What workout is best for weight loss….

Rsrs35

There’s lots of evidence to support both - but, as someone who really needs to lose weight I am hoping to find out what worked for you…

ccrdragon

None of the above.... fork put downs and table push-aways are the best exercises for weight loss.

MaggieGirl135

@ccrdragon So true! If you’re significantly overweight—just walking is best. I personally “ellipticate”, a widely used/made-up word in our house. Hiking in the summer months.

MsCzar

Rebounder, baby!

goal06082021

You can't out-exercise a bad diet. If your goal is weight loss specifically, I'll second the recommendation for fork putdowns and table pushaways. It comes down to taking in fewer calories than you expend, and it's a hell of a lot easier to just not eat 100, 200, 500 calories than it is to burn that much off with exercise.

About 20 minutes per day of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise is recommended by the American Heart Association to maintain good cardiovascular health, though, so whichever one of those three appeals to you is good. In addition to low-intensity steady-state cardio for heart health, resistance training helps keep your bones AND muscles strong, and stretching helps with mobility. Exercise is important for overall health and wellness, and there IS a relationship between exercise and body size, but it is not as direct as the relationship between food intake and body size.

AnnPT77

The best exercise for weight loss is the one you personally enjoy doing the most. If we enjoy our exercise, we make time to do it; if we dislike it, we tend to procrastinate and avoid it. Theoretically less useful exercise we do routinely is 100% more effective than theoretically ideal exercise we don't do, y'know?

That said, exercise's role in weight loss, IMO, is to let us eat a bit more while achieving any given sensible rate of weight loss, and to tell our body that it's important to hang onto useful muscle (including that ultra-important heart muscle), so that the body will even more prioritize losing fat, vs. losing other kinds of body tissue.

Weight management is about the balance of calorie intake vs. calorie expenditure. Just being alive (heartbeat, breathing, etc.) burns calories; so does stuff like our job and home chores. Exercise is a small increment on top of that burn, typically, in an average person who has a well-balanced life.

Whatever your exercise level (none to elite level), weight loss happens when your calorie intake is below your calorie expenditure, on average, over time. Really fast weight loss is not necessarily best weight loss: Not only can we burn up useful tissue (like muscle) by going too fast, we increase other health risks (gallbladder issues and compromised immune system are examples), and increase appearance risk (hair loss is just the tip of that iceberg).

On top of those risks, we see a lot of people here go for max loss (low calorie intake, punitive exercise levels) then burn out, give up. Sometimes the moderate course is more sustainable, results in more actual weight loss over X months than "go fast, binge, resume" or giving up entirely.

Exercise for health, pick something you enjoy. If you're not sure what you enjoy, try things, casting a wide net. Give each thing you try long enough to get past the newbie blues: Things that are complex enough to feel semi-impossible at first can stay interesting/challenging for a long time. By contrast, things that are easy on day one get tiresome pretty fast, IME.

Any way of moving more counts: It needn't be "gym stuff". You can do one of the things in your poll, sure, if you enjoy that. But there's also swimming, dancing (in many forms), martial arts, games like disk golf or basketball or tennis or dozens of others, rowing/kayaking/canoeing, active video or VR games, all the kinds of skating (ice, inline, roller), . . . and so much more.

Find the active fun, that would be my advice, from experience.

cwolfman13

The best workout is the one that you will do and be consistent with. Exercise doesn't default to losing weight. Your calorie intake is going to have a far greater impact on your weight loss than any particular exercise. In general, unless you're training like an athlete, energy expenditure from exercise really isn't as much as people think...it can help, but people aren't really burning the hundreds and hundreds of calories they think the are with 30-60 minutes of X. Regular exercise is very good for your overall health however. We are meant to be in motion and there is the added bonus of some measure of additional energy expenditure.

