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

Kst76

For me fitness makes a huge difference when losing weight. Especially as I have gotten older. Sure, I can lose on diet alone but it's much much harder.

Need2Exerc1se

karintalley wrote: »

For me fitness makes a huge difference when losing weight. Especially as I have gotten older. Sure, I can lose on diet alone but it's much much harder.

Exactly. The question wasn't is exercise necessary. The question was does it help. I can't imagine anyone that has tried losing weight without exercise and with would argue that it doesn't help.

goldthistime

karintalley wrote: »

For me fitness makes a huge difference when losing weight. Especially as I have gotten older. Sure, I can lose on diet alone but it's much much harder.

I agree that it's much easier to create an appropriate deficit over any length of time if you are exercising. For me, exercise creates a sense of well being that helps keep me on track.

Otoh, I read a study where certain people did better by not introducing exercise till later, so perhaps there are qualifiers.

Calliope610

filbo132 wrote: »

Calliope610 wrote: »

stevencloser wrote: »

Calliope610 wrote: »

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.

If you have the time to go for up to 2 hour walks daily instead of creating a deficit by just not eating something.

I MAKE the time for about 60-75 minutes of activity I enjoy. For me, that is time very well spent.

Not everyone is like you, there are people (myself included) who hate cardio so much that I am willing to sacrifice some food just to achieve my goal. As I have said in the previous posts, there is only path to losing weight and that's by a caloric deficit. How you do it is up to personal preference.

Please indicate where I claimed this was true of everyone. I expressly indicated this applied ONLY TO ME.

Christine_72

Exercising keeps me out of the RED every single day. Without it i would seriously struggle to stay in a deficit! I would rather exercise more than eat less.

Nikion901

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

My goal is to avoid the bolded from happening. Metabolism doesn't slow much solely because of age. It's because of becoming progressively more sedentary.

About 150 calories a day, for me, between age 42 and 72. But yes, we do also slow down ... things hurt, we're more tired. I really applaud all those people past retirement age who have been able to keep themselves very active and high school age slender/strong ... they are folks to look up to and try to emulate.

wrknonmedaily

All I know is that once I started cleaning office buildings for 3-4 hours at night five days a week and did not change my eating habits, I lost some serious weight. I was a serious mountain dew drinker then. It took 11 months,*cough* mnt dew, but I lost. So I am proof that exercise is part of it. I sit at a desk 8 hours a day. I gained the weight back slowly after I quit the cleaning job.

Christine_72

wrknonmedaily wrote: »

All I know is that once I started cleaning office buildings for 3-4 hours at night five days a week and did not change my eating habits, I lost some serious weight. I was a serious mountain dew drinker then. It took 11 months,*cough* mnt dew, but I lost. So I am proof that exercise is part of it. I sit at a desk 8 hours a day. I gained the weight back slowly after I quit the cleaning job.

My hubby has a similar story. He worked away at a job where he had to walk back and forth along a looong jetty everyday, when he got back 3mths later people asked him if he was sick or on drugs as he had lost a lot of weight. He regained the weight when he went back to usual job.

GettinFitInMN

For me, it's diet 75% because I know if I watch what I eat and don't snack, I lose weight without exercise. I lost 20 lbs that way. Last year, I exercised for an hour a day. I only lost 10 lbs this way in 6 long months. The bonus with the activity was that my cholestrol/trigylcerides went down many points. That's GREAT!

Exercise is key for a healthy life. My back dr said that they did a study of those who walked vs. those who just watched their calories. Those who watched their calories lost much more weight than those who walked daily. He said not to discount exercise as it's important for so many other things including heart health and more activity meant less overall body pain for many. I believe it. If I don't move, I feel more achy and inflamed. In the end, BOTH are very important and worth investing time in. I will continue to do both!

kavahni

Read “The First Twenty Minutes.” Lots of the most recent science on diet and exercise. More regular test subjects rather than elite male athlete test subjects.
I found it fascinating that a study on normal people of both genders showed that very few people lose weight running. I knew that!

