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Dieting vs. exercising?

Posts: 3 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I've heard that if you reduce your caloric intake, your body goes into starvation mode (something like that) so you end up gaining weight instead of losing weight. Does anyone know if this is true? Do you have to exercise in order to lose weight?

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Replies

  • Posts: 136 Member
    Yes it's true and yes you need to exercise if you want to continue to lose weight and tone.
  • Posts: 349 Member
    The problem I have with that is it rarely works.....I was obese. Not morbidly obese, but obese by definition. And telling an obese person to just keep eating whatever they want, "but just eat less" is a recipe for disaster. Until I actually made healthy changes to my diet, I'd drop a few lbs, then gain it back and a few more. I'm sorry if I offended everyone, but I stand by my statement.....not all foods are equal. Have a good evening!
  • Posts: 349 Member
    Wow, now you're telling me I assume everyone is stupid? You don't know a thing about me.
  • Posts: 178 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »

    The part you fail to understand is that for many people, especially the morbidly obese, just cutting calories by whatever means and getting some of the weight off will greatly improve their health markers. Google "Twinkie Diet" and read what the results in his bloodwork were after he lost weight on a diet comprised mostly of 'junk food'.

    Most of the longtime, knowledgeable members here will always advise that it's good to have a well-rounded diet that includes adequate macro- and micronutrients. But for some people just starting out, it's advantageous enough to get them to reduce their calories and get on track, then refine it as they go along.

    When you teach a kid how to drive a car, you don't put them on Indianapolis Speedway in a high-performance open wheel race car their first time out - you start off on quiet side streets in the family sedan. Start with the basics and work up to the more advanced stuff. When you start somebody on weight loss, CICO is the most important thing to know - they don't need a university-level course on macro and micronutrients, physiology and cellular biology to get started doing what they need to do.

    [ETA:] I will agree, though, that there's plenty of bad advice given on MFP. Almost invariably by people who parrot what they've read in silly magazine articles or woo websites, and have no actual idea about even the most basic concepts of nutrition and/or physiology.

    Very well said.
  • Posts: 7,097 Member
    Rufftimes wrote: »
    Wow, now you're telling me I assume everyone is stupid? You don't know a thing about me.

    I'd like to know whether you still have a problem with "eat what you want within your calorie limit".
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