My suggestion would be to really focus on your diet and calories...find an activity that requires you to move that you enjoy and do that. It doesn't necessarily have to be a "workout". I do "workout", but a lot of my regular exercise is just recreational activities like going for a bike ride or hitting the trails with my MTB, hiking, walking my dog, etc.

Rsrs35

Thanks to everyone who responded. I did manage to log my food intake today and be super honest - Stayed within my calories. I am currently on a 2lb a week weight loss goal / for someone as sedentary as I it won’t be easy unless I add some exercise in…. But in just 1 day I do feel more focussed and ready for the challenge.
I’m also sat her watching TV and not even contemplating eating something for the first time in months - PHEW

callsitlikeiseeit

you lose weight in the kitchen. You gain fitness through exercise.

Cliffs Notes of Weight Loss:

• small, sustainable changes
• Understand weight fluctuations are normal. Thinks of a roller coaster, not a steep mountain slope down. Some weeks up, some weeks down. Its the OVERALL TREND that matters
• Learn to weigh your food ON A FOOD SCALE
• Learn how to find ACCURATE DATABASE ENTRIES
• BE ACTIVE - get off your butt and MOVE. Find SOMETHING you enjoy. If your activity is limited, find ways to move that you are ABLE to do
• Deprivation is the key to Binging and falling off the wagon. Learn how to fit your favorite things in regularly. There are no 'bad foods' Just 'bad quantities'.
• One 'bad' day will not undo your deficit.
• You did not gain the weight quickly. You will not lose it quickly. Better to lose it slowly, and KEEP IT OFF, then lose it quick, and gain it all back and more!

Useful Links

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

and basically ... all of these

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-health-fitness-and-diet-must-reads#latest

when i first started working out, i didnt even consider it that. i just wanted to try and be a bit healthier. losing weight wasn't even my goal. I mean, i needed to, and knew i needed to, but i just wanted to try and be healthier. I started by just going on a walk 2-3 times a week. and.... it wasn't much of a walk. at almost 400 pounds i could not go very far at all. 10 minutes was about all i had in me. but i kept doing it. and it didnt take long, really, before i could go a little bit longer. and then, i started to go more often. always when it was dark, i didnt want people to SEE me - but id go after dark, or early in the morning. often, both. more days added. my neighbor was a member at planet fitness and asked me if i wanted to go with her (she only went occasionally). I said sure. So I'd go with her. i thought i was going to die on the elliptical. lasted about 7 minutes. But kept going. maybe once a week with her? not very often. kept walking. By that point had started watching what I was eating (i think). Then i wanted to go to the gym more than she did, so got my own membership. That was back in 2014. So... all of it was a process. a long one. But I didnt give up. You dont have to work out to lose weight. As I said, that happens in the kitchen. But it does have many other benefits that your body does need. Find something you enjoy. Most Y's are affordable and have a wide variety of classes for all fitness levels. Make small changes. dont try to change everything overnight. little changes can lead to giant ones, if you give it enough time.

goal06082021

Rsrs35 wrote: »

Thanks to everyone who responded. I did manage to log my food intake today and be super honest - Stayed within my calories. I am currently on a 2lb a week weight loss goal / for someone as sedentary as I it won’t be easy unless I add some exercise in…. But in just 1 day I do feel more focussed and ready for the challenge.
I’m also sat her watching TV and not even contemplating eating something for the first time in months - PHEW

Why 2lb per week? What's the rush?

Rsrs35

@goal06082021
[/quote Why 2lb per week? What's the rush?[/quote]

That’s a very good question!!! It’s the journey not solely the destination.

Rsrs35

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

you lose weight in the kitchen. You gain fitness through exercise.

