Exercise doesn't help you lose weight...say what?

Got into a discussion with some friends the other day regarding diet and exercise and losing weight, etc. One of my friends said that exercise does not help you lose weight, it's 100% diet. I disagreed and said that whether you take in less calories (diet) or burn more calories (exercise), if you're in a deficit you'll lose weight, therefore exercise does in fact help you lose weight. She disagreed with me still.

Your thoughts?

Replies

unknown

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Need2Exerc1se

missysippy930 wrote: »

Again, burning more calories than you are consuming

Exactly!! Burning more. Through exercise.

fitoverfortymom

I was pretty much too fat to do any meaningful exercise when I first started losing weight, so I focused on diet. That got me about 80% there. The last 20%, I've focused on incorporating exercise I enjoy and am training for a half marathon. I'm down more than 95lbs from when I've started. While I'm close to my "goal weight," I'm far more focused on fitness objectives now.

So yeah. 80% diet. 20% exercise.

wizzybeth

"Exercise doesn't make you lose weight" is not a complete or specific enough thought to just throw it out there as truth. "Exercise that puts you in a calorie deficit will cause you to lose weight. Exercise without a calorie deficit will not cause you to lose weight" would be more accurate.

azironasun

Muscle toning is done in the gym. Weight loss is done in the kitchen.

Need2Exerc1se

azironasun wrote: »

Muscle toning is done in the gym. Weight loss is done in the kitchen.

Still just catch phrases that are only sometimes true. Muscles can be toned outside a gym. Weight loss can happen even if you never enter a kitchen.

unknown

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Need2Exerc1se

YepItsKriss wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

azironasun wrote: »

Muscle toning is done in the gym. Weight loss is done in the kitchen.

Still just catch phrases that are only sometimes true. Muscles can be toned outside a gym. Weight loss can happen even if you never enter a kitchen.

Yeah sometimes someone might toss a sandwich to you sitting in the living room lol

Or you may live in a dorm and not have a kitchen, or eat all your meals out, or have a family member who prepares all your food.

Weight loss comes from moving enough to offset what you put in your pie hole. There are 2 sides to the equation and both are important.

unknown

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Dnarules

azironasun wrote: »

Muscle toning is done in the gym. Weight loss is done in the kitchen.

I understand this sentiment, but it just doesn't work well for me. Obviously I could lose weight by just controlling my eating. But for me, exercise and diet are intertwined. For me, if one falls off, the other is right behind it. Happens every single time. And I find it much easier to maintain a deficit with exercise.

GottaBurnEmAll

If your diet isn't controlled, exercise isn't going to do most people much good.

Weight loss comes down to diet in the end because you can mitigate the affects of exercise by not having diet on point.

The need to have pat statements about all this seems silly to me.

Yes, you can create a deficit with exercise. I do it myself. But I can only do that thanks to also controlling my food intake to comply with that deficit.

The two elements - diet and exercise - work in synchronicity. I'd happily eat up the calories exercise burned if I wasn't paying attention to my diet.

MissyCHF

Because I am old, I am losing weight slowly by diet alone. I have a 20 years younger friend, who did not adjust her already healthy diet, joined a gym and lost a stone (14lbs) in a year.

NorthCascades

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

If your diet isn't controlled, exercise isn't going to do most people much good..

On the other hand, eating a pint of ice cream every day and going for a long walk afterwards is going to be better and do more for anyone than eating a pint of iced cream and then watching TV. Exercise always helps. Exercise may not be a complete solution but it helps.

bagge72

In the end It's 100% diet. Exercise just adds to the amount of calories you burn in a day, but what you eat is going to decide what the deficit is. If you burn more and eat more, you're in the same boat.

davidylin

One thing I've heard that resonates with me personally is that health is 60% sleep, 30% diet, 10% exercise. Philosophically (not scientifically) I have to ask: what is the point of a 'healthy' weight if you don't healthy-exercise? (Is it health if it's not the whole picture?) Also, what is the point of exercise if you don't get to a healthy weight?

The personal advice I give to others (that is scientific) is that you really need to go to sleep and get up at the same times of the day and make sure that you get enough quality sleep - that's the most important thing. After that, you have to make sure you have an appropriate and not-unhealthy diet (you can lose weight eating nothing but cheeseburgers portioned for calories, but then you'll get the scurvy). Once you've nailed all of that down, you should really start exercising. And the rules here are taper, taper, taper - ease into routines, start with a baseline you are comfortable with then add reps/time/weight/effort to step up your exercise game over time.

JeromeBarry1

@YepItsKriss Think of it as bumping of an oldie but goodie. Plenty of new users will get some education from this.

JeromeBarry1

The sense in which to understand the "exercise vs diet" debate is to understand that "Diet" is what you habitually eat, both in quality and quantity, while "Exercise" is what you do, whether for compensating for diet or pursuing other goals. Exercise is what you stop doing while injured. Exercise is what you forget to do, slack off doing, or do ineffectively. Your diet is a long-term thing that doesn't actually stop. Your exercise is a short-term thing which can stop and be greatly variable.

Calliope610

comeonnow142857 wrote: »

There's typically a lot more room to adjust CI, vs adjusting CO (especially if you're not at a spectacular fitness & endurance level).