Dvdgzz

This applies more to people who don't count calories and instead attempt intuitive eating. Exercise makes us hungrier the same way sweating makes us thirsty. If you're not keeping track you will most likely replace the extra burned calories by eating more and even if you're counting, it can be tougher to resist more food.

rickiimarieee

Diet matters! Let say for me I'm marked at 1,200 calories I'm sedentary other than taking care of my little ones and cleaning and cooking! If I eat 3,000 calories and burn 500 Im not going to lose weight. I thought exercise was ALWAYS the answer I would eat very poorly and exercise for hours and wonder why I wasn't losing weight. Ever heard the saying "abs aren't made in the gym, they're made in the kitchen?" That's true. But I also believe if I was able to go to the gym and strength train I'd be much happier with my results. I don't have time to, so I have to put that on hold. I've lost 31 pounds and I'm not satisfied with my body.

runrunveg

Personally, I cannot lose much weight on diet alone. As a shorter than average woman with a lower than average base metabolism for my size, I'd have to eat so few calories to reach my healthy target weight I'd be malnourished. You can only cut so many calories from your diet; the standard recommendation is to not go below 1200, but that would be a negligible calorie deficit for someone like me if I were sedentary. It's much safer and more sustainable for me to run 7-8 miles/day and eat 1200 to lose about 1.5 lbs./week than to eat 700/day to lose at the same rate. My most successful ratio is about 2/3 exercise and 1/3 calorie reduction.

Of course if the diet that got you overweight is 3000 or more calories a day, the reverse is probably true: you'll more easily cut 750-1000 cals/day from your diet than burn that many with exercise.

So the diet/exercise balance that works best depends on your own body and previous diet; you just need to be careful not to eat back your exercise calories, which can be hard because you do get hungrier AND because people (and treadmills) tend to overestimate what they burn AND because the more you lose, the less you'll burn.

ryenday

runrunveg wrote: »

Personally, I cannot lose much weight on diet alone. As a shorter than average woman with a lower than average base metabolism for my size, I'd have to eat so few calories to reach my healthy target weight I'd be malnourished. You can only cut so many calories from your diet; the standard recommendation is to not go below 1200, but that would be a negligible calorie deficit for someone like me if I were sedentary. It's much safer and more sustainable for me to run 7-8 miles/day and eat 1200 to lose about 1.5 lbs./week than to eat 700/day to lose at the same rate. My most successful ratio is about 2/3 exercise and 1/3 calorie reduction.

Of course if the diet that got you overweight is 3000 or more calories a day, the reverse is probably true: you'll more easily cut 750-1000 cals/day from your diet than burn that many with exercise.

So the diet/exercise balance that works best depends on your own body and previous diet; you just need to be careful not to eat back your exercise calories, which can be hard because you do get hungrier AND because people (and treadmills) tend to overestimate what they burn AND because the more you lose, the less you'll burn.

QFT

SezxyStef

I find this all very funny..people accuse me of being all semantic and *kitten*..but come one folks.

we all know to lose weight you need a calorie deficit...how you get that deficit can be a variety of ways.

eat less food, exercise more or a combination of both.

But when it comes down to it....EXERCISE IS NOT A REQUIREMENT TO LOSE WEIGHT.

There are people everyday who lose weight who can't exercise...yah can't exercise. Just normal movement can and does cause issues for some folks so they lose weight by eating less.

So exercise can create a deficit but in the long term it really is not the way weight is lost...as pointed out many times you can exercise all you want but if you aren't burning more than waht you are consuming...

katsheare

kavahni wrote: »

Read “The First Twenty Minutes.” Lots of the most recent science on diet and exercise. More regular test subjects rather than elite male athlete test subjects.
I found it fascinating that a study on normal people of both genders showed that very few people lose weight running. I knew that!

My bookshelf needed something new. This looks very interesting (though from the reviews it sounds like I'm already in agreement with her...)

tess5036

It's simple, to loose weight calories in must be less than calories out. You can adjust either side of the calories equation to create a deficit. Admittedly, it can be easier to create a deficit by eating less, but it can still be created by exersizing more to burn the calories, for me the optimum is both, with the added benefit of exercise bring the increased fitness.

Need2Exerc1se

SezxyStef wrote: »

I find this all very funny..people accuse me of being all semantic and *kitten*..but come one folks.

we all know to lose weight you need a calorie deficit...how you get that deficit can be a variety of ways.

eat less food, exercise more or a combination of both.

But when it comes down to it....EXERCISE IS NOT A REQUIREMENT TO LOSE WEIGHT.

There are people everyday who lose weight who can't exercise...yah can't exercise. Just normal movement can and does cause issues for some folks so they lose weight by eating less.

So exercise can create a deficit but in the long term it really is not the way weight is lost...as pointed out many times you can exercise all you want but if you aren't burning more than waht you are consuming...

All true. But the question wasn't whether exercise is a requirement.

nicolega2001

A couple of years ago I lost 25 lbs while living a sedentary lifestyle. My success was that I counted calories on my fitness pal.