Reducing Calories Consumed versus Exercising to Lose Weight

jjjsroach

How to Lose Weight Effectively: The Truth About Food and Exercise

Many people think that the key to losing weight is to exercise more and burn more calories. However, this is not the whole story. In fact, the amount of food you consume is much more important than how much you exercise when it comes to weight loss.

Why is that? Well, let's do some simple math. One pound of fat is equivalent to about 3,500 calories. To lose one pound of fat in a week, you would need to create a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day. That means you would need to either eat 500 calories less than you normally do, or burn 500 calories more than you normally do, or a combination of both.

Now, let's compare how easy or hard it is to achieve this calorie deficit by eating less or exercising more. To eat 500 calories less per day, you could simply skip a snack, or swap a high-calorie meal for a low-calorie one, or reduce your portion sizes. For example, you could replace a cheeseburger and fries (around 800 calories) with a chicken salad (around 300 calories), and save 500 calories right there.

On the other hand, to burn 500 calories more per day, you would need to do a lot of physical activity. For example, according to Harvard Health Publishing, a 155-pound person would need to run at a moderate pace for about an hour, or cycle at a vigorous pace for about 45 minutes, or swim laps for about an hour and 15 minutes, to burn around 500 calories. That's a lot of time and effort!

As you can see, it is much easier to create a calorie deficit by eating less than by exercising more. Of course, this does not mean that exercise is not important for weight loss. Exercise has many benefits for your health and well-being, such as improving your cardiovascular fitness, strengthening your muscles and bones, reducing your stress levels, and boosting your mood and self-esteem. Exercise can also help you maintain your weight loss in the long term by increasing your metabolism and preventing muscle loss.

However, if your main goal is to lose weight, you should focus on your diet first and foremost. You can't outrun a bad diet, as they say. No matter how much you exercise, if you eat more calories than you burn, you will not lose weight. Conversely, if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight even if you don't exercise at all.

So, the bottom line is: the amount of food you consume is much more important than how much you exercise when it comes to weight loss. To lose weight effectively, you should aim to create a moderate and sustainable calorie deficit by eating healthy and balanced meals that keep you full and satisfied, while also incorporating some physical activity into your daily routine that suits your preferences and abilities. This way, you will not only lose weight but also improve your overall health and quality of life.

mtaratoot

This is so true, and it's sad folks don't recognize it. Thanks for putting this out there; maybe it will help.

Physical activity is a great thing. It supports us being healthy in so many ways, but specifically for weight loss (fat loss), the battle is in the kitchen, not the gym.

Best of both worlds is be vigilant about what and how much you eat AND be active!

Corina1143

Not always. My tdee is approximately 1450. I want to lose a little more weight. I don't want to cut 500 calories a day, both because I'd be too Hangry, and because my body needs more nutrients than 950 calories usually provides. Yes, cutting calories is very plain, clear and easy. But adding a little exercise provides a good deficit for some of us, too.
When I weighed more and ate more, I cut calories by 500/day and exercised enough to lose 10 pounds a month for 6 months.
I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I'm saying people are different, with different lives, different needs, different solutions.

tomcustombuilder

Corina1143 wrote: »

Not always. My tdee is approximately 1450. I want to lose a little more weight. I don't want to cut 500 calories a day, both because I'd be too Hangry, and because my body needs more nutrients than 950 calories usually provides. Yes, cutting calories is very plain, clear and easy. But adding a little exercise provides a good deficit for some of us, too.
When I weighed more and ate more, I cut calories by 500/day and exercised enough to lose 10 pounds a month for 6 months.
I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I'm saying people are different, with different lives, different needs, different solutions.

someone like you with such a low TDEE will have a hard time running a 500 cal daily deficit thats why smaller people without much fat to lose have to go slow.

The other issue is balancing the activity to increase the deficit as that activity can cause more hunger and/or cause lower NEAT throughout the day so it’s a slippery slope.

AnnPT77

While it's absolutely true that increasing exercise can spike appetite or reduce non-exercise activity (NEAT) through fatigue, that's IMO more of a tradeoff to be aware of rather than a practical problem in practice.

