Article: "Why Exercise Won't Make You Lose Weight"

try2again

In anticipation of the "I've been working out 8 days a week and haven't lost any weight" posts:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/04/health/diet-exercise-weight-loss/index.html

The gist: Weight loss happens in the kitchen, not the gym.

Lots of good things happen in the gym, though.

rheddmobile

This sort of article makes me tired. Yes, it's true you can't lose weight unless your caloric intake is less than your expenditure, but for many people increasing exercise expenditure is a perfectly valid way to get into a deficit and lose weight. My husband lost 25 pounds doing nothing but going with me when I started running. I needed to also watch my calories; he didn't, because he naturally eats about the same amount regardless of his activity level.

MFP recently handed out end of year stats, and according to their numbers if I hadn't done any exercise this past year and had eaten the same amount of calories, I would weigh 72 lbs more than I do now.

try2again

rheddmobile wrote: »

This sort of article makes me tired. Yes, it's true you can't lose weight unless your caloric intake is less than your expenditure, but for many people increasing exercise expenditure is a perfectly valid way to get into a deficit and lose weight. My husband lost 25 pounds doing nothing but going with me when I started running. I needed to also watch my calories; he didn't, because he naturally eats about the same amount regardless of his activity level.

MFP recently handed out end of year stats, and according to their numbers if I hadn't done any exercise this past year and had eaten the same amount of calories, I would weigh 72 lbs more than I do now.

I agree there are people for whom moderate exercise puts them in a deficit. But generally for that to work, a person needs to already be eating close to maintenance or in a slight calorie surplus. Those regularly overeating by larger amounts will be disappointed.

As I mentioned, I specifically had in mind the posts we often see from people seeking help where a person gives elaborate details of their workout routine but absolutely no mention of calories.

Lillymoo01

rheddmobile wrote: »

This sort of article makes me tired. Yes, it's true you can't lose weight unless your caloric intake is less than your expenditure, but for many people increasing exercise expenditure is a perfectly valid way to get into a deficit and lose weight. My husband lost 25 pounds doing nothing but going with me when I started running. I needed to also watch my calories; he didn't, because he naturally eats about the same amount regardless of his activity level.

MFP recently handed out end of year stats, and according to their numbers if I hadn't done any exercise this past year and had eaten the same amount of calories, I would weigh 72 lbs more than I do now.

You raise a very valid point which I agree with. However, how much is your hunger and food intake influenced by the amount of exercise you do? Many who aren't watching both ends of the equation often unintentionally eat more because of their hunger or actually move less within their normal day to day life which negates those extra calories burned through deliberate exercise. Exercise alone will result in weight loss if everything else remains consistent but in reality, this often does not happen. Not only that but many people don't have enough time in the day to create a 500 calorie a day deficit through exercise alone, which would make weight loss much slower.