Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.

If it's all CICO - why can't you outrun a bad diet?

145791014

Replies

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    [In this situation I was not talking about people on MFP; I'm referring to the general population.

    You are claiming that lots of people eat only "junk."

    Maybe that's so.

    How does that contribute to the conversation? Do you think that most of them are doing so because they think exercise will provide the micros they are allegedly missing out on?
  • yusaku02
    yusaku02 Posts: 3,472 Member
    parfia wrote: »
    This is purely for debate purposes - if weight loss is purely calories in and calories out, why can't you 'outrun a bad diet' - surely if you run enough to burn off the calories of a bad dietary intake, you can for all intents and purposes outrun a bad diet?

    If a person is in a caloric deficit surely they will lose irrespective of what their food intake is.

    begin.....
    Because most people don't have 4-6 hours a day to devote to running and our bodies aren't meant to handle that much punishment. Toenail clipper manufacturers would go out of business and nail polish companies would see a 50% decrease in sales almost overnight. Don't even start me on the chafing... Also even if everyone did have the time, maaaybe 0.005% of the population would have the willpower to even attempt 30+ miles daily.
  • 100df
    100df Posts: 668 Member
    100df wrote: »
    TV shows like the Biggest Loser give people the idea that you can exercise your fat away. I am lazy so it fascinates me how these people who are overweight and out of shape exercise intensely for hours. I don't know where their endurance comes from. While my endurance has increased greatly, it isn't nearly like that.

    To burn 1000 calories via exercise it would take me more hours of walking than I am willing to do.

    Endurance is directly proportional to the promise of lots of money. That's like biology 101, duhhh.

    So endurance is more in your mind than what your body is physically capable of.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    Too much "thinkin" and not enough "doin". That's what I see.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,033 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Too much "thinkin" and not enough "doin". That's what I see.

    Seriously...
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I can't believe there are 7 pages on this topic. It's like debating on whether the Earth is round.

    *scratches head*
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I can't believe there are 7 pages on this topic. It's like debating on whether the Earth is round.

    *scratches head*

    That it is
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    [In this situation I was not talking about people on MFP; I'm referring to the general population.

    You are claiming that lots of people eat only "junk."

    Maybe that's so.

    How does that contribute to the conversation? Do you think that most of them are doing so because they think exercise will provide the micros they are allegedly missing out on?
    I'm not claiming that this is necessarily the case on a widespread level, but it wouldn't surprise if there are plenty of people out there who think that because they exercise and stay slim, they can eat lots of junk food and little nutritious food.

    FWIW, I know based on my TDEE and activity level that I could eat a diet that's mostly all junk food to my heart's content (what my appetite allows) and I wouldn't gain a significant amount of weight. I would say in this regard that no, I could not outrun this kind of diet because it would be detrimental to my health, regardless of the fact that I wouldn't really gain weight.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    To me a 'bad diet' means a Way Of Eating that gives me worse health.

    A 'good diet' means a WOE that leads to better health.

    One could find a WOE that would lead to a 50 pound weight loss yet have increased their risk of a premature death.
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
    annaskiski wrote: »
    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    Well you do burn at least a thousand calories just going about your normal day. A lot of the posts stating how difficult it is to burn off X000 calories seem to be ignoring that. Personally i dislike the statement in the title - I think it tends to be limiting to individuals who could utilize exercise as their primary weight control tool. Depending on "how bad" my diet is, a bit of exercise just might be exactly what I need to get my weight to where I want it.

    No one's claiming that you can't burn 1000 calories in a couple hours of intense exercise. But I often see stuff like:
    'Mowing the lawn 45min. 750 calories....'

    Wow, really? (ok, maybe with a push mower).
    I don't burn more than 400 cal in an hour run according to my HRM, but yes, I know that other people can burn much more. (and I would die if I ran more than an hour).
    But I see so often people post that they can't lose weight, and then post 2000-3000 calorie burns for walking, some aerobics, etc.

    Not even for a push mower (I assume this is a reel mower, no power)...Harvard Medical School gives that 488 calories an hour for a 185 lb person. Maybe they were super heavy and then mowing uphill both ways.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Burgers and snickers diet!! FTW!!
  • moe0303
    moe0303 Posts: 934 Member
    Ok what if you eat at maintenance everyday, but burn off 500 calories through exercise to lose 1lb a week. Would this be classed as outrunning a "bad" diet?
    It wouldn't be a bad diet if you were at maintenance.