Let's say a person (like maybe @Corina1143 who commented on the value of exercise to her) does add exercise in order to lose weight a little faster, but also keep calorie intake at a point where good nutrition is viable. If that person's appetite goes up such that they have difficulty sticking to calorie goal, they're going to realize that, probably. They can then decide what to do about that: Drop the exercise, time some nutrients around the exercise to see if that helps, etc.

Similarly, if the person does experience a NEAT drop, they're going to see it. I totally get that the fatigue can be subtle, but if they're tracking reasonably meticulously, they'll notice that they're not losing as fast with the extra exercise as they'd expected. Again, they can adjust based on that track record, maybe drop off some of the exercise, phase it in more slowly (because fatigue is about overdoing for current fitness level, not an absolute thing), or drop the calorie goal a little to compensate. (They may figure they've over-estimated the exercise calories, and eat back less of those, even if that's not exactly the right diagnosis if it was NEAT that dropped. Arithmetically, it can still work.)

Realizing that adding exercise can backfire is a good thing, but I don't think the results or the correction are necessarily mysterious. (Yes, some posts here imply that it's happened without the OP realizing, but that's part of the learning process.)

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm feeling like the "be careful: NEAT could decrease" thing is sometimes coming more from the lifters than from experienced cardio whackos like me. Believe me, I get that it's a real effect. It's happened to me at times, pretty sure.

But I also understand - experientially, not theoretically - that it's about conditioning. It's the big jump in volume or intensity that's going to cause that effect. Gradually increasing volume/intensity, keeping just a mild challenge but an overall energizing routine: That can work. Fitness increases with the right stimulus, allowing us to do more without accumulating excess fatigue. Elite athletes in endurance sports aren't burning unusually low NEAT calories while doing high volume training, necessarily. They've worked their way up to their extreme volume/intensity mix, and can keep up a normal life activity level alongside.

At the same time, I'm totally on board with OP's thesis: Since I was already quite active (for a dozen years) while obese, I didn't materially increase exercise alongside calorie reductions when I finally committed to lose weight. Increasing exercise would've screwed up my good overall life balance: I like doing other things besides formal exercise! Also, I already had a good handle on how relatively few calories exercise burns (especially when translated into food terms). To lose weight, I focused pretty much entirely on changing my eating routine. That worked great.

Speaking of that - eating changes - there's another similar guard rail on that side of the road: Reduce eating too much, and NEAT will also decrease through fatigue, or appetite will spike. (In some situations, even sub-ideal nutrition can do that.)

Finding the right personal balance is key. For balance, history (i.e., pre-existing fitness level), exercise load, calorie intake, and nutrition (plus more) all matter.

lisawhite1b188

Both reducing calorie intake and increasing physical activity through exercise can contribute to weight loss. The most effective approach often involves a combination of both strategies.

Reducing Calorie Intake: Consuming fewer calories than your body needs for energy can create a calorie deficit, leading to weight loss over time. This can be achieved by making dietary changes such as eating smaller portions, choosing foods lower in calories and higher in nutrients, and avoiding high-calorie, low-nutrient foods like sugary drinks and processed snacks.

Exercising: Physical activity burns calories and can help create a calorie deficit. In addition to aiding weight loss, regular exercise has numerous health benefits, including improved cardiovascular health, increased muscle mass, and enhanced mood and mental well-being. Incorporating a mix of aerobic exercises (such as walking, running, or cycling) and strength training can be particularly effective for weight loss and overall health.

Ultimately, the most successful weight loss approach is one that is sustainable and tailored to individual preferences and lifestyle. Combining a healthy, balanced diet with regular exercise is often the most effective way to achieve and maintain weight loss goals. It's also important to consult with a healthcare provider or a registered dietitian before making significant changes to your diet or exercise routine, especially if you have any underlying health conditions or concerns.

neanderthin

Looking at it with a reductionist lens is expected but sarcopenia begins earlier than you think in life and the lack of exercise as a tenet of a longevity and good health is very much understated and neglected which will lead to that fall where recovery is the road to early death. But sure, eat less and by magic we weight less, seems most people can't even eat less but hey, maybe a GLP-1 in concert will be more effective, or removing most of the stomach, or, or......... . but yeah eating less is very effective when compared to the comparable amount of physical effort.