Eat less, exercise less VS eat more, exercise more? Effects?

Meffbeff
Meffbeff Posts: 2 Member
edited November 27 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I was just wondering the potential differences between 1. eating less and exercising less, and 2. eating more and exercising more. That is, if I take in X net calories one day from eating a small amount and no/little exercise, and the same X net calories a different day from eating more but exercising the surplus off, what effect would the 2 sides have? (Assuming no errors in numbers/calculations).

Obviously the exercising more option is good for fitness, but I guess I'm wondering if there's an opposite benefit to physically taking in less food some days? Or an added benefit of being active and ALSO eating lots?

I ask this because I stress binge-eat sometimes (very linked to anxiety rather than hunger/deficit, nearly always healthy, I'm aware it's a stress thing and have help for this, and I make sure to be very active that day and many following while eating normally, so it averages out and I have not put on weight in a very long time). Eating physically more definitely worsens my IBS however (which is already flaring up if I'm stress eating! :neutral: ), but I do feel better in myself being very active.

However, when I eat and exercise less, I don't feel tired. I get antsy being less active, but eating less feels a LOT more comfortable for my stomach and this can actually make me feel more energised. When I eat and exercise more, I feel pain/sluggish from the food but also energised from the activity. Is either of these healthier than the other, or do both have their merits and the differences aren't really worth worrying about? Thanks!

Note: I would class the 'less' days as normal/natural for me. So just in advance, please limit suggestions that I intentionally eat and exercise a 'moderate' amount because when I'm not having a stressful day my IBS/natural low appetite means I don't really want to force myself to eat that much more. :smile: I'm slim/a healthy weight and quite physically fit otherwise if this makes any difference.

Replies

  • fb47
    fb47 Posts: 1,058 Member
    It's a personal thing. My metabolism is quite high, I hate cardio, so I could tell you that my answer is easy....I eat less with little exercise, in fact all I do when I cut is just lift which is not much considering it's only 3 times a week.
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    I try to stay active and get lots of steps in a day but as far as doing dedicated strength training workouts or cardio in the gym, those make me so hungry and the extra calories burned don't compensate for that. I am trying to lose now so I do better eating less and exercising less. I do just enough now to hopefully not lose the muscle I have

    Once I reach my goal I am going to eat at maintenance and go harder in the gym to build muscle.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    As someone who is very sedentary with a very low NEAT (I am not very tall and work a desk job from home), my calorie goal is (correctly) quite low. Even with some exercise, it’s still low enough that I need to be rather painstaking about food choices and fitting in calorie dense but non-satiating foods is very difficult, if not impossible for me.

    If I get more exercise, I’m more fit, I am less stressed (running is a huge stress and anxiety reliever for me), and I have considerable leeway in food choices. When I can gross 1600-1700 calories, I can fit in treats fairly easily. This is about my status quo for my usual exercise levels. I’m training for a marathon now and I’m eating 1900-2000/day and it feels almost like a buffet.

    I really like food. So the more exercise route is definitely my preference. But I don’t suffer from any conditions that make that choice physically uncomfortable. I don’t know if I would make the same choice if I did.

  • Meffbeff
    Meffbeff Posts: 2 Member
    Thanks for everyone's replies, they're very helpful! I do feel like even though I might feel a bit crook in the guts at the time, I'll try to remember the body benefits to taking in and exercising more. In theory might this mean that on my low activity and eating days my body might be a bit more efficient?

    I certainly feel like if I was only eating and exercising little, i'd eventually start burning out a bit.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Meffbeff wrote: »
    Thanks for everyone's replies, they're very helpful! I do feel like even though I might feel a bit crook in the guts at the time, I'll try to remember the body benefits to taking in and exercising more. In theory might this mean that on my low activity and eating days my body might be a bit more efficient?

    I certainly feel like if I was only eating and exercising little, i'd eventually start burning out a bit.

    The body doesn't become instantly more efficient - extended periods of badly undereating can cause body to process food slower leading to more gotten from it, compared to large volumes of food passing through faster with less need to get max from it.

    Unless you happen to move a whole lot more efficiently on those days compared to other days.

