Diet vs exercise
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I like exercise better but I had to drop thirty pounds in order to safely become more active. The first thirty pounds lost was through diet alone.0
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
If that really is today, I'm giving up on our challenge now...
OP, I found both are required. I do best when I up my steps in general; just incorporating simple things like taking more trips around the office (getting up and walking to their desk instead of calling coworkers, etc) and taking a lunch time walk really helped. I also added more steady state cardio to my routine; it's time I'd normally just be at home snacking, plus, more calories burned. But I can easily out eat any exercise I'm able to do. I can put away some food. It's the balance of both that puts me in a deficit allowing me to lose.0 -
Both are important, but in different ways. What matters is a consistent calorie deficit. Exercise usually increases your appetite, so by itself, it won't create a deficit. That's why people say you can't outrun a bad diet. In 2012, I exercised around 5-6 hours a week on average, mostly moderate to intense bicycling, and I gained 10 pounds.
I lost about 65 pounds in just over 23 months with both diet and exercise. I aimed for a 600-750 a daily calorie deficit at the beginning. I also exercised, on average, about 500 calories a day. That meant that instead of a daily calorie target of about 1500, I could eat about 2000—a huge difference, 33% more than if I didn't exercise. That allowed me to eat until I felt sated, as long as I could exercise the will power not to snack between meals.
Exercise also helped ensure that most of the weight I lost was fat, not muscle, and kept me feeling strong and energetic. Cycling and running also help my mood a lot.0 -
It was Friday. I now have a soft cap at 25,000 steps -- vacation excluded -- or I'm never going to be able to gain any weight.DeguelloTex wrote: »
If that really is today, I'm giving up on our challenge now...
OP, I found both are required. I do best when I up my steps in general; just incorporating simple things like taking more trips around the office (getting up and walking to their desk instead of calling coworkers, etc) and taking a lunch time walk really helped. I also added more steady state cardio to my routine; it's time I'd normally just be at home snacking, plus, more calories burned. But I can easily out eat any exercise I'm able to do. I can put away some food. It's the balance of both that puts me in a deficit allowing me to lose.
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Diet.0
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
If that really is today, I'm giving up on our challenge now...
OP, I found both are required. I do best when I up my steps in general; just incorporating simple things like taking more trips around the office (getting up and walking to their desk instead of calling coworkers, etc) and taking a lunch time walk really helped. I also added more steady state cardio to my routine; it's time I'd normally just be at home snacking, plus, more calories burned. But I can easily out eat any exercise I'm able to do. I can put away some food. It's the balance of both that puts me in a deficit allowing me to lose.
Oh, and I meant both are required for me. Not saying it's required for anyone else, but what I found personally worked.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »If you mean fitness, then both are important. If you mean simply fat loss, then it could be either or both. Whatever method keeps you in a calorie deficit.
Personally, I would never stick to as few calories as I'd need to eat without exercise, which makes exercise very important for my weight loss.
Exactly this.
For me, exercise is very important. LISS cardio gives me extra calories and suppresses my appetite. I could lose weight without exercise but nobody would want to be around me because I'd be a terribly unhappy person.
Yes, while logging calories on MFP helps me with mindfulness, exercise is very important to me for the reasons above plus I feel better and sleep better.0 -
Sticking to my calorie goal and moderate exercise. Exercise is helpful and good for me but not as important as watching my calorie intake.
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I lost the majority of my weight watching my calories with zero exercise. I've hardly lost anything since I started exercising.
So yes, losing weight is mainly diet, for me anyway.0 -
For me it's exercise. If I don't exercise I gain. Exercise also works as an appetite suppressant for me. I just have to make myself get up and get the exercise.....0
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For me it was mainly exercise. I power walk 3 to 5 miles at about a 4mph pace 7 days a week, so I am actually eating more, but burning way more. I ballpark my calories, and always leave plenty for grazing and then some.
I lost 53 lbs. in about 10 months.
You may not be able to out run a poor diet, but you can certainly out walk a normal diet.0 -
I need both.0
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I do both.. mostly diet, I workout for 1/2 an hour everyday. I am a busy mom of 2, I try to get more exercise in when i can.
I completely understand! I'm a mother of one and a wife. I'm also pursuing a career and my degree, I cook healthy every night for my husband which helps me! But finding time for wxw
Wow! 5 miles!daniwilford wrote: »Weight loss requires that you eat less than you burn. I am a big believer in the saying, "You can't out exercise a bad diet." That said, walking five miles a day helps me by enhancing my mood, suppressing my appetite and giving me a little wiggle room for an occasional treat. Strength training, while increasing my appetite, helps me to retain muscle mass and remain strong and healthy. Since I am motivated to lose weight by my health, fitness is a necessary component for my journey. But for just seeing the number go down on the scale, you can do it much faster by decreasing your calorie intake than by increasing your calories burned with exercise.0 -
Seems like most people have most success with diet. I honestly find it easier to eat a low calorie , under 1200 calories, under 50-70 carbs per day, and little exercise to be able to lose/maintain. Any more calories and I gain! It's so hard to keep my weight down. For reference. I'm 5'4 usually at 135lbs. I carry my weight evenly and gain muscle quickly.0
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I do both, but as was said - my diet is for losing weight. Exercise is for overall fitness. Both are very important to me.0
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Diet. It's much easier for me to eat less/eat smarter than spend a couple of hours in the gym.0
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ashleyminc wrote: »The age old question, diet or exercise for best results. I know either or can provide success and both combined provide even better results. I want to know what your experience has been based on the above. What has worked best for you?