I strongly disagree. It is so much easier for me to get off my couch and go for walk or ride and earn 300 - 600 calories than to restrict myself to 1200-1400 calories on a long term basis.

wizzybeth

I don't care how old a thread is, if there's an opportunity to talk I'll take it. lpl

Need2Exerc1se

bagge72 wrote: »

In the end It's 100% diet. Exercise just adds to the amount of calories you burn in a day, but what you eat is going to decide what the deficit is. If you burn more and eat more, you're in the same boat.

LOL Its 100% CI. CO doesn't count?

cwolfman13

I've seen a lot of people in my gym over the years who basically look the same now as they did years ago...haven't really lost any weight because their diets aren't in order. IMO, a lot of people are under the impression that exercise simply defaults to losing weight...I see it here all the time too.

Years ago I thought pretty much the same. I started hitting the gym and was pretty religious about it for about a year and I never dropped weight like I thought I should because I was working out and wasn't before...I was just eating more and felt justified in eating more because I was working out.

I think these statements are to illustrate that point which many people don't get.

Calliope610

Dnarules wrote: »

azironasun wrote: »

Muscle toning is done in the gym. Weight loss is done in the kitchen.

I understand this sentiment, but it just doesn't work well for me. Obviously I could lose weight by just controlling my eating. But for me, exercise and diet are intertwined. For me, if one falls off, the other is right behind it. Happens every single time. And I find it much easier to maintain a deficit with exercise.

I find it easier to eat like a "healthy" or fit person if I ecercise like a healthy or fit person. My weight loss is always spurred by activity rather than by my eating.

joemac1988

Get new friends.

NorthCascades

bagge72 wrote: »

In the end It's 100% diet. Exercise just adds to the amount of calories you burn in a day, but what you eat is going to decide what the deficit is. If you burn more and eat more, you're in the same boat.

That's like saying a coin is 100% heads and but at all tails. For anyone who exercises, it's both.

Tacklewasher

YepItsKriss wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

azironasun wrote: »

Muscle toning is done in the gym. Weight loss is done in the kitchen.

Still just catch phrases that are only sometimes true. Muscles can be toned outside a gym. Weight loss can happen even if you never enter a kitchen.

Yeah sometimes someone might toss a sandwich to you sitting in the living room lol

Yah. Would you make me a sammich?

(Kidding, just kidding).

GottaBurnEmAll

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I've seen a lot of people in my gym over the years who basically look the same now as they did years ago...haven't really lost any weight because their diets aren't in order. IMO, a lot of people are under the impression that exercise simply defaults to losing weight...I see it here all the time too.

Years ago I thought pretty much the same. I started hitting the gym and was pretty religious about it for about a year and I never dropped weight like I thought I should because I was working out and wasn't before...I was just eating more and felt justified in eating more because I was working out.

I think these statements are to illustrate that point which many people don't get.

Yup. I'm as into the importance of exercise as anyone (it's very important for managing a chronic medical condition I have), however, the bottom line is that if your diet is not on point, all the exercise in the world is not going to do you a lick of good.

I'm a runner. I didn't start out as one, and I've been walking/running pretty much the same route for three years. There are people of all different body types out there running every day. I can safely say that there are quite a few of them who most definitely do not have the diet portion of the CICO equation dialed in.

I really, really, really do not get this thing to say that it's one or the other.

Why does there have to be some pithy little saying to cover this whole deal?

kristen8000

Exercise helps and it's part of keeping healthy, but it's not necessary to lose weight. When I cut, I rarely count any exercise I do. I figure that's a bonus to get my deficit larger. I have no idea how many steps I do in one day. I don't wear a heart monitor when I do work out - which isn't very often. Mostly do 1-2 mile walks with my dog daily, and maybe a 20 minute kettlebell video. But I'm gonna weigh my food and log it accurately to make sure my calories are on point.

Nikion901

cdahl383 wrote: »

Got into a discussion with some friends the other day regarding diet and exercise and losing weight, etc. One of my friends said that exercise does not help you lose weight, it's 100% diet. I disagreed and said that whether you take in less calories (diet) or burn more calories (exercise), if you're in a deficit you'll lose weight, therefore exercise does in fact help you lose weight. She disagreed with me still.

Your thoughts?

Well ... actually, you are correct ... exercise helps us use up more calories so we end up in a larger deficit than if we had not done it. But actually, any additional/extra activity or physical movement will help to burn up some extra calories.

That said ... your friend is correct also ... If you sat in a chair or laid on a bed 24 hours a day, and your calorie intake were low enough, you would lose weight. However, you would also lose muscle mass and less muscle means a slower metabolism so you would have to progressively consume less calories just to stay even. That's why us senior citizens get to eat less when we are 70 than when we were 40 ... our metabolism has slowed down.

And ... yo-yo dieting also causes our metabolism to slow down because every time we lose weight we lose some muscle and some fat, not just fat ... and it takes really HARD physical strength activity to help us hold on to muscle. However, when we gain weight, we gain more fat than we do muscle ... and when it goes on and on like that, we end up being a big soft blob of loose skin and fat instead of tight skin and big strong muscles.

Lillymoo01

I think diet is most important with losing weight because it is easier. Most people simply don't have the time in the day to burn 500 calories for a deficit and those that do can easily eat that deficit back if they are not logging what they are eating. It is much easier to cut out the can of soda and a snickers bar instead to create a deficit.

I would say though that my weight loss was closer to a 50/50 ratio. I watched what I ate while significantly increasing exercise but I have to time to walk 12+ kms a day. Many don't. I am also short so the only way I could have a 500 deficit and eat at least 1200 calories a day was through exercise and diet.

unknown

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