Cliffs Notes of Weight Loss:

• small, sustainable changes
• Understand weight fluctuations are normal. Thinks of a roller coaster, not a steep mountain slope down. Some weeks up, some weeks down. Its the OVERALL TREND that matters
• Learn to weigh your food ON A FOOD SCALE
• Learn how to find ACCURATE DATABASE ENTRIES
• BE ACTIVE - get off your butt and MOVE. Find SOMETHING you enjoy. If your activity is limited, find ways to move that you are ABLE to do
• Deprivation is the key to Binging and falling off the wagon. Learn how to fit your favorite things in regularly. There are no 'bad foods' Just 'bad quantities'.
• One 'bad' day will not undo your deficit.
• You did not gain the weight quickly. You will not lose it quickly. Better to lose it slowly, and KEEP IT OFF, then lose it quick, and gain it all back and more!

Useful Links

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

and basically ... all of these

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-health-fitness-and-diet-must-reads#latest

when i first started working out, i didnt even consider it that. i just wanted to try and be a bit healthier. losing weight wasn't even my goal. I mean, i needed to, and knew i needed to, but i just wanted to try and be healthier. I started by just going on a walk 2-3 times a week. and.... it wasn't much of a walk. at almost 400 pounds i could not go very far at all. 10 minutes was about all i had in me. but i kept doing it. and it didnt take long, really, before i could go a little bit longer. and then, i started to go more often. always when it was dark, i didnt want people to SEE me - but id go after dark, or early in the morning. often, both. more days added. my neighbor was a member at planet fitness and asked me if i wanted to go with her (she only went occasionally). I said sure. So I'd go with her. i thought i was going to die on the elliptical. lasted about 7 minutes. But kept going. maybe once a week with her? not very often. kept walking. By that point had started watching what I was eating (i think). Then i wanted to go to the gym more than she did, so got my own membership. That was back in 2014. So... all of it was a process. a long one. But I didnt give up. You dont have to work out to lose weight. As I said, that happens in the kitchen. But it does have many other benefits that your body does need. Find something you enjoy. Most Y's are affordable and have a wide variety of classes for all fitness levels. Make small changes. dont try to change everything overnight. little changes can lead to giant ones, if you give it enough time.

@callsitlikeiseeit This is really reminding again - why rush? It’s a lifetime journey.

I need to read through this quite a few times as it’s very detailed and there’s a lot I can keep referring to throughout this journey.

Rsrs35

Thanks for everyone’s responses. It’s literally food for thought (the zero calorific kind!!!)

I had what right now feels like another good day.

I will be going back and and forth reading this and putting this information into practice.

Reminding myself along the way - it’s the journey. There is no rush.

We learn at different paces. We cannot learn without mistakes.

Acceptance and gratitude for the Now is also a massive part of this journey.

So being in the Now is key.

So deeep!!!

springlering62

I’m going to come clean and say, I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t lose weight. I did yoga a couple times a week, and walked a couple times a week.

It wasn’t til I came here, ran the numbers of what I should be eating , versus calculating what I was eating in a normal day that the light bulb went off.

Should was about 1800’ish at the time, was actually eating over 10,000.

Talk about a disconnect.

I honestly thought a three mile walk would work off an entire package of cookies.

Ummmmmm…….no.

Sadly, it doesn’t work like that.

AnnPT77

springlering62 wrote: »

I’m going to come clean and say, I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t lose weight. I did yoga a couple times a week, and walked a couple times a week.

It wasn’t til I came here, ran the numbers of what I should be eating , versus calculating what I was eating in a normal day that the light bulb went off.

Should was about 1800’ish at the time, was actually eating over 10,000.

Talk about a disconnect.

I honestly thought a three mile walk would work off an entire package of cookies.

Ummmmmm…….no.

Sadly, it doesn’t work like that.

Yup. I started being very active while still obese, rowing hard most days, training for races, racing on water and machine, not always unsuccessfully. It's only a few hundred calories of exercise a day, maybe a Kind bar, plus a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter on a slice of hearty bread - something like that? I can eat that much more, when working out, easily - not even notice. We used to go get Steak'n'Shake fancy shakes after races - 800+ calories per each. Multiple races in a day doesn't earn that. (I'd maybe still do that, though: Race days aren't that frequent, and those are pretty tasty.)

