exercising without diet for weight loss

chocowalnut

If I focus mainly on exercise but don't change diet too much can I lose body fat? For example, if you eat 2500 calories a day and you need 2000 a day to maintain, and burn 1000 calories at the gym every day, wouldn't that still be a 500 deficit and you'd lose a pound a week? I want to work on diet too but I just want to know if I would be wasting my time exercising so much if it wouldn't do anything.

evileen99

Losing weight is 80% diet.

You can try it with just exercise, but without monitoring how much you're actually eating, it won't be easy to know if you've created a deficit or not.

erickirb

If I focus mainly on exercise but don't change diet too much can I lose body fat? For example, if you eat 2500 calories a day and you need 2000 a day to maintain, and burn 1000 calories at the gym every day, wouldn't that still be a 500 deficit and you'd lose a pound a week? I want to work on diet too but I just want to know if I would be wasting my time exercising so much if it wouldn't do anything.

Yes, you are right, though it is much easier to cut 500 cals from your diet than it is to burn 1000 cals.

HIITMe

Losing weight is 80% diet.

^^^ this.

XjXannX

i don't see the point in exercising while eating like garbage.

cdpark617

Losing weight is 80% diet.

You can try it with just exercise, but without monitoring how much you're actually eating, it won't be easy to know if you've created a deficit or not.

I disagree weight loss is 100% calorie deficit, however it comes.

nhradeuce

Tracking what you eat is WAY easier than just piling on the exercise. Not only that, but building good eating habits will help you stay healthy when you reach your goal. Watching what you eat doesn't mean having to diet or eating bad food, it just means making smarter decisions when you do eat.

feistymoon

Counteracting excessive binging through diet is actually categorized as an eating disorder. I'm not suggesting this is the case with you at all, I am just giving some insight into the importance of ensuring you strike a healthy balance between food consumption and exercise.

Good luck with your weight loss and fitness goals xx

demorelli

I tried that for a year. Not a single pound off.

kristijean

The saying goes you can't out exercise a bad diet

cdpark617

i don't see the point in exercising while eating like garbage.

Well the point being, some people might want to eat like garbage and are willing to exercise in order to be able to do it.

I do it all the time, I might do an hour of cardio to get 800 calories so I feel like I can have that garbage candy and popcorn at the movie theater.

Bobby__Clerici

Yes, exercise without diet.....:drinker: ...YOU should try it.
And I sure hope that works out better for you than me.
My results were close to nil...
Maybe you'll be different.
Good Luck!

rocket_ace

I've tried it both ways and I find the only thing that consistently works is to do both - diet and exercise at the same time. why waste your time with other strategies if you know that this combo works 100%

cdpark617

The saying goes you can't out exercise a bad diet

Sounds like a bad saying to me. You most certainly can, the key is to track your calories.

Just make sure your calories in are less than your calories out.

dwh77tx

It won't work if you don't keep track of your diet. I worked out every day in college and ate way too much and drank alot. I was the heaviest I've ever been, even with "going to the gym" every day.

cdpark617

You are correct as far as noting the calorie deficit, BUT 2 things:
1. As others noted, diet is very important.
2. If you think you might be wasting time exercising, then your mind is not yet in the right place.
Both are needed as part of a healthy lifestyle.
www.destinationfit4life.com

The question wasn't about healthy lifestyle it was about losing fat.

LittleTrollCupcake

i don't see the point in exercising while eating like garbage.

The point would be that exercising, eating like garbage or not, makes you physically fit. You could have the worst diet ever, and you should still exercise for health.

That being said, exercising will only increase your appetite.

Bobby__Clerici

i don't see the point in exercising while eating like garbage.

Well the point being, some people might want to eat like garbage and are willing to exercise in order to be able to do it.

I do it all the time, I might do an hour of cardio to get 800 calories so I feel like I can have that garbage candy and popcorn at the movie theater.

That I'd do with no problem, but if I ceased tracking and considered every day free day", Katie bar the door!
Again, I am just too much of a hog for such a program.
I can eat 10,000 calories in a day easy.
I'd love to be able to do that and reach my goals.