  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    To me a 'bad diet' means a Way Of Eating that gives me worse health.

    A 'good diet' means a WOE that leads to better health.

    One could find a WOE that would lead to a 50 pound weight loss yet have increased their risk of a premature death.

    I think the only one that qualifies for everyone would be starvation.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    annaskiski wrote: »
    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    Well you do burn at least a thousand calories just going about your normal day. A lot of the posts stating how difficult it is to burn off X000 calories seem to be ignoring that. Personally i dislike the statement in the title - I think it tends to be limiting to individuals who could utilize exercise as their primary weight control tool. Depending on "how bad" my diet is, a bit of exercise just might be exactly what I need to get my weight to where I want it.

    No one's claiming that you can't burn 1000 calories in a couple hours of intense exercise. But I often see stuff like:
    'Mowing the lawn 45min. 750 calories....'

    Wow, really? (ok, maybe with a push mower).
    I don't burn more than 400 cal in an hour run according to my HRM, but yes, I know that other people can burn much more. (and I would die if I ran more than an hour).
    But I see so often people post that they can't lose weight, and then post 2000-3000 calorie burns for walking, some aerobics, etc.

    Not even for a push mower (I assume this is a reel mower, no power)...Harvard Medical School gives that 488 calories an hour for a 185 lb person. Maybe they were super heavy and then mowing uphill both ways.

    I don't mow often, but occasionally will mow a relative's place that has a short hill (maybe 20-25 feet at the highest) with about 200% grade and is very wide (about 150 feet). A 2nd similar hill on the other side of the property is almost as steep, taller, but not as wide. When I mow that, it is using a push mower (gas powered) and it is difficult. A riding mower would be dangerous, though I've actually seen it done on the less steep of the hills (I would not try this). The guy would sit with his body hanging off of the mower on the uphill side to balance the weight so it wouldn't flip.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    stealthq wrote: »
    To me a 'bad diet' means a Way Of Eating that gives me worse health.

    A 'good diet' means a WOE that leads to better health.

    One could find a WOE that would lead to a 50 pound weight loss yet have increased their risk of a premature death.

    I think the only one that qualifies for everyone would be starvation.

    Why do you say that?
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    annaskiski wrote: »
    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    Well you do burn at least a thousand calories just going about your normal day. A lot of the posts stating how difficult it is to burn off X000 calories seem to be ignoring that. Personally i dislike the statement in the title - I think it tends to be limiting to individuals who could utilize exercise as their primary weight control tool. Depending on "how bad" my diet is, a bit of exercise just might be exactly what I need to get my weight to where I want it.

    No one's claiming that you can't burn 1000 calories in a couple hours of intense exercise. But I often see stuff like:
    'Mowing the lawn 45min. 750 calories....'

    Wow, really? (ok, maybe with a push mower).
    I don't burn more than 400 cal in an hour run according to my HRM, but yes, I know that other people can burn much more. (and I would die if I ran more than an hour).
    But I see so often people post that they can't lose weight, and then post 2000-3000 calorie burns for walking, some aerobics, etc.

    Not even for a push mower (I assume this is a reel mower, no power)...Harvard Medical School gives that 488 calories an hour for a 185 lb person. Maybe they were super heavy and then mowing uphill both ways.

    I don't mow often, but occasionally will mow a relative's place that has a short hill (maybe 20-25 feet at the highest) with about 200% grade and is very wide (about 150 feet). A 2nd similar hill on the other side of the property is almost as steep, taller, but not as wide. When I mow that, it is using a push mower (gas powered) and it is difficult. A riding mower would be dangerous, though I've actually seen it done on the less steep of the hills (I would not try this). The guy would sit with his body hanging off of the mower on the uphill side to balance the weight so it wouldn't flip.

    That's not a push mower.

    k2-_9128b132-8457-41ce-9e2e-06c16c373b52.v1.jpg
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
    jofjltncb6 wrote: »
    kmbrooks15 wrote: »
    You could outrun it, but it may not be healthy to do so. Eating 1500 calories of crap and burning 2000 calories will still cause weight loss, but you will likely be unhealthy because of the lack of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients necessary.

