Restarting - focusing on food and delaying exercises?

VeroniqueBoilard

Like a lot of you, I have struggle with my weight for years.

2005: Went from 190 to 135 pounds.
2009 : Went up to 230. 2010: pregant, end up at 255.
2012: Started Myfitnesspal, on and off, had another baby, and in 2018 I ended up at 205.
And then, husband got cancer, daughter had autistic diagnosis : went back to bad habit and I'm now at 250 pounds.

Since 2018, I've started weight loss on and off, but always failed. I'm trying to understand why and I wonder if other have the same experience...

Is it possible that, for some people, it's better to focus on the diet first and delay intense exercise program?

My most successful weight loss "period" are correlated with very light or no cardio and focus on hitting my calorie goal.

I do not lose weight when I do intense strenght training program (like Jillian Michales), or when I run (C25K, that I've completed 3 times now)... I use those extra calories to eat more, so I don't get use to lower calories, which get harder to respect on day I do not work out, etc. The more I exercise, the more intense my cravings are...

You know how it is, you decide to focus on your health goals, push every front: exercise - sleep - nutrition and end up failling= shame and guilt = overeating and giving up.

So i'm thinking I will start small: sleep 7 hours, drink a lot of water and focus on lowering my calories? I can always exercise later?

Anyone feel the same / have similar experience or success? Or think it's counter productive?

MikePTY

I think it's best to figure out what works for you personally. Exercise is not a necessary part of weight loss. There are a lot of people here who have lost significant weight without exercising at all. So you don't ever have to do it for weight loss (moderate exercise is beneficial for overall health, but it can be light exercise like walking, etc).

It seems like based on your past experiences, that avoiding heavy exercise would be the right decision for you. You don't need to do it if it's counter productive. Just focus on eating to your goal and you will lose weight.

try2again

We have a similar weight history (only mine has spanned 30 years, not 15 ). After about 7 years successfully controlling my weight (maintaining or losing), I've had a particularly rough year and gained a quick 30 lbs. Coming back recently, I just began by getting back in the habit of logging without making a concerted effort to reduce calories. Now I've started to look for the tweaks that will get me back down into a calorie deficit (no major diet overhaul). I have made an effort to get moving again (just walks and dancing in my basement), but primarily for the mental benefit, not for the calorie burn. But when I feel better mentally, I do make better food choices. I would like to up my exercise in the future for fitness, not necessarily weight loss, but that is not my focus right now. I prefer to take off 20 or so pounds before I would get involved with anything more intense.

To sum up, I just wouldn't try to overhaul everything at once. Ease into it and make small changes that aren't so difficult or burdensome to maintain.

snowflake954

I agree with the above commenters. Focus on your calorie intake and try to do light exercise, something that you like and hardly seems like exercise--dancing, walking, biking, yoga,... Exercise is to make you feel better and mentally alert. Best of luck.

puffbrat

Slow incremental changes are what work best for me to get back on track. Like you, I tend to eat a lot more when I dive right into heavy exercise. I'm just now getting back on track after several months of not really logging and maintaining my weight. I'm just focusing on getting my diet back on track and lifting weights again because it helps my back not hurt. Consistent and more intense cardio will wait until I get a good routine with food and lifting.

Verdenal

I agree with what the others have said. I will add only that people frequently think they are burning more calories through exercise than they are. When you restart more intense exercise, you can't eat more calories just because some calorie estimate calculator tells you so. You really should try not to add many more calories because you probably don't need them. Or at least carefully monitor your weight and calorie intake as you exercise.

speyerj

Lots of folks, including me, have had success with focusing on food first.

I found it helpful when I was "restarting" to concentrate only on accurately logging my food and hitting my calorie target for the first month. That alone takes a lot of mental energy and I believe it's the single most important thing I can do to advance my weight loss. As time went on, I kept that habit and added more added more goals, including walking, strength training and eventually, running.

One thing I observed for the first 3 months when I was losing weight but was doing no strength training - I lost a lot of weight, but my body fat % was unchanged. Meaning I lost fat and muscle during that time. So, when you get to a point where you feel like you have to food thing down, think about adding some strength training. After I added a light strength training program 3x/week, I stopped losing muscle mass and my body fat % is decreasing.

You don't have to do everything at once. Adding one new healthy habit a month will get you there.

NovusDies

I believe in pushing myself not shoving myself. I think when you are first starting you should be nudging until you are ready to push.

Different people will have different perceptions of exercise. For some people it is a chore and for others it is the best part of their day. Ideally everyone would find an exercise that is an utter joy to perform. I do not think that is always realistic. It may be difficult to establish a lot of new habits simultaneously.

Some people really struggle with their hunger while trying to start a calorie deficit. This problem can be made harder to solve if too much exercise is part of the equation especially if the exercise is intermittent.