714rah714

Make sure your numbers are spot on, otherwise, you'll be gaining

motd2k

I'm not sure I entirely agree with the previous. Your weight loss comes ultimately from creating a calorie deficit, that could be by increased activity (whilst ensuring that you don't each more to compensate) or by reducing your calorie intake; ideally you'd perform a combination of the two.

Do note that it'll be very difficult for you to get an accurate figure for the calorie burn from your gym workouts... often they are estimated from your heartrate (or worse still estimated on pace/time) and will thus be wildly inaccurate.

ninerbuff

If I focus mainly on exercise but don't change diet too much can I lose body fat? For example, if you eat 2500 calories a day and you need 2000 a day to maintain, and burn 1000 calories at the gym every day, wouldn't that still be a 500 deficit and you'd lose a pound a week? I want to work on diet too but I just want to know if I would be wasting my time exercising so much if it wouldn't do anything.

Well it would work IF you're in calorie deficit.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

cdpark617

i don't see the point in exercising while eating like garbage.

The point would be that exercising, eating like garbage or not, makes you physically fit. You could have the worst diet ever, and you should still exercise for health.

That being said, exercising will only increase your appetite.

I agree with this!

ahamm002

If I focus mainly on exercise but don't change diet too much can I lose body fat? For example, if you eat 2500 calories a day and you need 2000 a day to maintain, and burn 1000 calories at the gym every day, wouldn't that still be a 500 deficit and you'd lose a pound a week? I want to work on diet too but I just want to know if I would be wasting my time exercising so much if it wouldn't do anything.

I lost about 10 pounds just by exercising a few times per week. However, the weight loss plateaued well before I wanted it to. At that point I started eating healthier and the weight started coming off much more quickly than before.

KarenJanine

There's no reason why it can't work - you're creating the calorie deficit with exercise rather than cutting food.

However it'd still be wise to track your eating as you might start eating more to make up for the cals lost by exercise.

rezn8

NOTE: following parkercd3's example is not healthy. Garbage in / garbage out.

lizziebeth1028

Trying to 'out train' a bad diet??.....sounds exhausting, unhealthy and not very sustainable.

usmcmp

The saying goes you can't out exercise a bad diet

Sounds like a bad saying to me. You most certainly can, the key is to track your calories.

Just make sure your calories in are less than your calories out.

Hmmm you quoted someone in obvious great shape with visible abs and from your picture it looks like you still have a way to go. From experience the better quality food the better quality the workout and the better quality the results. Tracking eating is vital either way because the calorie equation still stands. You have to burn more calories than you eat.

cdpark617

NOTE: following parkercd3's example is not healthy. Garbage in / garbage out.

But if you are eating like garbage now and then add exercise but maintain the same eating habits, so long as you create a calorie deficit you will burn fat.

Sometimes we should focus on answering the question asked.

cdpark617

Trying to 'out train' a bad diet??.....sounds exhausting, unhealthy and not very sustainable.

However, it may sound to you, the answer to the OP's question is Yes.

BettyBlueEyes

In theory it could work, although it didn't for me. I know this isn't about health, but having an "unhealthy" diet (lots of carbs, esp. sugar, and fat) leads to all the nasties later in life - diabetes, heart disease, atheroscleroma, stroke etc. So surely it's better to get into a healthy habit now rather than exercising like mad for a few months, stopping and piling it all back on again?

lizziebeth1028

If I focus mainly on exercise but don't change diet too much can I lose body fat? For example, if you eat 2500 calories a day and you need 2000 a day to maintain, and burn 1000 calories at the gym every day, wouldn't that still be a 500 deficit and you'd lose a pound a week? I want to work on diet too but I just want to know if I would be wasting my time exercising so much if it wouldn't do anything.

I also see on your profile that you are bulimic. I would STRONGLY suggest counseling and working on healthy eating and exercise habits. Over eating and then killing yourself at the gym to burn it all off is a recipe for disaster and you're trading one eating disorder for another. :flowerforyou: