keto and exercise (or not!)
cottagegirl71
Posts: 167 Member
Hello! Curious about how many of you are losing without actually going to the gym/doing a "workout"? Reluctant to renew my membership (time and money issues) but can manage a 45 minute walk with the dog 4 days/week + one 90 minute yoga session......I was doing LC all summer and it was flying off but was also pretty active. Thoughts?
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I was wondering the same thing. Wasn't sure if you were supposed to when you first start. I'm 4 days in on Atkins phase 1 and have been doing light cardio on an eliptical for 30min/day. Does that mess with your keto? Should I hold off??0
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I have RA so my workouts are not consistent at all. I mostly do Barre3 or take walks. Some weeks I don't do anything at all. I might lose faster if I worked out harder but I've still been losing so it's ok!0
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40 lbs down with no exercise.. Just keto diet0
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justbreathesrw28 wrote: »I was wondering the same thing. Wasn't sure if you were supposed to when you first start. I'm 4 days in on Atkins phase 1 and have been doing light cardio on an eliptical for 30min/day. Does that mess with your keto? Should I hold off??
It's fine to exercise. I've read intense exercise can actually get you into ketosis faster. Some people don't feel like exercising the first week or two but if you feel good go for it!
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the thing is.....I hate "exercising"! Haha - I admit it
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I bought a cross trainer for 70 pound . It's in my living room in front of the tv so I can exercise and watch my fave tv shows while my baby naps (after my housework is done) (the voice) and also I love challenges!! I currently am doing 3 challenges , plank challenge, squat challenge and abs for beginners (fit to fat app is amazing!!)
The challenges tend to keep me motivated! And it makes me enjoy exercising more
But to answer your question if you exercise this mfp app says you can then eat extra cals and carbs!
And also it prevents loose skin! This diet can help you lose weight fast so loose skin is a concern for me 0 -
I didn't exercise at all the first month. Now I mainly lift weights a couple of times a week and do Zumba one day a week. I also try to hit 10,000 steps 5X's per week and weather permitting try to hike one day out of the weekend. In terms of weight loss, you don't need to exercise but it does help in toning, cardiovascular health and makes me feel better in general. Do what works for you!0
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thanks - love hearing what is working for everyone else!0
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I look at it this way. If I'm using my fat as fuel, the more fuel I use, the more fat I burn! So as exercise requires fuel, I will and have burned more fat by adding exercise. Walks are good but if you could up that to a jog you'll likely have better results. I do all my workouts either in the basement or outdoors..no gym membership required. There are great home video options for working out...(p90x for example I've done)... youtube stuff for free...get some resistance bands or some weights and encorporate resistance training if you don't like treadmills or recumbant bikes. There are so many easy ways to get moving and it can only help your weight loss...on top of all the other benefits to your overall health.0
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I stumbled across this website and thought it might be of interest: LC-Triathlete
It has some really great studies linked, as well as his own anecdotes about being low carb and doing endurance exercise.
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cottagegirl71 wrote: »Hello! Curious about how many of you are losing without actually going to the gym/doing a "workout"? Reluctant to renew my membership (time and money issues) but can manage a 45 minute walk with the dog 4 days/week + one 90 minute yoga session......I was doing LC all summer and it was flying off but was also pretty active. Thoughts?
Weight loss happens primarily in the kitchen. Or, as the saying goes -- you can't outrun a bad diet.
Exercise doesn't really contribute to weight loss unless you're not increasing your food intake to fuel those workouts, in which case, it's only doing so because it increases the deficit. It does, however, increase overall health (which can indirectly contribute to weight loss, but generally only marginally). So, the important thing is that you're being active and doing what works for you and helps you reach your health/fitness goals that aren't necessarily weight-related.. If that's a 45 minute walk and a yoga session, then that's what it is.
A lot of people work activity into their everyday lives, without specifically going to work out. Hauling a bunch of dirt and mulch for your garden, for example, is hard work and counts as a "workout," even though it's not in a gym.0 -
I am ridiculously inactive. I started in May averaging 3000 steps a day. Made it a goal to double that starting in August. I did well with that through September, then slowly got right back to averaging 3500 currently. I just walked. That's all. Tried some resistance training off and on for a week or two just using cords at home, but not enough to have mattered. I also had many days over the summer that I did very hard physical work while remodeling my Dads house. Those days and preceding days were major. I felt them a week later! So that's literally all I've done.