    I doubt you'd burn out though - if eating level was appropriate for level of activity, which possibly means changing deficit (not required on daily basis, talking extended here). Obviously a 500 cal deficit from a maintenance of say 1800 sedentary is a bigger deal than from a workout level 2500.
    That's the effect that was mentioned by several responses.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    i eat more so i get more beneficial/effective workouts - vs. working out so i can eat more - its a mental thing for me
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Meffbeff wrote: »
    Hi, I was just wondering the potential differences between 1. eating less and exercising less, and 2. eating more and exercising more. That is, if I take in X net calories one day from eating a small amount and no/little exercise, and the same X net calories a different day from eating more but exercising the surplus off, what effect would the 2 sides have? (Assuming no errors in numbers/calculations).

    Obviously the exercising more option is good for fitness, but I guess I'm wondering if there's an opposite benefit to physically taking in less food some days? Or an added benefit of being active and ALSO eating lots?

    I ask this because I stress binge-eat sometimes (very linked to anxiety rather than hunger/deficit, nearly always healthy, I'm aware it's a stress thing and have help for this, and I make sure to be very active that day and many following while eating normally, so it averages out and I have not put on weight in a very long time). Eating physically more definitely worsens my IBS however (which is already flaring up if I'm stress eating! :neutral: ), but I do feel better in myself being very active.

    However, when I eat and exercise less, I don't feel tired. I get antsy being less active, but eating less feels a LOT more comfortable for my stomach and this can actually make me feel more energised. When I eat and exercise more, I feel pain/sluggish from the food but also energised from the activity. Is either of these healthier than the other, or do both have their merits and the differences aren't really worth worrying about? Thanks!

    Note: I would class the 'less' days as normal/natural for me. So just in advance, please limit suggestions that I intentionally eat and exercise a 'moderate' amount because when I'm not having a stressful day my IBS/natural low appetite means I don't really want to force myself to eat that much more. :smile: I'm slim/a healthy weight and quite physically fit otherwise if this makes any difference.

    I was going to suggest moderation until I saw your note :lol:

    You kind of remind me of my mom - she has two speeds, Full Blast and Dead Stop. (My brother and I are always suggesting she pace herself.) She also has IBS, which flairs up when she's under stress.

    Her IBS was really bad when my brother, who is mentally ill, was involuntarily institutionalized for about a year. She had to really fuss with her diet. I remember she ate more low fiber/ordinary bread. And she had to have salads (insoluble fiber) at the end of a meal. There was lots of other stuff I don't remember. So hopefully your stress has an end in sight and you can get some relief from your IBS through temporary dietary changes.

    Mom also finds acacia powder helpful, and it is one of the few things she's kept up with since my brother got out and her stress and IBS became much less of an issue.

    Might be some helpful articles and tips here too: https://www.helpforibs.com/shop/suplmts/acacia.asp
  • mkculs
    mkculs Posts: 316 Member
    I do what is sustainable for me, and right now that is exercising every other day, eating less on alternate days. I like having fewer Cala some days bc I know that in the long haul, I’ll have to eat fewer cals even with exercise, so it feels right to adapt somewhat now. I also enjoy my walk/jog workouts for many reasons and do not want them to be “just” so I can eat more. This works for me right now. I’d encourage you to do what works for now and change it up later if it stops working. There is no one “right” way.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited July 2018
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I've read somewhere (don't recall where, don't have a cite, so this is just FWIW) that "high calorie flux" can be helpful to sustaining a higher TDEE level. That is, that eating more and exercising more may be more beneficial to keeping TDEE high as compared with reaching the same net calorie level by eating less and exercising less. It makes sense to me, in that our bodies generally seem to develop useful adaptations to things we ask them to do regularly, but I have no real evidence. Also, high TDEE by itself is kind of meaningless, unless the benefit is (to use your words) "to make (one) feel more energized".

    Of course, as you note, fitness is its own reward. That's true always, but strength, balance, and cardiovascular fitness particularly pay off as we age, in reduced odds of disease/disability, faster recovery from illness/injury, and better overall quality (and probably length) of life. (I'm 62, so this is particularly noticeable to me as I look around at friends my age and older. Fit people's lives are generally better, no question.)

