Is exercising and eating more better than just eating less?

NJL13500

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Katbody10

I'm just interested if you do exercise or not?? I'm exercising but very little and was just curious if substantial weight loss can happen without exercise. Thanks

Of course it is possible to lose weight without exercising. Given that you eat less calories than you're burning anyway on any normal day for yourself.

The difference between exercising and not is simply -- you'll lose the weight faster - especially if you don't eat back the calories you burned doing that exercise.

Now .. from a healthy stand point - exercising is a good habit (even if minimal exercise such as walking) to get into because once you lose the weight .. you want to keep it off.

Also - muscle burns your calories where as fat just stores it. Exercising will shrink those fat cells, muscles will increase your metabolism. This does not mean you have to become some kind of body builder.. you just want your muscles to be in good shape and lean (not covered in fat) to keep your metabolism up.

This site is designed hopefully for those that are making permanent lifestyle changes .. even in tiny baby steps. Not exercising is simply not good for anyone in the long term. It helps control age and weight related issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes, flexibility .. your mind can benefit as well from healthy eating and exercise.

If you don't want to exercise - that's your choice. You'll take longer to reach your goal .. it will be more difficult to maintain your goal without exercise. But it's not impossible .. you only risk yo-yoing up and down the scale if you truly think dieting alone is all that it will take.

Best of luck to you and your goals! :flowerforyou:

geekyjock76

For all those giving the advice "don't eat if you aren't hungry", that is only wise if the person's leptin concentration levels are reasonably within baseline levels. Your calorie intake should be based on energy expenditure, not solely on hunger signals.

As for as exercise, it should be included because it increases the quality of life as we age. I don't want to depend on someone else to get me off the toilet because I lack the leg strength to stand up.

nxd10

Losing weight has taught me the meaning of a phrase I hate - 'skinny fat'.

You want to maintain that muscle because it maintains your metabolism, keeps you burning more calories and looking better. A while back someone posted two pictures of themselves at the same weight. In one they looked okay, the other fabulous. The difference was exercise and muscle.

I don't worry if I don't eat back all my exercise calories, but I don't worry if I do either. Let's face it, it's easy to add calories. A piece of toast with butter and orange juice is 500 calories. Tell me you can't eat that.

Koldnomore

This was not my post, I was just giving my input because the OP indicated that they were not really interested in exercise.

I'm confused. You're in perfect health, have never had health issues or problems, you eat well, you move around a lot, you don't eat emotionally. How did you end up overweight in the first place? Furthermore, if your health is perfect and your partner loves the way you look and you don't care about the way you look, then why are you trying to lose weight? If it's not for health (the best and most important reason) and it's not for appearance (the most common reason) then what's it for?

I am overweight because I am an awesome cook and I love good food. I love cooking for my family and enjoying food with them. Obviously I don't move around ENOUGH to offset the creamy Parmesan Carbonara pasta and buttered seafood sauces that I make.

Not all overweight people have food 'issues'. It is entirely possible to be overweight just from eating food, not "fast food", not chocolate bars or chip binges or soda. I just cook with a lot of high calorie ingredients, full fat cheeses, butters, cream etc... My family is Italian, we EAT.

Please point out where I said that I "didn't care about my looks". This is not what I said..I said I didn't care if I was "skinny fat" - pretty huge difference between not caring and just not caring if I'm a little 'squishy' I care a great deal about looking good, but my idea of looking good is obviously not going to be the same as yours. I am not here to look good for anyone but myself. I have been at my goal weight and have been very happy with it, why should I now change my 'ideal' appearance to suit someone else's image of what I 'should' look like?