Why do people say losing weight is mainly about diet

EHuntRN

So if my TDEE is 1700 and I burn 1000 in activity. What should I be eating. As I say, I'm not eating crap. For instance after exercise is like a glass of milk and a banana but at 1200 cals, it's difficult to fit in luxe ties like that. Also, as a vegetarian, on low calories I can't really eat nuts, advicacos and cheese on very low calories. I'm NIT talking about eating donuts for breakfast.

If Im not mistaken...TDEE has already taken into consideration your activity level...So what you wanna find out is what your RMR/BMR numbers are and make sure you dont go below those numbers....Thats what your body needs for proper functioning

EHuntRN

What works for me is I eat my BMR only. 2100 cals. If I am running pure low carb I can add 500 calories and still easily lose. I have been slacking this last few weeks but still managed to lose 5 lb by just sticking to my calorie limits even with only hitting the gym twice last week.

This is what works for me plus/minus 50 cals on any given day....and I stopped logging my exercise cals...I was told if im eating my BMR and working out...eating back my exercise cals was defeating the purpose!!! Granted I spread my cals (50/25/25) Carbs/fat/pro...staying within 5% over/under of each

TheChangingMan

You can't out train a bad diet.

Helloitsdan

After 2 weeks wearing your fitbit youll know what to eat.
Protip: In 2 weeks hop on the fitbit website and check cals burned by week.
For instance mine says that last week I burned 17,500 cals appx.
The week before I burned 17,200.
So its safe to say that if I do the same things week after week that i'll burn about 2400-2500 a day.
To lose a pound a week you cut about 20% off that number for a goal of 2k a day without eating back cals.
Just know that using the sedentary setting and working out 3-5x a week is setting yourself up for failure.
Sedentary sits around.....

Lleldiranne

Losing weight is mainly about diet because you could do an insane amount of exercise and still be gaining weight, if you ate more calories than you use. Look at Sumo wrestlers (where they want to be heavy but also have strength). The aren't sedentary. They train. They eat a lot.

From Jillian Michaels (on Extreme Shed & Shred): "Two slices of pizza can wipe out Level 1 and Level 2 … you've got to eat right." (And it's true, the calories in 2 slices of typical pizza are about what I burn doing the whole 75 minutes, or more).

jaz050465

So if my TDEE is 1700 and I burn 1000 in activity. What should I be eating. As I say, I'm not eating crap. For instance after exercise is like a glass of milk and a banana but at 1200 cals, it's difficult to fit in luxe ties like that. Also, as a vegetarian, on low calories I can't really eat nuts, advicacos and cheese on very low calories. I'm NIT talking about eating donuts for breakfast.

If Im not mistaken...TDEE has already taken into consideration your activity level...So what you wanna find out is what your RMR/BMR numbers are and make sure you dont go below those numbers....Thats what your body needs for proper functioning

Sorry. I know I've done this an odd way. When I calculated my TDEE I said I was sedentary - I also did the in MFP as I wanted to then see the fitbit adjustment. More motivating for me to increase my steps.

It seems I'd be better just using the step number as motivation though and ignoring a lot of the extra calories it gives me. That's what a lot of people are saying ( I think).

hesn92

People say that because it's true. If you exercise and burn calories then you can eat more, but it has the same effect on your weight loss as not exercising and not eating those extra calories.

Exercise does not equal weight loss. It has everything to do with how much you eat. You can work out 2 hours a day, but if you're eating more calories than you burn you're going to gain weight.

ixap

This is one of those things that people can go around and around and around on, because there are various ways of looking at this.

In theory, if someone is maintaining her weight on 2500 calories per day (as an example), if she continued to eat those same 2500 calories but added daily exercise that burned 500 calories, she would lose about a pound per week. So it IS possible in my opinion to lose weight via exercise w/o changing diet... in theory.

In real life, there are various problems that crop up with those approach.

First off, exercising stimulates appetite in most people.
Furthermore, people tend to overestimate their calories burned and underestimate their intake.
This leads to people sometimes eating as much as or even more than they burned, so no weight loss.

Second issue is that many people are not starting from maintenance but actually gaining. There are people are eating 3000 calories a day, or more, when they would need only 2500 to maintain. So if they tried to exercise off enough calories to create a deficit, they'd have to burn an extra 1000 or more every day, on top of whatever activity they'd been doing previously, and refrain from increasing their intake. Hard to do.

In your case, I would be careful about your calories burned estimates. Some calculators include your resting metabolic rate along with the extra calories burned from activity. This is not a problem if you are only logging actual exercise sessions of 30-60 minutes, as this represents only 50 or so calories per hour for most people. But if you're logging many hours of everyday, activity, that can lead to a miscalculation of 200 or more calories per day.

jaz050465

Thanks SOOOO much for the replies but some people aren't understanding what I'm saying. I've used MFP and fit bit to calculate my figures. I've set MFP to sedentary and then using Fitbit to add on any calories for any extra i do!

I repeat, I AM NOT saying I can eat crap and exercise it away. I am saying that without exercising, if I wanted to lose a pound a week I could only eat 1200 Cals which for me is mentally unsustainable. If I walk a lot and exercise, I know have lots of extra calories to allow me to eat a bit more ( but still healthy food). Therefore for me, exercise is essential.