinks stress is a major contributor to central body fat distribution. To keep stress minimal, he suggests making a conservative calorie deficit and avoiding extreme dieting, and emphasizing sleep, among other things.

He thinks women (for a variety of hormonal reasons) would do better to eat less and exercise less (ELEL): "The stress that causes female belly fat leads to a unique hormonal situation where testosterone and cortisol are high while estrogen is low. ELEL may be the best approach to use for female belly fat since it is focused on relaxation and recovery"

and/or timing our approach with our cycles:

"Consider using the ELEL approach in lower estrogen states (i.e. the luteal phase of menstrual cycle which is two weeks after ovulation and before menses). See this article on female phase training for more details. The only adjustment to make to the protocol is to make the luteal phase more relaxing type activity."

Exercising "less" is "2 Traditional weight training workouts per week (these help use testosterone for muscle building not belly storing), 1 hour of leisure walking (not power walking) on all or most days" and three "Rest & Relaxation" workouts per week. ("They last preferably an hour and include a massage, spa time, sauna therapy, hot baths, sex/physical affection, time with pets, leisure walking (not power walking), restorative yoga (not power yoga), tai chi, naps, meditation, etc")

That part sounds good to me.

I'm not sure I'm as down with his idea of eating less: "Nutrition= 3 meals per day, 2 of the three meals are 30-40g protein shakes, 1 regular meal per day". Which seems to contradict his idea of not stressing yourself out with weird diets.

tomatoey

Machka9 wrote: »

For years, decades, I maintained my weight by exercising lots and eating lots. But my exercise burned what I ate to the point where there were times I struggled to keep from slipping into the "underweight" range.

Then my exercise level dropped, and I reduced the amount I ate to compensate, but slowly my weight went up.

Eventually it hit a point where I needed to actively focus on losing some so I just cut back on my eating. I wasn't exercising much at all then ... it was winter so I wasn't getting out much. Just cutting back on eating helped me lose the weight I wanted.

Gradually over the next 4 years I gained again, and this time I'm doing a combination of exercising more and eating less which has worked remarkably well so far.

I expect I will gain again, and don't care. I know that when I reach a certain point, I'll just exercise more and eat less and the weight will come off again.

But I will say this, exercising more does seem to help me keep the weight off for longer. I have a fairly big appetite and don't like to limit my intake much. So exercising lots helps compensate for that.

Thanks for sharing your experience

I'm with you, I much prefer exercising more and eating more! I do find it helps control appetite, as well as giving you a bigger margin to work with. It's not an approach I can take right now, though.

azulvioleta6

I've always wondered about exercise=stress. How are they defining the term? Are they measuring stress by some means, such as by monitoring cortisol?

I tend to use exercise for stress and pain relief, so the whole idea seems really counterintuitive to me.

DeguelloTex

I'm moving from walking to jogging. It doesn't seem to make me appreciably hungrier and it will allow me to eat more.

TimothyFish

Pretty much any method works over a short period of time. The problem comes when you try to maintain your weight loss. Some research indicates that moving more helps you maintain your weight loss, even though it isn't very beneficial for losing weight.