exercising without diet for weight loss

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  • amyniceneasy
    amyniceneasy Posts: 143 Member
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    I'm doing this on a much smaller scale actually since I'm pretty much at goal. I have my settings set to sedentary and at maintenance and don't eat back the adjustment that my fitbit makes. Therefore any activty I do above a sedentary level IS my deficit which is not that big...maybe 100-250 calories a day. I don't care how long it takes to loose the last couple pounds so this is helping me transition to maitenance more than anything.
  • cdpark617
    cdpark617 Posts: 316 Member
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    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.
    While you were calling me fat and defending this statement

    "If you think you might be wasting time exercising, then your mind is not yet in the right place."

    That is bad information. Someone is trying to make an informed decision about how to proceed with an attempt weight and fat loss. The idea that if they doesn't want to exercise unless it helps them reach their goal makes them not in the right place to attempt this is VERY bad information.
  • cdpark617
    cdpark617 Posts: 316 Member
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    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.
    This is a great way to say it!
  • drgndancer
    drgndancer Posts: 426 Member
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    It works in theory, but there are problems. Technically if you know that you eat 2500 cals a day, and you know that you need to 2000 to maintain, and you know that you're burning 1000 in the gym, yes you'll lose weight. weight loss is caused by calorie deficits, not diet or exercise. So what's the problem?

    First, how do you know any of that unless you track it? Maybe you're eating 2500 cals a day, but it's easy to go over that if you don't pay attention. probably you're burning 1000 calories in the gym, but how do you know that? Are you going to the gym *every day* and burning 1000 calories *every day*? If so that 's a lot of gym time, and not much rest time.

    Second, your body has annoying habit of changing your appetite to match your activity. So even if you are pretty confident that you eat 2500 a day now, there's a good chance that once you start exercising heavily you'll want to eat more. it'll be unconscious and probably manifest as slightly larger portions and/or more snacks.

    "Dieting" by the MFP definition is nothing more than keeping track of what you eat, and limiting it to some number that will cause you to lose weight. It allows you to track what you eat, and what you do, to make sure that you're maintaining that deficit. I often eat 2500 calories on a day when I do a long run; often more. When you get 1900 calories a day to begin with, then run off another 1500, you almost have to. There's no magic number of calories that you're trying to keep under, you're just trying to balance exercise and food so that the two create a deficit.
  • footiechick82
    footiechick82 Posts: 1,203 Member
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    i don't see the point in exercising while eating like garbage.

    ^^^ this
  • dmkoenig
    dmkoenig Posts: 299 Member
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    Calorie counting has its place (an important one) in weight management but it's not an end all. There's a very interesting book called The Metabolic Effect Diet by Jade and Keoni Teta that focuses on managing hormonal levels that impact your metabolism and help manage blood sugar levels. Their recommendation is to minimize high glycemic carbs to avoid spiking your blood sugars and adjust workouts to incorporate short but high intensity workouts. They provided a number of case studies of workout queens who spent their lives at the health club but had minimal success dropping weight and then incorporated their plan with great success, even though they ended up working out less. So I think both diet and exercise provide essential ingredients to successful weight management independent of simple calorie counting.
  • rezn8
    rezn8 Posts: 263 Member
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    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
  • mlondon8509
    mlondon8509 Posts: 28 Member
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    A lot of bad information being thrown about here. Very simply, if you create a 500 per day calorie deficit, you WILL lose 1 pound per week. Some people like to get there by eating more and exercising more. Some people like to get there by exercising less and eating less. This is a personal preference and there are pros and cons to each method. For those trashing the OP, answer this question. All else equal, if you have a 500 per day calorie deficit, wouldn't it be healthier overall to do so with more exercise rather than less? You would get all of the other benefits of exercise (strength, cardio improvement, etc.) and still have the same deficit.
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    OP is bulimic. It's stated on her profile.
  • Bobby__Clerici
    Bobby__Clerici Posts: 741 Member
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    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.
    Be sure to include the part about how foolish such a path would be.
    Yes, I could swim to the South Pole...it's possible.....duh!
  • cdpark617
    cdpark617 Posts: 316 Member
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    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.
    Be sure to include the part about how foolish such a path would be.
    Yes, I could swim to the South Pole...it's possible.....duh!
    So adding exercise to ones existing diet is foolish?
  • JamieM8168
    JamieM8168 Posts: 248 Member
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    It could work. Long term, probably not the best answer but it could work.

    I exercise more when I eat bad so it works for me, but thats not the only thing i'm doing. That's just once every other week or so when I feel bad from eating horrible
  • cdpark617
    cdpark617 Posts: 316 Member
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    It could work. Long term, probably not the best answer but it could work.

    I exercise more when I eat bad so it works for me, but thats not the only thing i'm doing. That's just once every other week or so when I feel bad from eating horrible
    I am the same way. I track my eating so I know the current calorie deficit, I will exercise more if I am looking as though I will not meet my daily goal.
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,843 Member
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    You need to create a 500 calorie deficit through either:

    Exercise alone
    Diet
    Diet and exercise

    So if you're eating the same and creating that deficit through exercise then yes, you can lose weight. If you're not exercising and creating a deficit through diet then yes, you can lose weight. If you do a combination of both then the weight loss will probably be faster.

    But to answer your question yes. You can exercise and not change your diet and lose weight as long as you are creating an adequate deficit through the exercise and not eating those calories back.
  • Bobby__Clerici
    Bobby__Clerici Posts: 741 Member
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    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.
    Be sure to include the part about how foolish such a path would be.
    Yes, I could swim to the South Pole...it's possible.....duh!
    So adding exercise to ones existing diet is foolish?
    You're changing the subject....:laugh:
  • Alidecker
    Alidecker Posts: 1,262 Member
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    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, calories in vs. calories out. It's pretty tough to burn an extra 1000 calories every day though.
  • LaurenAOK
    LaurenAOK Posts: 2,475 Member
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    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.

    Yep, this.

    OP, you can lose weight that way, but personally I find it much easier to cut a few calories and exercise a bit, rather than try to burn off 1000 calories a day. That would take hours of exercise for someone my size :P
  • Bobby__Clerici
    Bobby__Clerici Posts: 741 Member
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    It could work. Long term, probably not the best answer but it could work.

    I exercise more when I eat bad so it works for me, but thats not the only thing i'm doing. That's just once every other week or so when I feel bad from eating horrible
    I am the same way. I track my eating so I know the current calorie deficit, I will exercise more if I am looking as though I will not meet my daily goal.
    ..that's what I do as well...
    I guess it's a matter of experience.
    Maybe others are different. This path did not work with me.
    Food intake should be the primary focus - not exercise unless you want to die fat.
  • cdpark617
    cdpark617 Posts: 316 Member
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    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.
    Be sure to include the part about how foolish such a path would be.
    Yes, I could swim to the South Pole...it's possible.....duh!
    So adding exercise to ones existing diet is foolish?
    You're changing the subject....:laugh:
    Not at all.

    Given the OP eats like garbage, would adding exercise and still eating like garbage be foolish? Don't confuse my answering the OP's question and all the other topic changes going on with me being the one changing the topic.
  • Bobby__Clerici
    Bobby__Clerici Posts: 741 Member
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    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, calories in vs. calories out. It's pretty tough to burn an extra 1000 calories every day though.
    Well said.
    It's not sustainable; anybody who would suggest otherwise is in lah lah land.
    Don't be fooled....
    The one thing nobody reading these posts will be able to say is....
    NOBODY WARNED ME!
    Do what you want....:smokin: