"In General, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless"

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  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    why do they tell you that you need to burn more calories than what you take in to lose weight. im confused/ so then is working out just for toning. bc i need to burn fat not tone just yet.

    so, here's the thing. Exercise does three things, it works a muscle group, it works the overall endurance and oxygen capacity of the body (lungs, heart, muscles...etc.) and it burns extra calories.

    what does this do? It causes you to increase muscle size (if needed) and/or muscle functionality, increase stamina and aerobic capacity (which allows you to work out longer and harder), and it allows you to consume more calories to remain at the same weight. Now, if you don't compensate for those calories burned by exercise, yes you should lose weight (assuming no other issues).

    But more importantly, those first two functions make you healthier, and stronger, more able to overcome viral attacks, bacterial attacks, and exeternal environment conditions (better balance, better stamina...etc.).

    So as you can see, exercise is very important for health, but it doesn't directly cause weight loss, it's an indirect contributor compared with calories in vs. calories out.
  • simona1972
    simona1972 Posts: 355 Member
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    I read that article some time ago and I agree with some of it's points. Exercise IS useless to anyone who uses it to lose weight IF they reward themselves with high calorie junk food afterwards.

    I exercised this morning, burned 400+ cals. That would be fruitless if I then went and bought my pre MFP breakfast that is 1000+ calories. Instead I stay within my calorie range [+ exercise cals].

    Cals in vs. Cals out.
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
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    Execise isn't necessary for weight loss as long as you maintain a calorie deficit. I lose weight in weeks I don't exercise, and I lose weight in weeks I do. Exercise makes me ravenous, and I do eat those calories back, so there's no added calorie deficit. I think, however, exercise is vital to a healthy lifestyle, and we all know- we feel better about our weight loss efforts when we exercise.
  • emberd
    emberd Posts: 36
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    Sounds to me that the problem is actually that many people tend to over eat after exercising and if those choices are not calorie-conscious ones then it can negate the exercise. That's what I took from it. I'll keep my exercise, thank you.

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