"You can't out-exercise a bad diet."

alondrakayy

But technically you can right? Because of CICO?

williammuney

Yes it's fun

jemhh

Technically, yes.

The idea, though, is that it is easier to create a calorie deficit by simply not eating something than it is to do so by increasing your activity. They key is that you are talking about a sizable calorie deficit--250, 500, etc. It's easier to not eat the Snickers (250 calories) or Coke and chips (140 cal/can, 160 cal/svg), etc.) than it is to exercise and burn off those calories.

PaulaWallaDingDong

Technically, when only considering calories, you can, but if you're overeating by a significant amount, don't plan on having much downtime.

If you're talking about bad nutrition, no you can't.

queenliz99

For twenty years, I couldn't figure why I could not lose those last 20 pounds. It was because I wasn't in a deficit. You cannot outrun overeating.

PaulaWallaDingDong

jemhh wrote: »

Technically, yes.

The idea, though, is that it is easier to create a calorie deficit by simply not eating something than it is to do so by increasing your activity. They key is that you are talking about a sizable calorie deficit--250, 500, etc. It's easier to not eat the Snickers (250 calories) or Coke and chips (140 cal/can, 160 cal/svg), etc.) than it is to exercise and burn off those calories.

Yeah this.

goldthistime

Technically yes. But for most of us, it's somewhat easy to eat say, 2000 calories more than normal out of the blue in a day, but quite difficult to burn 2000 calories extra. We end up injured. Not to mention that the exercise calorie burn is harder to get an exact read on. And if we are eating to satisfy our appetite and then exercising to make up for it, but the extra exercise itself causes an increase in appetite, well, you get the idea.

cinnag4225

alondrakayy wrote: »

But technically you can right? Because of CICO?

You can out-exercise a bad diet to maintain/lose weight, but in doing so you're looking at a plethora of other health problems in the long run including muscle and organ deterioration, mental impacts, etc.

tulips_and_tea

queenliz99 wrote: »

For twenty years, I couldn't figure why I could not lose those last 20 pounds. It was because I wasn't in a deficit. You cannot outrun overeating.

Same here. I've exercised regularly since I was in middle school, but it wasn't until I found a healthier, sustainable eating program did all that exercise begin to pay off. Now I exercise less than I ever have (quantity-wise, better quality) but am in much better shape. It's all about the diet first and foremost, IMHO.

goldthistime

williammuney wrote: »

Yes it's fun

I like your positive spirit! Certainly you could leave your calorie intake at maintenance levels and just exercise your way to a deficit.

ogtmama

I think it depends on how bad the diet is...I've seen posts here where people have eaten 5000 calories on a bad day. Good luck running that off.

emdeesea

Yeah I think they mean "bad" as in way too much.

Lounmoun

Except there are more factors involved like how bad the diet is and what your conditions are.

If you need to burn 6,000 + calories a day to keep up with your intake and you are an out of shape obese office worker who can only walk 15 minutes before collapsing in pain and gasping then it isn't technically possible for you to out exercise your intake. It is better to reduce your intake to match what you can realistically burn.
If you jog for 9 hours you can and should eat a lot more calories... but very few people have 9 hours to jog every day. Don't eat like you are going jogging for 9 hours unless you are.

queenliz99

BZAH10 wrote: »

queenliz99 wrote: »

For twenty years, I couldn't figure why I could not lose those last 20 pounds. It was because I wasn't in a deficit. You cannot outrun overeating.

Same here. I've exercised regularly since I was in middle school, but it wasn't until I found a healthier, sustainable eating program did all that exercise begin to pay off. Now I exercise less than I ever have (quantity-wise, better quality) but am in much better shape. It's all about the diet first and foremost, IMHO.

Yep. I used to take spin classes four or five days a week and then it turned into teaching them for years. I was killing myself with all the cardio and nothing else. Figuring out many calories I need a day is so much easier.

WinoGelato

jemhh wrote: »

Technically, yes.

The idea, though, is that it is easier to create a calorie deficit by simply not eating something than it is to do so by increasing your activity. They key is that you are talking about a sizable calorie deficit--250, 500, etc. It's easier to not eat the Snickers (250 calories) or Coke and chips (140 cal/can, 160 cal/svg), etc.) than it is to exercise and burn off those calories.

Yes - this.

CattOfTheGarage

Yeah, it's just too easy to eat 200 calories and then you realise just how far you have to walk to burn that off and it becomes, if not impossible, then certainly impractical, pretty quickly.

There's a basic imbalance between most people's perception of what a calorie means, food wise, and the harsh reality of how much activity it represents. I think that's one of the best lessons myfitnesspal teaches you, actually, is how puny the calorie burn is even for intensive exercise.

So even if you might debate about whether "can't" is too strong a word, I think the basic message is true. Starting with exercise is putting the cart before the horse: diet really has to come first.

Add to this the fact that people who increase exercise without tracking their food usually end up eating even more than the extra burn and it becomes even more important.

TR0berts

That depends entirely on how, exactly, you are defining the term, "bad diet."

tulips_and_tea

CattOfTheGarage wrote: »

Yeah, it's just too easy to eat 200 calories and then you realise just how far you have to walk to burn that off and it becomes, if not impossible, then certainly impractical, pretty quickly.

There's a basic imbalance between most people's perception of what a calorie means, food wise, and the harsh reality of how much activity it represents. I think that's one of the best lessons myfitnesspal teaches you, actually, is how puny the calorie burn is even for intensive exercise.

So even if you might debate about whether "can't" is too strong a word, I think the basic message is true. Starting with exercise is putting the cart before the horse: diet really has to come first.

Add to this the fact that people who increase exercise without tracking their food usually end up eating even more than the extra burn and it becomes even more important.

Very true. Even if you can sustain or lose weight by exercising excessively it is certainly not a good long-term plan. What if you get sick? Or injured? The weight will pile on if you don't change your eating habits, which is much easier to do in the first place. Relying on exercise to maintain your weight is not a good plan.

missh1967

When I was 20, exercising off excess calories was easy. Now at my age? Not so much. lol

sijomial

Do you mean high calorie diet rather than bad?
You can have a high calorie bad diet or a low calorie bad diet.

But it's a damn sight easier to meet all your nutrition needs with a high calorie diet though.
So it follows that high calorie is good therefore it's extremely easy to out exercise a bad diet which must be low calorie by definition if high is good......

karbruce

I think as you get older this becomes impossible. I am overweight now because I could "out-run" what I ate in my teens and 20s and even into my 30s but after 35 and then after 40 it became more and more difficult until I couldn't anymore. It was a sad day for me when I realized that. I was so damn tired from working out and the scale was not moving! Really I should have been thanking my lucky stars that I was able to do it so long with hurting myself. To be clear I was never someone who spent 6 hours on the elliptical to work off everything I ate. But I was able to keep the weight in check by working out 5-6 times a week mixture of cardio and strength. Nothing crazy. Anyway now I am taking a hard look at what goes in! It only took me over 40 years to get here!