Anyone Losing Weight Mainly from Fitness?

Machka9

NorthCascades wrote: »

A lot of people here want to say it can't be done.

They're the ones who haven't done it.

When I've been training for 1200 km randonnees, I have had to make an effort to eat enough to keep from dropping into the "underweight" category.

Because it isn't my habit to eat a lot, I get over eating a lot very quickly.

Also, it is my habit to eat a lot of things like veggies ... which don't contribute significantly to the calorie count when you're burning several thousand calories.

Machka9

dewd2 wrote: »

NorthCascades wrote: »

dewd2 wrote: »

NorthCascades wrote: »

A lot of people here want to say it can't be done.

A friend of a friend just finished hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and lost 40 pounds in the process. He ate entire jars of peanut butter in a sitting.

There's a bit of a difference between hiking a 2500 mile trail and spending an hour on a cardio machine in a gym. If your plan is to hike all day every day, then yeah, maybe you can out work a bad diet. Of course it would be tough to eat poorly and be able to hike that far so....

Who does everyone always assume there has to be a bad diet involved? The question is whether anyone can lose weight with exercise, why the assumption that this means a person has to be "eating poorly?"

Because if you're paying attention to your diet (counting or not), you're not "just exercising". Plus it is important to point out (as many have) that you don't burn as much as many think and there are more calories in common foods than many think.

But some people "pay attention to their diets" as a matter of course. It's how we were brought up.

Also "paying attention to my diet" includes things like not consuming much in the way of dairy products or peanuts or red meat because they don't sit at all well with me in any great quantities.

UltraRunnerGale

There is a saying in the running community..... "you can't outrun a bad diet". That being said, some people can. I can't. LOL!!

mutantspicy

4 years ago I quit smoking. To make up for it I drank and ate more ended up at 230lbs I was half assed working out during this time. My BMI considers me overweight at 185 or above. 3 years ago, I started circuit training/lifting again after about a 8 month layoff, a lot of met rep type stuff not strength training. I didn't change my diet at all. I quickly dropped to 210 after a few months. Then Plateaued, so I started tracking here again because I knew I needed to start keeping count of cals if I wanted to make back to 185. I also switched to Strength and bodybuilding routines. I now range between 185 and 195 for the last 6 months, so my average is around 191. I look better and am stronger than I have been in years. so to answer your OP yes I lost weight by simply working out, however it only took me so far. In order to push past the last hurdle I needed to get serious about my diet and workout.

GiddyupTim

Stop with the lectures, people.
Did anyone other than mutantspicy read the actual question?
I exercise a lot. Tennis three times a week, at least. Running four to five times a week. Some biking. Some weight lifting. (It is not that I am that boring. But I don't drink. So exercise is both my fun and my stress reliever.)
It does not affect my weight at all. I don't lose a pound. I suspect that is because the more I exercise, the hungrier I get. I also suspect that my body just shuts the metabolism down to conserve -- but, of course, I cannot prove that.
The only thing I would add is that: I don't diet. I am not really working on losing weight, though I would not mind being five pounds lighter to be faster.
I would also add that, in my experience knowing a fair number of runners, it is uncommon that someone training for a marathon loses any weight doing it, even though they increase their running mileage to just about the maximum amount that is humanly possible for an average, non-professional individual.
That said, I am sure that if I restricted my diet I would throw off pounds quite readily given the miles I run.

aokoye

NorthCascades wrote: »

A lot of people here want to say it can't be done.

A friend of a friend just finished hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and lost 40 pounds in the process. He ate entire jars of peanut butter in a sitting.

Another thing that I think some people forget is that MFP is a very self selecting group. Most people are here because they are wanting to manage their weight - either weight loss or weight gain (though it seems like the vast majority are here for weight loss purposes). Additionally the site is designed to count calories at least somewhat effectively.

Given this, it's beyond unsurprising to me that quite a lot of people here are of the opinion that people need to count calories to lose weight and/or maintain weight and that it's impossible to maintain or lose weight without counting calories but by introducing exercise into your week and/or increasing your exercise. (Sorry in advance for that run on sentence)

aokoye

GiddyupTim wrote: »

Stop with the lectures, people.
Did anyone other than mutantspicy read the actual question?
I exercise a lot. Tennis three times a week, at least. Running four to five times a week. Some biking. Some weight lifting. (It is not that I am that boring. But I don't drink. So exercise is both my fun and my stress reliever.)
It does not affect my weight at all. I don't lose a pound. I suspect that is because the more I exercise, the hungrier I get. I also suspect that my body just shuts the metabolism down to conserve -- but, of course, I cannot prove that.
The only thing I would add is that: I don't diet. I am not really working on losing weight, though I would not mind being five pounds lighter to be faster.
I would also add that, in my experience knowing a fair number of runners, it is uncommon that someone training for a marathon loses any weight doing it, even though they increase their running mileage to just about the maximum amount that is humanly possible for an average, non-professional individual.
That said, I am sure that if I restricted my diet I would throw off pounds quite readily given the miles I run.

The question was: "But I was wondering if anyone isn't really dieting (or at least not restricting) and is seeing results through a new fitness routine or by increasing exercise?"
It seems like quite a lot of people answered that. There are at least eight answers to that question on the first page.

Machka9

GiddyupTim wrote: »

Did anyone other than mutantspicy read the actual question?

Yes.

Asked and answered.

fittnessing64 wrote: »

But I was wondering if anyone isn't really dieting (or at least not restricting) and is seeing results through a new fitness routine or by increasing exercise?

Machka9 wrote: »

I have done, and kept it off for a couple decades.

But it requires a lot of work.

More recently I do a combination of exercise and not overeating.

hesn92

Sure it can be done. It comes down to the basic principle that you have to eat less than you burn, so if you're exercising so much that you burn more calories than you'd naturally choose to eat, then good for you. I think for most people it doesn't happen that way. Probably depends on how active you are and how much you like to eat.

cwolfman13

I usually put on 8-10 Lbs in the winter when my exercise and overall activity level dips...I take it off in the spring when my activity level starts to go up and cycling season kicks off...but I do have to be conscious of not altering my diet and eating more to compensate for increased activity, which is a very easy thing to do...so in that regard, I still more or less consider it to be diet...'cuz I could and certainly want to eat more when training kicks off, but I also want to lose the winter weight. I still considering myself to be restricting my diet though because I'm obviously not eating to compensate for additional activity like I would do for maintenance.

Really, it's just semantics.