Both ... together.
But especially exercise. Exercise makes the whole process so much more enjoyable. Exercise allows me to eat whatever I want (like the pizza and tiramisu I had on the weekend). Exercise is fun, stress-relieving, exhilarating, challenging, and just makes life worth living.
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Well people are always talking about making this A lifestyle change so I think both are required.
Also I think it's also depends what your end goal is. We see so many posts about losing the weight but not liking what they see. The answer to that op then is to do strength training.0 -
For me, maintaining a healthy weight is about 85% about exercise.
My diet was never bad to begin with. Slightly wrong given some specific health issues that I have to deal with, but always full of home-grown and local fresh foods. I have NEVER been a fast food or junk food eater.
I also feel horrible when I don't stay mobile, so...0 -
For my goals exercise is extremely important. What and how much I eat is important as well.
I lost weight once before without any exercise. I was just a slightly smaller, flabby version of my old self. I barely lost a pant size. I got frustrated and went back to my old ways and gain it all right back.
I wanted a firm, tight body. For that I learned I need to not focus on my scale weight as much and I need to exercise.
Exercise has helped me tremendously with maintaining my weight/figure and it gives me so much energy.0 -
I lost my first 50 by changing the way I eat. Initially (first two months) I did not even focus on calories. It was all about eating healthier meals and I lost about 15 pounds. Then, in the next 7 months I really started to watch the calories and lost the rest of the 50. During this time I had a Fitbit and tried to walk an average of 10,000 steps per day. In the past month I joined a gym and added exercise (Spin, yoga, weights) to my routine and have lost 5 pounds. I now have an Apple Watch Sport and use it for these workouts. Because it has built in heart rate monitor I can now get pretty accurate calorie burns and I have started to eat back some of those calories. I have about 20 lbs to go.0
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pislari_poljnamd wrote: »Heya!
I've been on a 600calories/day for 10 days , lost around 7 kg. No exercise. I guess having 2 yrs old twin boys kept me on my toes ha and that could be another reason
It's important to tell that after this diet I felt ill! Exhausted! After 2 weeks of eating everything I got back 3.5 kg.
At the moment, I'm getting up at 6 am to exercise at the gym. My calorie intake is around 1200 if that. I tent to starve myself which is not good.
The point is: feels so much better doing exercises and dieting at the same time! gym puts me away from food! Hell yes!!! Aleluya!!!
There are many red flags in this post...
Eating 600 cals?
Tend to starve yourself? (You did say that's not good but still!)
Exercise keeps you away from food?
These are concerning statements.
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OP as others have said and I think you know, calorie deficit is what is required for weight loss and how you create that deficit (diet or exercise or both) is up to you.
For me I lost my weight initially by following the MFP way of setting my goal to lose 1 lb/week and then eating back my exercise cals. When I started I was very sedentary, but made an effort to walk 30 min a day. After about 6 months and 20 lbs lost I got a FitBit and started trying to make sure I hit 10K steps a day, synced with MFP and eating back the cals from the exercise adjustment. Now 2 years later I'm maintaining a 30 lb loss, I average 15K steps a day, and I do some strength training with Dumbbells at home.
I could have done this without exercise but now that activity level is such an integral part of my day I wouldn't want to. Plus I get to eat more food!0 -
Diet is absolutely critical for weight loss, but exercise helps you look good in your skin after losing the weight. Being skinny alone does not mean someone is healthy.
My opinion is if someone is looking for absolute health they have to have both a strict diet and exercise. Trying to separate them so we only have to do as little as possible shows lack of commitment and in my opinion shows that the individual won't continue on the right path for long.
That totally sounded way more direct than I meant it, but you get the idea.
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I don't log regularly but I'm very aware of what I eat. I had maintained pretty much the same weight for years. Every couple of months I'll log for a few days or a week to keep myself in check.
When I got a Fitbit, I was motivated to not be so lazy and I started to average more than 500 calories per day in extra burn just by walking. I'm down about 20 pounds in a few months.
So, I acknowledge that my current diet--that is, not eating above maintenance--is very important. But for my personality, the walking is what's doing it for me this time. I'll see how far I can get like this and then I'll probably have to tighten up somewhere, and I'd really like to do more strength and flexibility exercise.
This won't work for someone who usually eats more than maintenance.0 -
For me, I like to eat, and not necessarily the healthy foods (I know, i need to). I can limit my food to some extent, with help of a calorie tool such as MFP (I've used others too), which tells me to "stoppppp". But having a fitness band, I get to see how exercising lets me eat more. I've burned off somewhere around 32-33 pounds this year.
I once went bike riding with a friend, some 5+ years ago (or more) it was a 15 mile bike ride, and when i told her the calories burnt (by my "bodybugg" at the time), she said "Great, does that mean i can eat chocolate cake now?" -- and in the end, yes, it kind of does.
Rob0 -
I have never lost any weight due to exercise. It improves my mood, but it makes me hungry. Period. Now I'm trying to really monitor my food instead of ballparking it, and that's helped. For YEARS I believed the experts and thought I could exercise my weight down. I started having weight troubles in the 1990s and am very glad to see the fitness and weight loss experts are no longer pushing the myth that exercise decreases everyone's appetite and magically burns tons of fat on its own. If it works for others, great, but for me exercise is all about mood regulation and health.0
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I lost my first 55 pounds without changing my diet at all...0
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To lose weight: diet
To maintain weight: exercise
To win at life: diet + exercise0
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