Working out vs. Eating Healthier

kriztyn723

I seem to always read that the people that seem to be the most successful at weightloss just watched their intake and ate healthier to lose the weight. Once they platued then they starting to incorporate exercise.

I would work out 3x a week on average kicking my butt at the gym with no loss...

This week I stopped going to the gym and used that time to prepare healthier meals for myself and I lost 2lbs! (though my MFP scale won't show it because I gained some the past few weeks, eek!)


Anyone else that is only focusing on eating healthier (and intake) instead of making sure to hit the gym each week-- and losing weight??

kriztyn723

bump

mes1119

abs are made in the kitchen.

you will lose weight without exercise but there are so many benefits to exercise. plus it helps preserve muscle mass, I doubt you want to lose muscle mass instead of fat!

and if you are exercising to a point of soreness, your muscles may be retaining water. which will account for the lack of drop in weight. as soon as you have a couple rest days, your water levels will regulate and your weight will be lower.

cardio for heart health
weights for lean muscle mass
diet for body fat

AeolianHarp

Eating healthier has very little to do with weight/fat loss, though a micronutrient deficiency can effect it but that would be rare unless the person had absolutely awful eating habits.

There could be many reasons for why you lost weight suddenly. The Lyle Mcdonald "woosh" could have happened as a result of better hydration. You could have possibly consumed less calories as a result of "healthier" meals. There could be a lot of reasons. Were you being meticulous in tracking calories?

Chsayer

I think it depends on what you want. If you only want to see the LBS drop. This is different for men and women. Personally, I dont care what I weigh. I care what I look like though.

I have a two part plan for me. It is similar to what you are doing now it seems. I am encorporating a healthier diet, smaller portions to get to a point where I feel more confortable working out more often. I have been working out about 3 times a week (cardio with some strength). But most of it is eating smaller portions and more healthy eating. I have lost over 20 LBS since the end of Jan.

Once I lose another 10 LBS I am going to work out a lot more aggressivley to obtain the shape I want. I did this because I felt like I was going to hurt myself with all that extra weight and being too aggressive. So for me, it's not the weight itself, it's just how that weight looks. I don't think it is ever a good idea to stop all excersise completely though. Depends on what you do for work also I suppose. I sit all day.

lizard053

I cannot lose weight without both! Eating cleaner and exercise for overall health improvement! Literally, I can eat 700-800 calories a day and gain. I can eat 1200-1500 and exercise hard half an hour daily and lose like gang-busters. I like choice 2!

kriztyn723

I've tried to do both but with my schedule I feel as though I can only put all my effort into one or the other right now. (I'm a teacher so I have the summer time to be able to do both well). If I workout after work, then I get home late and scramble to get dinner together (and the fact that I am STARVING by that time-- even with a snack prior makes it hard to prepare a healthy quick meal) and I would prefer not to eat at 8:00pm. But now I can come home, have plenty of time to prepare a healthy meal and get to bed at a decent hour with all the work I bring home as well.

I also don't feel the stress of making sure I make it to the gym even if i'm exhausted from my day with my kids. I can still prepare a healthy meal.

So I might try it for another week or so and see...

I was just hoping to see if anyone else had more success in the beginning with just eating better over exercising.

Thanks for reading