Lost almost 30 of my 39 pounds. I'm 8 months in. But I actually weigh the exact same right now as I did in October, so... It's time for me to add more activity for sure. I do believe exercise should be done with the focus on health and not weight loss. If your desire to lose weight is for better health, exercise just makes sense. But I also think walking your dog everyday counts as long as it's a good 20-30 minutes at a brisk pace.
Sadly, I've been paying gym fees this whole time.
yeah... I know. One battle at a time. Lol 0 -
Dragonwolf wrote: »
Weight loss happens primarily in the kitchen. Or, as the saying goes -- you can't outrun a bad diet.
Exercise doesn't really contribute to weight loss unless you're not increasing your food intake to fuel those workouts, in which case, it's only doing so because it increases the deficit. It does, however, increase overall health (which can indirectly contribute to weight loss, but generally only marginally). So, the important thing is that you're being active and doing what works for you and helps you reach your health/fitness goals that aren't necessarily weight-related.. If that's a 45 minute walk and a yoga session, then that's what it is.
Respectfully I completely disagree with this(focusing on the bolded part), especially on keto. While I agree you can't outrun a bad diet, that statement is moot here since the 'diet' in question is keto, and as such you don't need to increase your food intake to fuel the workouts. Given these points you're increasing your energy expenditure which will cause you to burn more fat as fuel.
While you don't have to exercise to lose weight...it will help with the cause(accepting that weight loss is not linear so it's not run x miles = lose x lbs).0 -
Dragonwolf wrote: »
Weight loss happens primarily in the kitchen. Or, as the saying goes -- you can't outrun a bad diet.
Exercise doesn't really contribute to weight loss unless you're not increasing your food intake to fuel those workouts, in which case, it's only doing so because it increases the deficit. It does, however, increase overall health (which can indirectly contribute to weight loss, but generally only marginally). So, the important thing is that you're being active and doing what works for you and helps you reach your health/fitness goals that aren't necessarily weight-related.. If that's a 45 minute walk and a yoga session, then that's what it is.
Respectfully I completely disagree with this(focusing on the bolded part), especially on keto. While I agree you can't outrun a bad diet, that statement is moot here since the 'diet' in question is keto, and as such you don't need to increase your food intake to fuel the workouts. Given these points you're increasing your energy expenditure which will cause you to burn more fat as fuel.
While you don't have to exercise to lose weight...it will help with the cause(accepting that weight loss is not linear so it's not run x miles = lose x lbs).
I thought that's what she meant... Could be mistaken... Though I don't think so.
"Exercise doesn't really contribute to weight loss unless you're not increasing your food intake to fuel those workouts, in which case, it's only doing so because it increases the deficit."0 -
My favorite studies are dose-response studies. You know, like varying carb intake and measuring the effects.
Here's a dose-response study of exercise:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3762482/
With regard to body weight, we found that even without changes in diet, 73% of our overweight or mildly obese subjects were able to prevent weight gain or experience modest weight loss with 180 min of moderate-intensity exercise each week (29). Moderate amounts of exercise also led to significant loss of total body fat mass (Figure 1). More activity (the high-amount group) resulted in greater weight loss, fat loss, and reductions in measures of central obesity
Personally, I don't exercise for weight loss, but it might help. Some people appear to be more exercise-sensitive than others.
It definitely helps in terms of body composition, strength, endurance, heart rate, circulation to tissues, HDL, and other health markers.0 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
I thought that's what she meant... Could be mistaken... Though I don't think so.
"Exercise doesn't really contribute to weight loss unless you're not increasing your food intake to fuel those workouts, in which case, it's only doing so because it increases the deficit."
Apologies @Dragonwolf. I completely missed that critical NOT in your sentence. I was multi-tasking when I read your reply and didn't see it.
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It was my goal this month to start exercising, but it hasn't happened yet. As others have mentioned, I've read a number of quality studies that suggest that exercise provides minimal weight loss benefits, so it hasn't been a top priority for me in that regard. I've lost 23lbs in the last month and probably about 5 lbs in the three weeks before that (I didn't step on the scale).
