Why am I losing more weight since I stopped working out?

RingSize8

I've heard/read that weight loss is 70% diet and 30% exercise, but, wow. A few weeks ago I really started focusing (more) on my diet, and I've lost like 15lbs. But in the months prior, when I was working out like a fiend, I wasn't losing much of anything at all. What's happening here? I suspect it's not all water weight/muscle loss because I have been measuring myself as well and I've lost quite a few inches as well. I wasn't just eating whatever when I was more focused on working out, but I wasn't quite as diligent as I am now about counting my calories every day (I was also trying low carb for part of that time). Any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance.

gregpack

I have decreased my exercise over the past 30 days and my weight/waist is dropping. I'm doing less cardio and having less cravings. it's possible you were overdoing it. You might want to read about cortisol and weight loss,

Nicolee_2014

I find the same also....

However. I've come to the realisation that I want to be toned as well, so, I need to keep up the exercise. I'm more likely to fit into my clothes nicely doing exercise/toning up than I am if I'm just dropping weight (have done both in the past & I actually looked thinner when I was actually heavier because of the exercise I was doing).

So it depends on what you want....The numbers on the scales to say something you want to see or the size of your clothes.

Nix_Way

I lost 44 pounds since June. I was just focusing on what I ate (started at over 400 pounds and doing anything was difficult) , but this last month an a half I have been walking and increasing my walk time (from 10 minutes to 30 minutes) and I have only lost 1 pound !!! I know I have been doing a little more eating since I was more hungry from the walking, but I just figured I was building muscle, and since muscle weighs more than fat , I have been assuming that thats the reason for only the 1 pound lost in a month.

If anyone can explain why this is, please let me know. I understand that is better to workout an be toned than to just go by numbers on a scale and I'm not discouraged in the least.. but would just like to actually UNDERSTAND why this is.

Thanks Nix :flowerforyou:

littleburgy

Less diligence about tracking may have hindered progress.

One mistake I used to make was that I figured I could eat really generously because I was exercising. But really I was taking in more calories than I should have. And I think that's a pretty common mistake.

teamAmelia

Good job on your weight loss and your new eating habits, OP. You answered your own question. You've started to focus on the actual food that you put in your body.

SLLRunner

I lost 44 pounds since June. I was just focusing on what I ate (started at over 400 pounds and doing anything was difficult) , but this last month an a half I have been walking and increasing my walk time (from 10 minutes to 30 minutes) and I have only lost 1 pound !!! I know I have been doing a little more eating since I was more hungry from the walking, but I just figured I was building muscle, and since muscle weighs more than fat , I have been assuming that thats the reason for only the 1 pound lost in a month.

If anyone can explain why this is, please let me know. I understand that is better to workout an be toned than to just go by numbers on a scale and I'm not discouraged in the least.. but would just like to actually UNDERSTAND why this is.

Thanks Nix :flowerforyou:

We don't build muscle from walking, and muscle does not weight more than fat.

SLLRunner

I've heard/read that weight loss is 70% diet and 30% exercise, but, wow. A few weeks ago I really started focusing (more) on my diet, and I've lost like 15lbs. But in the months prior, when I was working out like a fiend, I wasn't losing much of anything at all. What's happening here? I suspect it's not all water weight/muscle loss because I have been measuring myself as well and I've lost quite a few inches as well. I wasn't just eating whatever when I was more focused on working out, but I wasn't quite as diligent as I am now about counting my calories every day (I was also trying low carb for part of that time). Any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance.

Good job.

Weight loss is actually 100 percent calorie deficit,and the exercise is just an added plus.

You are paying attention to how many calories you consume and eating less calories than you burn. That's a good thing.

Railr0aderTony

I've heard/read that weight loss is 70% diet and 30% exercise,

NOPE, Weight loss is 100% caloric deficit.

Always remember Weight loss happens in the kitchen, Fitness happens in the Gym. They are a great combo.

clover5

I have found that a daily burn of 200 to 300 is my sweet spot for losing weight, plus counting calories of course. A bigger burn, makes me more hungry.

Ed98043

Interesting article here:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/10213/why-exercise-doesn-t-actually-help-you-lose-weight

Short version:

-Exercise makes you hungry.

-Overweight exercisers experience a 5% to 15% drop in resting metabolic rate. This does not happen to "genetically lean" exercisers.

-The body really, really wants to stay fat once it's been there, and employs multiple systems to bring the energy use and consumption back in line to maintain the status quo.

SLLRunner

Thank you, eld2310, for sharing the article. It was Interesting, especially this:

exercise makes us hungry, which leads us to replace the calories burned by exercising and encourages weight gain. It's a clever hypothetical and many readers would probably treat it as no more. But the data backs it up

But, if you use a tool such as MFP, then you eat your exercise calories back because the deficit is already build in. In fact, using MFP, it's healthy to eat your exercise calories back.

and this:

None of this means that exercise is unhealthy. To the contrary, exercise is beneficial for many reasons. Research suggests that it's good for your memory, reduces risk of death from cardiovascular disease and some cancers, and may help people manage their depression. So we should exercise because it yields all sorts of health benefits. But, we shouldn't count weight loss among those benefits, because it probably isn't one of them.

I find this to be very true. I can;t imagine what my life would be like if I didn't move every day, whether it be at the gym or a brisk walk outside. Exercise brings necessary balance to my life.

I don't believe all of it, especially that it slows overweight people's metabolism down.

The only thing needed to lose weight is to eat less than what we burn, whether we are sitting on the couch all day or outside running five miles.

gregpack

I don't believe all of it, especially that it slows overweight people's metabolism down.

Think about what happens when you exercise a lot, Most people see a drop in their resting heart rate. Your body has become more efficient at delivering oxygen to the cells. A heart beat that slows 20% is likely going to consume less energy. In the latter stages of my diet and overtraining a couple years ago my heart rate was running 48 bpm. Now that I've backed off a bit it's running high 60's.