Exercise doesn't help you lose weight...say what?
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it blows my mind that so many people are so blind as to believe that exercise is an absolute must for weight loss. Again, a disabled person does not have to exercise to lose weight. A calorie deficit alone is enough to achieve that goal. Maintaining a calorie goal at maintenance level will be enough to maintain weight without gaining weight back.
It's incredibly arrogant for able-bodied people to continue to argue that everyone must exercise to lose and maintain weight loss. Anyone doing so discounts the struggle of everyone who lives in a less than able state who continues to also work to live at a healthy weight.
Its not what the OP was saying or asking.
I cant see that other posters were saying it either.
I cant see what you are getting irate about care to point out which posters have said this? I didnt see it.1 -
metcastillon wrote: »I look at losing weight as 80% diet and 20% exercise. Sure, you can only focus on what you eat, and you'll lose weight, but it might not give you the results you want. Same thing if you only focus on exercise. I believe it takes a healthy combination of the two working together.
What she said!
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It all comes down to individuality. Nobody is exactly the same and what works for one, may not work for the other. I know, cheesy and cliché...0
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it blows my mind that so many people are so blind as to believe that exercise is an absolute must for weight loss. Again, a disabled person does not have to exercise to lose weight. A calorie deficit alone is enough to achieve that goal. Maintaining a calorie goal at maintenance level will be enough to maintain weight without gaining weight back.
It's incredibly arrogant for able-bodied people to continue to argue that everyone must exercise to lose and maintain weight loss. Anyone doing so discounts the struggle of everyone who lives in a less than able state who continues to also work to live at a healthy weight.
There are many levels of disability. There are paraplegics who can hit the gym harder than most able-bodied persons. In some cases a disability may contribute to weight loss or weight gain.
My father is considered disabled. He has difficulty walking and on his best day can barely hobble around using a cane. About a year ago he got one of those powered scooters and his weight increased and general fitness level declined dramatically. All the medical professionals working with him say the same thing. He needs to get more exercise regardless of his handicap. He is currently in a hospital recovering from major surgery and the nurse are doing everything they can to get him moving again within his ability.
Yes a person can lose weight without exercise. For anyone who can exercise, it would be best to do so. How much it actually contributes to weight loss is definitely not clear but there is no doubt that it helps to some degree.1 -
I think she was trying to say the same thing as you actually. It doesn't help if your eating habit are still terrible. Therefore, you can exercise all you want but it won't help (I guess it would help slow your weight gain though!). I think she's saying that without eating better, the exercise won't help weight. Exercise is more about health. But I kind of think that's the same thing you mean when you say "80/20 while in a deficit". The conditions of your argument differ slightly if that makes sense. She said 100% diet when not assuming additional exercise will put you in a deficit and you say 80% when you assume the additional exercise will put you in a deficit. Which means your starting assumptions are different. Don't know if that makes sense... but it does to me!0
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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?
I'm on your side because I know it helps me. With exercise you get to eat more and still lose. THAT is helpful.
Necessary? No. Helpful? H*ll yeah!!1 -
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bcalvanese wrote: »I have to disagree and say that fitness is just as (if not more) important than diet. I know I will be attacked for this, but I just cannot agree.
Fitness is key to weight control. If a person is at a good fitness level, they would have to literally be a glutton to become over weight. In addition, the more over weight a person is, the lower their fitness level.
Let the attacks begin...
Not attacking, but it's incorrect. Say I go all out and mountain bike trails for four hours. That will burn me about 2150 calories (and I'd be dead, but that's besides the point. I would also burn 1350 just by being my awesome self. So, I have an awesome 3500 calories to burn that day! And my maintenance is at about 2000, so make that 5500! Wow, awesome!