My exercise objective is to reduce my insulin usage even further, which in turn will help my weight loss, more so than the actual exercise alone. On a ketogenic diet, I've reduced my insulin use by 90%. I was at 30-35 grams of carbs a day at the beginning of the month and reduced to less than 20 grams the first week of January and haven't had a further drop in blood sugar levels yet, so haven't been able to reduce insulin any further. But I'm confident that some daily exercise will help me kick the last 10% as I have successfully reduced my insulin in the past with exercise, with no changes to diet at the time.0 -
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My favorite studies are dose-response studies. You know, like varying carb intake and measuring the effects.
Here's a dose-response study of exercise:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3762482/
With regard to body weight, we found that even without changes in diet, 73% of our overweight or mildly obese subjects were able to prevent weight gain or experience modest weight loss with 180 min of moderate-intensity exercise each week (29). Moderate amounts of exercise also led to significant loss of total body fat mass (Figure 1). More activity (the high-amount group) resulted in greater weight loss, fat loss, and reductions in measures of central obesity
Personally, I don't exercise for weight loss, but it might help. Some people appear to be more exercise-sensitive than others.
It definitely helps in terms of body composition, strength, endurance, heart rate, circulation to tissues, HDL, and other health markers.
Assuming the "without changes in diet" part includes no increase in food intake, then the people losing weight were probably eating at maintenance levels, so the increase in activity allowed them to drop some weight. I didn't say it was completely moot -- exercising still burns calories, so if you're not making up those calories, you will either lose weight if you weren't over-eating, slow/stop gaining if you were, or lose a little more weight if you were already at a deficit.
However, it's the "20" part of the 80/20 rule when it comes to weight loss. Dietary changes, even if they're tweaks in an already good diet, will generally get you farther with less effort than trying to exercise your way to a given deficit. Because of its relatively small effects, it's better, in my opinion, to exercise for purposes of non-scale goals (health, strength, etc) than the scale ones, because that's where exercise shines.Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »
I thought that's what she meant... Could be mistaken... Though I don't think so.
"Exercise doesn't really contribute to weight loss unless you're not increasing your food intake to fuel those workouts, in which case, it's only doing so because it increases the deficit."
Apologies @Dragonwolf. I completely missed that critical NOT in your sentence. I was multi-tasking when I read your reply and didn't see it.
No worries.
And yeah, it was my point that it won't hurt to do so, but you don't have to exercise to lose weight if you don't want to or can't. (We could also go into the other effects that result in the scale slowing or stopping the downward trend when exercise is introduced or utilized, but that's a whole different can of worms.
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I did not exercise at all in the first couple of months. By the third month I was going for some walks two or three times a week. Once school started up I was mostly back to nothing. I ave been dabbling in weights but the weekend warrior method I have isn't helping anything.
I have also been doing maybe half an hour of basketball every week since October. That isn't helping either. I tend to have too much fun, play too hard, and then hobble on ad hips for a good week. I am especially so today. I had a small piece of cake and cinnamon bun for my birthday and the sugars set off a bit of autoimmune pain. Add basketball onto that and I look pretty feeble today. LOL
I rambled... Sorry. I exercise only sporadically and as my arthritis allows.0 -
cottagegirl71 wrote: »Hello! Curious about how many of you are losing without actually going to the gym/doing a "workout"? Reluctant to renew my membership (time and money issues) but can manage a 45 minute walk with the dog 4 days/week + one 90 minute yoga session......I was doing LC all summer and it was flying off but was also pretty active. Thoughts?
Forget the hard exercise. Walking and other mild exercise is ok, lose the membership, save yourself some money. I can think of a few reasons:
1) Hard exercise will increase your hunger. The whole point of the Keto/Fat eating is to decrease your hunger as you eat less calories. LOW fat diets make you hungry.
2) Hard exercising is a powerful psychological reason to eat extra, because after-all, you either burned it off or can burn it off, either way it justifies over-eating.
3) Hard exercise inflames the body, any type of inflammation will cause your body to absorb water. It will hold onto the water for days. You will be depressed when you do that hard workout, and show no/or small amount of a loss.
4) I lost over 100 lbs on a Keto diet without any hard exercise (and other than a few instances, I didn't do any walking either.) I added water fasting to my routine, to break stalls.