    Is crap in the MFP database? What is the nutritional profile of crap? Also, it seems unhealthy to eat crap. You should probably seek professional help for the compulsion that is leading you to eat crap instead of food. That sounds like a serious and potentially dangerous problem.

    You leave my dog out of this! I can't help he likes to turdburgle the other dogs second harvest
  • RollTideTri
    RollTideTri Posts: 116 Member
    yusaku02 wrote: »
    parfia wrote: »
    This is purely for debate purposes - if weight loss is purely calories in and calories out, why can't you 'outrun a bad diet' - surely if you run enough to burn off the calories of a bad dietary intake, you can for all intents and purposes outrun a bad diet?

    If a person is in a caloric deficit surely they will lose irrespective of what their food intake is.

    begin.....
    Because most people don't have 4-6 hours a day to devote to running and our bodies aren't meant to handle that much punishment. Toenail clipper manufacturers would go out of business and nail polish companies would see a 50% decrease in sales almost overnight. Don't even start me on the chafing... Also even if everyone did have the time, maaaybe 0.005% of the population would have the willpower to even attempt 30+ miles daily.

    Exactly. Michael Phelps eats 8-10K calories a day. Saw a story on it a while back. The dude literally shoves in Big Macs with both hands in between workouts, but how many people work out like him? To burn even 2000 calories in a 24 hour period is far beyond the capacity of almost everyone. Even 1000 per day has to be worked up to over months/years. And relatively few people have the desire and/or time to exercise that much.

    I ran or an hour this morning and burned ~600 calories. I could cancel that out with food soooooo easily.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    edited April 2016
    auddii wrote: »
    annaskiski wrote: »
    JaneiR36 wrote: »
    Well you do burn at least a thousand calories just going about your normal day. A lot of the posts stating how difficult it is to burn off X000 calories seem to be ignoring that. Personally i dislike the statement in the title - I think it tends to be limiting to individuals who could utilize exercise as their primary weight control tool. Depending on "how bad" my diet is, a bit of exercise just might be exactly what I need to get my weight to where I want it.

    No one's claiming that you can't burn 1000 calories in a couple hours of intense exercise. But I often see stuff like:
    'Mowing the lawn 45min. 750 calories....'

    Wow, really? (ok, maybe with a push mower).
    I don't burn more than 400 cal in an hour run according to my HRM, but yes, I know that other people can burn much more. (and I would die if I ran more than an hour).
    But I see so often people post that they can't lose weight, and then post 2000-3000 calorie burns for walking, some aerobics, etc.

    Not even for a push mower (I assume this is a reel mower, no power)...Harvard Medical School gives that 488 calories an hour for a 185 lb person. Maybe they were super heavy and then mowing uphill both ways.

    I don't mow often, but occasionally will mow a relative's place that has a short hill (maybe 20-25 feet at the highest) with about 200% grade and is very wide (about 150 feet). A 2nd similar hill on the other side of the property is almost as steep, taller, but not as wide. When I mow that, it is using a push mower (gas powered) and it is difficult. A riding mower would be dangerous, though I've actually seen it done on the less steep of the hills (I would not try this). The guy would sit with his body hanging off of the mower on the uphill side to balance the weight so it wouldn't flip.

    That's not a push mower.

    k2-_9128b132-8457-41ce-9e2e-06c16c373b52.v1.jpg

    We had one of these growing up too... at the same property.

    Still, I know there are a lot more than 488 cal/hr. burned pushing (or holding back, but still against the groud on the downhill side) a gas or electric powered mower up and down a 200% grade.

    ETA: Technically, it is still a push mower as long as it doesn't move its own wheels. Gas power for the blade doesn't mean it doesn't need to be pushed by someone. The ones that roll by themselves and someone needs to guide their direction are not push mowers, but the ones I'm talking about with a gas motor for the blade only are still considered push mowers.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    3POyupA.gif

    Cute!

    And quite right. ;-)
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Here's a really good discussion of the topic: http://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories

    By really good, I don't mean that I agree with everything -- I don't.* But worth reading. (I need to spend some more time with it.)