I do often wonder how many people quit because they start exercise immediately without understanding it can cause water retention which can mask their progress or even cause an increase on the scale.

With all that said if a person is primarily sedentary they need to start moving more as soon as possible.

ZoneFive

NovusDies wrote: »

I think when you are first starting you should be nudging until you are ready to push.

This is probably the wisest thing I will read on the internet today. Thanks, NovusDies.

busyPK

I think every person is different, so the important thing is find out what works best for you. I think you hit on it as you've had success with starting with logging and eating less calories then add in light exercise later on. I have 3 kids, one with autism as well, so I can relate to the time, energy and patience a special needs kid takes and exercise allows me just a bit of "me" time and during those most trying times it lets out my frustration, anger, etc.

slbbw

Setting up habits you can do daily and can be consistent with is what works long term. I lost 45lbs last year and gained 15 back. I am trying to get back into now. It definitely strts with food and setting up easy habits you can maintain. I did want to mention on exercise, I always had the problem being starving on non workout days. I figure out if I workout everyday(5-6 days a week) at an intensity that lets me do that that consistency helps me stay on track. Even with my 15 lb gain I am as fit as I was before because I kept up with the workouts. For me addiing exercise first and making it consistent is what helped. To distill that down more simply, focusing on one thing at a time until it becomes habit and then adding the next is the key to long term sucess.

Danp

Food first was the strategy that ultimately worked for me.

I lost the significant first portion of my weight with zero dedicated working out. In fact I think working out was probably one of the biggest reason I'd failed at every previous attempt.

Previously when I would attempt to lose weight I would change my eating habits and hit the gym. The problem with this was that I had terrible control over my eating so after every gym session where I'd burn 300 calories I'd end up ravenous and smash through 2x or 3x that many calories. It was hardly surprising then that after a few weeks of this and seeing my weight not move (or even go up) that I'd decide that all the effort to 'eat healthy' and all the killing myself in the gym was a waste of time and I'd quit.

This time I decided to get the calorie intake situation under control first and worry about getting fit later. Once I had gotten a handle on my eating and found an approach that easily sustainable (no motivation or will power required) I was able to start to improve my fitness. This started with just trying to be a bit more active during the day rather than 'working out'. Little things like going for a walk for meetings instead of sitting in a room. Taking the stairs if I only had to go up or down one floor (then 2, 3 and more).

Eventually I started to find some more strenuous activities that I enjoyed doing in order to really start getting fitter however since I had a handle on my eating, this exercising didn't undo my progress. I was able to properly fuel my workouts so that I could get fitter while still maintaining my weight loss progress.

That's something important to note. Working out didn't speed up, improve or help with my weight loss. Being more active meant that I had an increased appetite and had to eat more. This meant that my overall calorie deficit remained unchanged and therefore my weight loss continued unchanged.

heybales

VeroniqueBoilard wrote: »

Like a lot of you, I have struggle with my weight for years.

2005: Went from 190 to 135 pounds.
2009 : Went up to 230. 2010: pregant, end up at 255.
2012: Started Myfitnesspal, on and off, had another baby, and in 2018 I ended up at 205.
And then, husband got cancer, daughter had autistic diagnosis : went back to bad habit and I'm now at 250 pounds.

Since 2018, I've started weight loss on and off, but always failed. I'm trying to understand why and I wonder if other have the same experience...

Is it possible that, for some people, it's better to focus on the diet first and delay intense exercise program?

My most successful weight loss "period" are correlated with very light or no cardio and focus on hitting my calorie goal.

I do not lose weight when I do intense strenght training program (like Jillian Michales), or when I run (C25K, that I've completed 3 times now)... I use those extra calories to eat more, so I don't get use to lower calories, which get harder to respect on day I do not work out, etc. The more I exercise, the more intense my cravings are...

You know how it is, you decide to focus on your health goals, push every front: exercise - sleep - nutrition and end up failling= shame and guilt = overeating and giving up.

So i'm thinking I will start small: sleep 7 hours, drink a lot of water and focus on lowering my calories? I can always exercise later?

Anyone feel the same / have similar experience or success? Or think it's counter productive?

Curious why it has to be intense?

And if it was that intense - where you eating correctly for level of activity?

The general solution is eat a bit less, move a bit more.

Too many make huge changes to both sides at once and have effect you do.

Like if you were set to sedentary, as a mother you were not. Extra deficit, perhaps big.
If you had a larger than reasonable deficit in first place, extra deficit beyond what body may want.
Those issues could have set you up for being extra hungry.

Some people use the TDEE method, figure out average weekly burn to a daily average - eat that each day.
Better do the workout though, but perhaps more balanced.

Some like eating more when they actually do more.