Some people, who are close to maintaining weight, gaining just a few pounds a year, say, can add exercise and lose weight if/while eating exactly the same way. After all, 100 excess calories a day, is 10 pounds of weight gain in a year approximately. The people who are that close to maintaining, and who are tracking their intake so they know they don't eat more when they add workouts, I think that's a pretty narrow set of cases. There are some, sure.

callsitlikeiseeit

Rsrs35 wrote: »

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

you lose weight in the kitchen. You gain fitness through exercise.

Cliffs Notes of Weight Loss:

• small, sustainable changes
• Understand weight fluctuations are normal. Thinks of a roller coaster, not a steep mountain slope down. Some weeks up, some weeks down. Its the OVERALL TREND that matters
• Learn to weigh your food ON A FOOD SCALE
• Learn how to find ACCURATE DATABASE ENTRIES
• BE ACTIVE - get off your butt and MOVE. Find SOMETHING you enjoy. If your activity is limited, find ways to move that you are ABLE to do
• Deprivation is the key to Binging and falling off the wagon. Learn how to fit your favorite things in regularly. There are no 'bad foods' Just 'bad quantities'.
• One 'bad' day will not undo your deficit.
• You did not gain the weight quickly. You will not lose it quickly. Better to lose it slowly, and KEEP IT OFF, then lose it quick, and gain it all back and more!

Useful Links

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

and basically ... all of these

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-health-fitness-and-diet-must-reads#latest

when i first started working out, i didnt even consider it that. i just wanted to try and be a bit healthier. losing weight wasn't even my goal. I mean, i needed to, and knew i needed to, but i just wanted to try and be healthier. I started by just going on a walk 2-3 times a week. and.... it wasn't much of a walk. at almost 400 pounds i could not go very far at all. 10 minutes was about all i had in me. but i kept doing it. and it didnt take long, really, before i could go a little bit longer. and then, i started to go more often. always when it was dark, i didnt want people to SEE me - but id go after dark, or early in the morning. often, both. more days added. my neighbor was a member at planet fitness and asked me if i wanted to go with her (she only went occasionally). I said sure. So I'd go with her. i thought i was going to die on the elliptical. lasted about 7 minutes. But kept going. maybe once a week with her? not very often. kept walking. By that point had started watching what I was eating (i think). Then i wanted to go to the gym more than she did, so got my own membership. That was back in 2014. So... all of it was a process. a long one. But I didnt give up. You dont have to work out to lose weight. As I said, that happens in the kitchen. But it does have many other benefits that your body does need. Find something you enjoy. Most Y's are affordable and have a wide variety of classes for all fitness levels. Make small changes. dont try to change everything overnight. little changes can lead to giant ones, if you give it enough time.

@callsitlikeiseeit This is really reminding again - why rush? It’s a lifetime journey.

I need to read through this quite a few times as it’s very detailed and there’s a lot I can keep referring to throughout this journey.

I'm training for a Spartan race in april. A SPARTAN!!!!!!! if someone had told me in 2014 that I was going to be doing a spartan in 8 years, I'd have had a heart attack from laughing so hard. my goal is to finish without my friends having to pull my butt across the finish line or without injuries. no promises on that seeing as i broke my finger this week and have no idea HOW LOL

The spartan may be a race, but weight loss... is NOT. you dont get a shiny medal for finishing. really ,there IS no finishing, because even once you reach your goal weight, if you are anything like many (if not most of us) who have reached maintenance (or are close enough, as in my case I consider myself to be) those 'loss' goals are slowly replaced by OTHER goals. maybe getting stronger, maybe other fitness related goals. But it seems to be a common denominator that we become slightly OCD (I may have had those tendencies my entire life LMAO) and need SOMETHING to fixate on, at least in part. I know I do, at least. And maintenance is itself, for many, just as hard as losing.