I hope this helps,
Dan the Man from Michigan
Keto / The Recipe Water Fasting / E.A.S.Y. Exercise Program
Blog #13 DittoDan's Milestone's, First's And Good Changes Since Starting the Ketogenic Diet Updated
DittoDan's Keto Blogs
How I got Off of Diabetic Prescriptions Drugs Since I Started Keto Updated
Blog #11 Really Good Keto Websites
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I started keto 11/2 and was training for a Thanksgiving morning 5K, so I was running about 3x/wk. I had a hard time with it those first few weeks until I got adapted. I haven't been running much lately but I've been doing more strength training and yoga/stretching, and some HIIT/intervals.0
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1) Hard exercise will increase your hunger. The whole point of the Keto/Fat eating is to decrease your hunger as you eat less calories. LOW fat diets make you hungry.
Not always. Hard exercise suppresses my hunger most times. But even so, there's nothing wrong with eating a little extra. The hunger modulation still happens (I've actually got logs that show it at work for myself).2) Hard exercising is a powerful psychological reason to eat extra, because after-all, you either burned it off or can burn it off, either way it justifies over-eating.
Psychological reasons to overeat are arguably something that need to be addressed outside of avoidance of the physical activity in question. I've personally found that the appetite modulating effects of low carb overpower the psychological component, by and large.3) Hard exercise inflames the body, any type of inflammation will cause your body to absorb water. It will hold onto the water for days. You will be depressed when you do that hard workout, and show no/or small amount of a loss.
Reason number 367543 why the scale on any given day is a poor indicator of progress.4) I lost over 100 lbs on a Keto diet without any hard exercise (and other than a few instances, I didn't do any walking either.) I added water fasting to my routine, to break stalls.
This is a fantastic example of my assertion earlier that exercise is not required for weight loss. However, I disagree with the blanket discouragement of hard exercise (and while I do agree that the OP need not waste money on a gym membership, one does not need a gym to participate in hard exercise).
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I've lost 50lbs in the last year without exercising at all -- keto/no carb only. I started exercising last week - c25k and a squat challenge - just for the mental clarity it brings and to enjoy the outdoors.
I went from 242 to 191 in a year. I gained a few pounds due to lazy keto but they're starting to come off again.
The c25k programs has been great. Just light jogging and walking so far. My wife and I are running two 5ks in the middle of March, which sound like they're going to be a lot of fun.0 -
milandy1969 wrote: »for the mental clarity it brings and to enjoy the outdoors.
That seems to be the secret to staying motivated -- do it because you enjoy it and look forward to it.
Not for weight loss. Not for health. Not because you think you "should."
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I agree with wabmester, do what you enjoy and look forward to. I personally think exercise is beneficial because it helps me feel strong, gives me mental clarity and is good for the heart. It helped me lose 40 pounds. Now I am looking to drop another 20 with LC and exercise. So far, so good!0
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So proud of all of you! I am going to start by walking/yoga...and hopefully by the time the snow melts and I feel stronger I will be encouraged to do something else....for fun!0
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milandy1969 wrote: »for the mental clarity it brings and to enjoy the outdoors.
That seems to be the secret to staying motivated -- do it because you enjoy it and look forward to it.
Not for weight loss. Not for health. Not because you think you "should."
Glad to see you promoting my E.A.S.Y. Exercise program Wab! Thank you!
Enjoyable - fun, pleasurable exercise
Achievement - work, serves a purpose
Sustainable - more likely to stay on the program
Yields - yields great rewards, benefits and fitness
Dan the Man from Michigan
Keto / The Recipe Water Fasting / E.A.S.Y. Exercise Program 0 -
It's true, Dan -- I do think you've got the secret sauce.
When I first started exercise, my philosophy was that it should also be useful work, but I just couldn't do that consistently enough.
Running is something that's easier to do consistently, and there's a very low barrier (just put on shoes and go), but it's not very useful work. It becomes a habit. And it can become a social thing -- meet your buddies at a 5K. And you can either decide to challenge yourself, or just do a slow meditative run, or a mix.
Similar with bodyweight exercises and yoga. Low barrier, sustainable, relaxing, challenging as you want it to be, potentially even a social outlet. A friend of mine ended up marrying his yoga teacher.
Edit: I should add that in terms of useful work, I try to walk and bike to destinations when possible, as well as doing stuff like yard work.0
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