    I know that each person's IBS differs (I've been diagnosed with IBS/C in the past, but don't have frequent issues with it nowadays like I used to). Are there foods you could eat on your days of higher caloric need that would provide calories, but be less likely to cause IBS symptoms (lower-fiber foods, low FODMAP foods, pre/probiotic foods, specific macros or individual foods you could identify by experimentation, etc.)?

    Sympathies!

    I remember reading that too. I remember 3 studies on the matter, one where a calorie deficit achieved through exercise created better loss than calorie deficit achieved through food restriction (might be that those had more food adhered better), the other showed highly trained endurance athletes had higher RMR when they acutely elevated their energy flux, the third was on older adults who were in high energy flux, had higher RMR than control, better muscle mass, and did not appear to have experienced the age-related weight creep.

    I personally think eating more and moving more (provided you don't overtrain) is better simply for the fact that you get better food quantity and potentially variety which leads to better nutrition. I move more even on my rest days (active recovery) for my sanity because I like food.

    With that said, with OP's issues, there is more to it since there is a medical condition involved and I can't really comment on that. In general, I believe suboptimal but sustainable is much better than optimal but not sustainable.

    ETA: have you considered help for you binge/purge behavior, not just the anxiety alone? Binging and purging can make anxiety harder to control, so attacking the issue from all sides is better than mono treatment.
  • Deviette
    Deviette Posts: 978 Member
    It really depends on how much you currently exercise, and how much you'd exercise when you over eat.

    I've recently just written a post on how working out more doesn't necessary equal larger total energy expenditure:
    You body become more efficient the fitter you get. Studies show that RMR can actually decrease when exercise increase. Of course we're not saying that someone doing no exercise and someone doing loads of exercise will be burning the same amount. Studies show that people doing a medium quantity of exercise and people doing a high amount of exercise have almost the same amount of total energy expenditure. It's widely known (anecdotally) that when people go to the gym, they are often more lazy for the rest of the day. Who hasn't come home from a heavy workout and slouched on the sofa?

    Some reading for you:
    https://cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(15)01577-8
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Well, that study is about the changes in TDEE as you comment on.

    A long workout could just be taking the time you'd be active anyway - so the gain in TDEE is not as great as the exercise itself.
    A hard workout could burn not that much, but leave you much more inactive than you would have been in general - so the gain in TDEE again not as great as the workout. Lifting and intervals could fall under that issue.

    Then again, you could be more active on the non-workout days taking care of things you didn't get done on the workout day.

    I think some of this comes down to how much deficit are you taking - some of those observations are exactly what happens when someone takes a steep deficit and how the body adapts to make you burn less.

    So solution many times in both cases is eat more, so the deficit isn't made to be so big the body adapts.

    Now tired after a hard workout, especially in heat - more food won't help with that.

    Because really, adding exercise and keeping all else equal - it is an addition.
    To think it's not worth extra daily burn almost is going to automatically set someone up for the body to indeed adapt because of eating too little.
    And people with activity trackers can be pretty good about keeping steps up, or noticing the difference, and having it adjusted automatically in their eating goal.
  • VUA21
    VUA21 Posts: 2,072 Member
    Exercise more, eat more.

    1) Food is delicious
    2) Exercise results are awesome (cardio & strength)
  • DaniCanadian
    DaniCanadian Posts: 261 Member
    edited July 2018
    It what will work for you, everyone’s different. I ate at a deficit with moderate exercise and lost 40lbs and I’m at the top of a healthy weight now. But I was struggling with the last 15 lbs and it being just so slow (at .5lb/ week that’s at least 30 more weeks to hit my ultimate goal and that’s if I’m 100% on my cals and let’s face it but life happens sometimes). My attitude was changing to f this and my anxiety was creeping back up.

    So about 5 weeks ago I changed to my maintenance calories and I’ve been focusing on fitness and fitness goals. Just having the 250 cals more per day has felt so much better. I’ve lost 5 inches off my body (since may) and I accomplished my first mini goal which was to be able to do a full, plank position push up going nose to the ground. I feel better and I want to keep going. Sometimes what works for us at one point might change too.
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