exercising without diet for weight loss

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:

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.

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.

So are you saying that you can't burn fat by eating like garbage and burning more calories than you eat

usmcmp

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.

Yes, you answered the question. We get that. What everyone else here is trying to do is prevent them from coming back in a month frustrated that they aren't getting the results they were hoping for.

jasonzipp

I can eat 1000 calories in 20 minutes or less, but it would take me ~2 hours on my bike to burn it off. I think that is what the saying means.

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.

Yes, you answered the question. We get that. What everyone else here is trying to do is prevent them from coming back in a month frustrated that they aren't getting the results they were hoping for.

So you think giving bad information with good intentions is what we should do here?

daggs95

If you have a decently health diet already then I know from personal experience just exercise can be enough. But it depends on why you need to lose weight to begin with (how it got there) and how YOUR body works. If you are "normal", healthy and have no hormonal imbalances or digestive issues, no inflammatory problems, then just exercise is best because you will be fueling your body. And if you cut your food/"diet"/restrict calories and you are burning alot through activity and exercise you may wind up losing nothing (been there!)

Diet is really only neccesary for people who over-eat (consuming many many calories too much..such as a person with more than 30% body fat who has an energy expenditure or TDEE daily of 2500 calories eats 3500+ more--this just as an example since alot of people under-eat also, don't want to send the wrong message) or for people who have hormonal problems and other healht issues they have to get under control...which means paying attention to what they are eating (healthy yogurt not yoplait, heatlhy meats and veggies not processed or typical stuff loaded with hormones..same for dairy products, not prepackeged stuff that has some much stuff in it, you don't know what the heck you are eating

I personally am a healthy body fat%, but am interesting in peeling off a little before I get older and it will be more difficult to do so, I am very active, muscular and have a lean body mass of 135-140lbs, I need to eat 2500 most days to just maintain ( i eat around 2200 on average so I can lose another 10lbs max) I work out 4 days a week now, I don't "diet". I lost 10lbs in the past few months by eating more and cutting my workouts to 4 days instead of 6. I do happen to like healthy foods, and 80% of my diet is whole food from Wholefoods I eat cake and cookies too it fits in my calorie allowance... but I don't know what people consider normal on that (for me its a few times a week) I only drink water, black coffee (the occassional yumm lattee once or twice a month) I almost never eat fast food or things like tastycakes or enternmmanns because I find they taste like plastic. But I do eat desserts.

But i am just sharing as an example...I only had weight to lose because of pregnancy. My hormones got out of wack and no matter how much I "dieted", how hard I worked out (we are talking hours here) how I knew EXACTLY what i was eating by measuring and using software etc. I could not lose any weight even when have tens of thousands of calories in a defictit over months (years really) But I got my hormones more in check now, and eating enough helped (plus continuing to avoid certain things that are known to distrupt your hormones like most convential meats/diary products)

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.

So are you saying that you can't burn fat by eating like garbage bust burning more calories than you eat

No. I'm saying that eating better makes the workouts easier and keeps you fuller than eating garbage. I'm not saying it is all or nothing.

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.

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.

So are you saying that you can't burn fat by eating like garbage bust burning more calories than you eat

No. I'm saying that eating better makes the workouts easier and keeps you fuller than eating garbage. I'm not saying it is all or nothing.

Great, just want to make sure the OP has accurate information.

usmcmp

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.

Yes, you answered the question. We get that. What everyone else here is trying to do is prevent them from coming back in a month frustrated that they aren't getting the results they were hoping for.

So you think giving bad information with good intentions is what we should do here?

Please tell me how encouraging someone to eat healthy and track food is bad information. Several people have said it is possible to lose weight by burning more calories than we eat. Once again please point out the bad information.

vmekash

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.

^^Agree! Calorie deficit. Doesn't matter whether it is reducing your calorie intake (diet), increasing your calorie burn (exercise), or a combination of both. You CAN lose weight exercising like crazy and eating nothing but junk, BUT it is EASIER (and more practical) to do so by combining diet and exercise, and it is BETTER for your body entirely to make most-if-not-all of your diet a healthy one.

lizziebeth1028

OP is bulimic. It's stated on her profile.