Now, I go home and I am starving! I already had a big breakfast to give me a bit of fuel to burn (eggs, bacon, some veggies, etc for about 600 cal) and I grazed on trail mix while out biking (700). While cooking myself up some baked potatoes and sausages (1000), I demolish a bag of crisps because I am starving (1200). I go out for McDonald's in the evening and gorge because I am still hungry! 2000 calories. Some ice-cream, a nice beer or two, some chocolate, yum! 500 cal. So, math done, I am over maintenance and although I worked out like crazy and I will feel awesome for doing it (and thus justified in binging), I would still gain--especially if I did this every day. You can't out exercise a bad diet. Period.0 -
I don't think this is a controversial topic really.
To lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit / negative energy balance. You can do so by:- diet alone
- exercise alone
- a combination of diet and exercise
Many people choose a combination of diet and exercise because it doesn't entail the greater time commitment of the exercise only approach or the greater reduction in food intake than the diet alone approach. However they can all be successful.
Absolutely!!
And I have successfully lost weight all three ways.
Personally, I like "exercise alone" or "a combination of diet and exercise" best ... because I do like to eat a decent quantity of food. I get hungry. And including exercise allows me to eat more than just "diet alone". I also really enjoy exercise. 
But others may prefer another choice.
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To lose weight, you have to consume less calories than you burn in a single day. Even a pro like Jillian Michaels has said that. It's just that simple. I think muscle, on the other hand, is built by tough exercising every single day. Just like professional athletes, we need to track both.0
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Weight loss happens in the kitchen, fitness happens in the gym. I love to exercise , but I don't need it to lose weight, I just need a calorie deficit.
Weight loss happens wherever you are able to create a calorific deficit. I really dislike the above saying SLL because it blurrs the issue, whilst pretending to be clear. All things being equal 500 calories not eaten is going to be the same as 500 calories burned in the gym.
Tiger, you are missing the point. The original conversation is about exercise being essential to losing weigh, not about whether exercise creates a deficit. Exercise is not requires to lose weight.0 -
You just cannot separate activity and intake. They both have an effect on weight loss. You cannot say, "Only the intake counts. It's doesn't matter how many calories you burn." It matters. They both matter.
You can lose weight without exercise. Of course you can. But when you exercise, you burn more calories and that makes a difference. The kind of exercise matters, too. All kinds are good, but some burn more calories than others. If you spend 30 minutes swimming, you're going to burn more calories than if you spent that 30 minutes walking.
People always say, "Weight loss happens in the kitchen," but it happens in the pool, too.
Ya, I once lost 30# in the pool without counting a single calorie.
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Weight loss happens in the kitchen, fitness happens in the gym. I love to exercise , but I don't need it to lose weight, I just need a calorie deficit.
Weight loss happens wherever you are able to create a calorific deficit. I really dislike the above saying SLL because it blurrs the issue, whilst pretending to be clear. All things being equal 500 calories not eaten is going to be the same as 500 calories burned in the gym.
Tiger, you are missing the point. The original conversation is about exercise being essential to losing weigh, not about whether exercise creates a deficit. Exercise is not requires to lose weight.
I think you are mistaken. The OP says "helps with weight loss" not "essential for weight loss"1 -
Weight loss happens in the kitchen, fitness happens in the gym. I love to exercise , but I don't need it to lose weight, I just need a calorie deficit.
Weight loss happens wherever you are able to create a calorific deficit. I really dislike the above saying SLL because it blurrs the issue, whilst pretending to be clear. All things being equal 500 calories not eaten is going to be the same as 500 calories burned in the gym.
Tiger, you are missing the point. The original conversation is about exercise being essential to losing weigh, not about whether exercise creates a deficit. Exercise is not requires to lose weight.
I think only one poster took the position that exercise was essential. The OP posited that it was helpful.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?0 -
I lost my first 40lbs without exercising.0
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WaterBunnie wrote: »If you were maintaining your weight eating at a certain calorie level for low activity and then increased your activity without increasing your calorie intake then you would of course over time lose weight. Exercise has been important for me otherwise I'd have lost way slower.
Yes, along the same lines, I think I like to eat a certain amount of food per day. This was fine when I had active jobs, such as being a full time yoga teacher, a machine operator, or doing classified activity in the jungles of Okinawa. But I can't eat the way I want when I have a desk job, unless I ramp up the activity outside of work.
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It all depends on the definitions you choose for each of the terms.
For most ppl, using the common nomenclature ( ie diet implies deficit ), what you put in is easier to control, and orders of magnitude more important than exercise calories. This is because you can eat a donut ( for example ) in 5 mins, and ruin the caloric benefit of that hour of jogging.
It is possible to lose weight going to either extreme to produce your caloric deficit. It is more common to use a combination of both, since there are additional benefits to exercising beyond burning calories, and it is much easier to control your CICO balance on the CI side of the equation, unless you can devote large amounts of time to exercise.
80/20 is a general ratio I have heard in many places, and it is as good an estimate as any.
Saying "exercise does not help" is a false statement.1 -
Weight loss happens in the kitchen, fitness happens in the gym. I love to exercise , but I don't need it to lose weight, I just need a calorie deficit.
Weight loss happens wherever you are able to create a calorific deficit. I really dislike the above saying SLL because it blurrs the issue, whilst pretending to be clear. All things being equal 500 calories not eaten is going to be the same as 500 calories burned in the gym.
Tiger, you are missing the point. The original conversation is about exercise being essential to losing weigh, not about whether exercise creates a deficit. Exercise is not requires to lose weight.
Thanks but the OP saysGot into a discussion with some friends the other day regarding diet and exercise and losing weight, etc. One of my friends said that exercise
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.does not help
Your thoughts?
The OP as above debates the question does exercise help or is it irrelevant to weight loss. It burns calories it helps to create a potential deficit. I have already saud ist not essential and that you cna lose by moderating consumption alone, but the OP never made a claim that was the case.1 -
it blows my mind that so many people are so blind as to believe that exercise is an absolute must for weight loss. Again, a disabled person does not have to exercise to lose weight. A calorie deficit alone is enough to achieve that goal. Maintaining a calorie goal at maintenance level will be enough to maintain weight without gaining weight back.
It's incredibly arrogant for able-bodied people to continue to argue that everyone must exercise to lose and maintain weight loss. Anyone doing so discounts the struggle of everyone who lives in a less than able state who continues to also work to live at a healthy weight.
What does being blind have to do with believing anything about weight loss?
If you go back and read the OP and most of the replies, there are not "so many people" saying that. Chill. You're getting them in a wad over nothing.0 -
Is it safe to assume that those of you who claim that exercise is not helpful in losing weight don't bother tracking exercise when figuring out your daily deficit? If you claim that and do track calories burned through exercise, there's a bit of an an incongruity.
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OP, you are correct in your analysis, and your friend is wrong. My guess is your friend doesn't like to exercise and is looking for excuses to avoid it. Is it necessary? No. Is is helpful? Yes.
Personally, and this has very little to do with your original statement because it is personal, I would rather exercise until I'm exhausted and eat a big steak dinner than sit on my butt and starve myself. Could I still lose weight sitting on my butt starving myself? Sure. Can I lose weight working out and getting to eat steak? Sure. The only thing that matters for weight LOSS (as opposed to body composition because that's a different issue altogether) is reduction in calories.
If it wasn't for exercise, I would have gained back all of my weight and then some. No doubt. Eating overly reduced calories is an awful chore that makes me miserable, so I don't do it.2 -
Is it safe to assume that those of you who claim that exercise is not helpful in losing weight don't bother tracking exercise when figuring out your daily deficit? If you claim that and do track calories burned through exercise, there's a bit of an an incongruity.
Nobody has said exercise is not helpful to lose weight. A lot of people have said that exercise is not essential. Maintaining a calorie deficit over time is essential. (i.e. CI < CO)
Some people do very well by increasing their exercise to get to a deficit, but many others don't exercise enough to overcome their existing diet or increase their eating in response to the exercise.
The fact remains that it is easier to monitor and control for what you eat, and calories not eaten do not need to be burned off. That is why many people here advise to focus on the intake for weight loss, but use exercise for the fitness aspect, and to add some calories to your daily budget as a bonus.
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At this point, exercise has become a much bigger part of my weight loss. I only have about 10 pounds left to go, so my deficit has become much smaller. I don't want to decrease my calories anymore than I already have, but I don't necessarily want the last 10 pounds to take a year, either. I was already exercising, but now the exercise helps make my deficit larger because I choose not to eat back any exercise calories. I had injured my knee a few months back and took a break from all exercise. I maintained my calorie deficit, but without the extra calories burned, my weight seemed to be at a standstill. Obviously, I recognize that it wasn't, by definition of being in a calorie deficit. But once I was able to add exercise back in, my sanity was restored at weigh-in time.0
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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?
I think the thing that is most significant is that no matter how much a person exercises, one can always put oneself in a caloric surplus depending on how and how much one eats.
For example - I run for 40 minutes, I can burn around 600 calories. Great! However, let's then imagine that in a moment of weakness, I wolf down two glazed chocolate donuts during break time (which I could probably do in 5). Boom. There goes any benefits of exercise towards achieving my caloric deficit.
That being said, it's simply wrong to say exercise doesn't aid in weight loss at all - which is what your friends are saying. Exercise obviously burns calories, which can add to one's daily deficit (either allowing you to eat more food or to accelerate your weight loss if you don't change what you eat).
I will let others debate the subjective proportions (weight loss is 80% diet, or 50%, etc). Doesn't really matter. My personal experience is that exercise makes the business of weight loss easier, and it's also a good in and of itself, so that's why I do it.0 -
Your friend is advocating weight loss through diet alone, and while that works, it's not the path to optimal health and fitness.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?
I did not want to be some skinny guy who merely lost weight. My goal was peak fitness and stellar health. Exercise is paramount along with a sound diet to achieve such high goals. I actually pity those too lazy to exercise.
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Is it safe to assume that those of you who claim that exercise is not helpful in losing weight don't bother tracking exercise when figuring out your daily deficit? If you claim that and do track calories burned through exercise, there's a bit of an an incongruity.
Nobody has said exercise is not helpful to lose weight. A lot of people have said that exercise is not essential. Maintaining a calorie deficit over time is essential. (i.e. CI < CO)
Actually the very first response said exactly that:
"From what I have learned here, your friends are correct."
And the friends of the OP stated exercise was not helpful. That's the entire premise of this thread, though it's obvious from many of the replies that not everyone understands that.
The OP didn't ask about what is "best" for our bodies, or what is "essential" for weight loss. The issue is whether exercise is helpful for weight loss.
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Everything has pretty much been covered. You just need a deficit. There are hundreds of ways to skin that cat. Sounds like an argument on semantics. Does exercise help? For sum I am sure. For others, maybe not.1
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allaboutthefood wrote: »metcastillon wrote: »I look at losing weight as 80% diet and 20% exercise. Sure, you can only focus on what you eat, and you'll lose weight, but it might not give you the results you want. Same thing if you only focus on exercise. I believe it takes a healthy combination of the two working together.
I agree with this. I eat in a deficit and I exercise. I have played around with this and did some of my weight loss on diet alone, yes I lost weight, but I was always hungry. Than I added exercise with the deficit and I lost more weight and wasn't as hungry. So if you only want to lose weight and have no desire to exercise it can be done.
I recall hearing about studies that have been done that state that keeping weight off is much easier when one engages in regular exercise. Yes, weight loss can be achieved straightforwardly by just eating in a deficit, and you can't outrun a bad diet, but without exercise one might sabotage one's long-term prospects.
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Muscle burns more calories than fat - so if you build more muscle you can more effectively burn calories, but CICO0
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