One hour not enough?

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OldHound
OldHound Posts: 17 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It seems that the "conventional wisdom" is that one hour a day of aerobic activity should be enough for weight loss. (along with proper diet) I'm not so sure about that. I'm a stay at home Grandpa, watching over and home schooling my two grandchildren while everyone else works. I'm doing "Couch to 5K" every other morning, Body weight exercises, and I take about a two mile walk in the evening. I'm not convinced that's enough. Does anyone else think this way?

Replies

  • LazSommer
    LazSommer Posts: 1,851 Member
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    Why wouldn't it be?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Actually, the conventional wisdom about exercise is (I think) about how much you need for good health, not for weight loss.

    You lose weight by eating less calories than you burn. Obviously, exercise increases the amount of calories you burn per day a little, so it can help, but it's not necessary for weight loss.

    How much exercise you "need" for weight loss depends entirely on how much you eat!
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    Exercise doesn't create weight loss, eating fewer calories than you burn does. As the saying goes, "Weight loss is created in the kitchen, not the gym." If you increase how much you're eating along with adding exercise, which a lot of people who aren't calorie counting do, you probably won't lose weight.
  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,262 Member
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    I started my weight loss journey with 20 mins of exercise every day. That's all I could manage.
    It didn't slow my weight loss. The most important thing was how much I ate
  • RobynLucas
    RobynLucas Posts: 1 Member
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    Does anyone know how many calories a one hour intense yoga class burns in calories?
  • kthompson601
    kthompson601 Posts: 174 Member
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    RobynLucas wrote: »
    Does anyone know how many calories a one hour intense yoga class burns in calories?

    It's going to vary greatly depending on the person. It also probably doesn't burn nearly as much as you think it will. You could try wearing a heart rate monitor during the class, but I've found those don't seem to accurately reflect burns during strength training, and my yoga class at least is a lot of planking, core work, and lunges. Personally, I never count my yoga class in my calories burned.
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
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    I average 1.5 - 2.5 hours of exercise per day, depending on the day...if you feel comfortable doing more and have time to do more, go for it!!!
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited August 2016
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    kthompson601 wrote: »
    RobynLucas wrote: »
    Does anyone know how many calories a one hour intense yoga class burns in calories?

    It's going to vary greatly depending on the person. It also probably doesn't burn nearly as much as you think it will. You could try wearing a heart rate monitor during the class, but I've found those don't seem to accurately reflect burns during strength training, and my yoga class at least is a lot of planking, core work, and lunges. Personally, I never count my yoga class in my calories burned.

    Same here with the HRM, though I tend to only count it as like 200 calories or so for an hour. Yoga, even intense yoga, isn't necessarily a high calorie burner. When I wear my HRM during a flow yoga class, it would give me about 300 calories or so.

    Also, to answer your question, OP, I'm currently doing aboit 45 minutes of exercise each day on average, and still losing weight. You do not need to kill yourself with it to improve your health. In fact, I've found for me that excessive exercise actually has the opposite effect. When I over exercise, my appetite spikes, i get mad sugar cravings, and it's all I can do to keep from eating everything in the house.
    Some people do zero exercise, and still lose.

    Exercise is for fitness, diet is for weight loss.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    edited August 2016
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    SueInAz wrote: »
    Exercise doesn't create weight loss, eating fewer calories than you burn does. As the saying goes, "Weight loss is created in the kitchen, not the gym." If you increase how much you're eating along with adding exercise, which a lot of people who aren't calorie counting do, you probably won't lose weight.

    yes it does..to the bolded, given the right circumstances...if someone chooses to eat at maintenance and exercise they will lose weight.

    What you are probably trying to get across is exercise is not required for weight loss....only less food.

    But exercise is a good way of adding to a deficit and/or health wise it's a good idea.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    Weight loss comes from a caloric deficit. Exercise is for health and/or to increase your TDEE. One can lose weight with no exercise.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    weight loss is about your calorie deficit
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    It really depends on your BMR and what you consider a normal food intake level.

    I'm at maintenance. I'm 5'5.5" and approximately 130 pounds so right in the middle of the healthy BMI range. For me to have a total daily burn of 1900-2000 calories per day, that means a 45 minute walk in the morning, a 30-40 minute walk at lunch, and running errands in the evening. I have a desk job and a 1 hour each way commute, so I'm sitting for 10 hours each day and that factors in.

    If I had a more active job where I was on my feet regularly, or were content at a lesser total daily burn, then I could skip some of the intentional activity. But I like my current routine. Walking in the morning before work is really enjoyable. Walking at lunch is not as enjoyable (less scenic location, noon sun, etc.) but it works for me.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Do you say it's not enough for weight loss or for overall health benefits? If you are saying that the amount of exercise that you are doing is not promoting weight loss for you either at all or its too slow then there are a couple of things to point out.

    In order to get an edge on the weight loss, you can add a little exercise to help with a calorie deficit per se, But the majority of your calorie deficit should come from a food deficit with some additional calorie burn from exercise. The issue with using exercise as large part of your calorie deficit it that you really can not ever know how many calories you really burn, and if you do the same exercise repeatedly over a period of time adaption is gonna occur. You can also be conducting some body composition changes (a little while in a deficit/it tapers off) that may not be showing as losses on the scale. Exercise also tends to put an additional element on the scale in the form of water weight gain.

    So I think I need to understand the specifics of what exercise is or is not doing for you to make a claim that it is not enough. And what period of time has it been to see or achieve the results you want?

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