    One issue is that there's probably a distinction between people who become overweight and those who don't and between those engaged in different levels of activity. In one of his books, Matt Fitzgerald (who has written a lot about weight-control in endurance athletes focused on food choices, so clearly sees food as a key) discusses one of the "exercise doesn't help" studies, and points out it focused on people who are basically sedentary and adding what for them was "work" (a tedious walk on the treadmill exercise) that nevertheless did not burn all that many calories. That likely set up a pretty unsurprising dynamic where they felt like they deserved to eat more, despite not really having burned that much more than usual.

    People seem to vary quite a bit on how physical activity affects appetite, and as I said above, those who can "outrun a bad diet" are those who don't get fat in the first place. People who get fat either can't or else had some interference in their usual level of activity that led to weight gain, perhaps.

    *Specifically, although I think focusing on food is the best way for MOST to lose weight, I don't think that means that we should not prioritize activity and public policy that might make activity (including walking in daily life vs. having to drive everywhere, biking accessibility, etc.) more commonplace. Those things are really important apart from the effect on obesity, including for health.

    Excellent article. Thanks for sharing it.

  • Wickedfaery73
    Wickedfaery73 Posts: 184 Member
    I have an idea! Let's start saying "It is difficult (for most) to outrun a bad diet" =D
  • sunnybeaches105
    sunnybeaches105 Posts: 2,831 Member
    Hornsby wrote: »
    Too much "thinkin" and not enough "doin". That's what I see.

    To be honest, I'm not seeing much of either. At least the gifs have started.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    moe0303 wrote: »
    Ok what if you eat at maintenance everyday, but burn off 500 calories through exercise to lose 1lb a week. Would this be classed as outrunning a "bad" diet?
    It wouldn't be a bad diet if you were at maintenance.

    Huh?

    How is it only okay at maintenance?



    It would actually be a terrible diet at maintenance....because it would be 500 daily calories too little.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    stealthq wrote: »
    To me a 'bad diet' means a Way Of Eating that gives me worse health.

    A 'good diet' means a WOE that leads to better health.

    One could find a WOE that would lead to a 50 pound weight loss yet have increased their risk of a premature death.

    I think the only one that qualifies for everyone would be starvation.

    Why do you say that?

    Plenty of people don't have 50 lbs to lose. Plenty don't have 1 lb to lose. Only way for those people to drop weight is starvation. As it happens, starvation also guarantees an increased risk of premature death.

    People with weight to lose would have more options.
  • moe0303
    moe0303 Posts: 934 Member
    edited April 2016
    jofjltncb6 wrote: »
    moe0303 wrote: »
    Ok what if you eat at maintenance everyday, but burn off 500 calories through exercise to lose 1lb a week. Would this be classed as outrunning a "bad" diet?
    It wouldn't be a bad diet if you were at maintenance.

    Huh?

    How is it only okay at maintenance?



    It would actually be a terrible diet at maintenance....because it would be 500 daily calories too little.

    How would it be 500 calories too little if you were maintaining? If we are talking about "outrunning a bad diet", wouldn't you have to start with a bad diet? I would say a diet at maintenance is at least neutral, if not desired.

    ETA: To be clear, I am of the camp that understands the saying to be an expression of an idea vs an actual factual statement.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Here's a really good discussion of the topic: http://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories

    By really good, I don't mean that I agree with everything -- I don't.* But worth reading. (I need to spend some more time with it.)

    One issue is that there's probably a distinction between people who become overweight and those who don't and between those engaged in different levels of activity. In one of his books, Matt Fitzgerald (who has written a lot about weight-control in endurance athletes focused on food choices, so clearly sees food as a key) discusses one of the "exercise doesn't help" studies, and points out it focused on people who are basically sedentary and adding what for them was "work" (a tedious walk on the treadmill exercise) that nevertheless did not burn all that many calories. That likely set up a pretty unsurprising dynamic where they felt like they deserved to eat more, despite not really having burned that much more than usual.

    People seem to vary quite a bit on how physical activity affects appetite, and as I said above, those who can "outrun a bad diet" are those who don't get fat in the first place. People who get fat either can't or else had some interference in their usual level of activity that led to weight gain, perhaps.

    *Specifically, although I think focusing on food is the best way for MOST to lose weight, I don't think that means that we should not prioritize activity and public policy that might make activity (including walking in daily life vs. having to drive everywhere, biking accessibility, etc.) more commonplace. Those things are really important apart from the effect on obesity, including for health.

    Awesome article, thanks for sharing.
This discussion has been closed.