What this guy must eat in a day

jdm1954

My Y opens at 4:45am and there is a relatively small group there everyday. One of the guys that is there 5 days a week does treadmill for an hour a day. I have been alongside him and he is usually walking at about 4.5mph with a 15 incline. He tells me that after that he is usually there about 45 min more doing other excerises. His weight doesn't seem to change though he says he would like to drop about 20. My question is how much must the guy eat to not lose weight? When I got off my treadmill the other day he was already past 1200 cal and still had a few min left. Has his body gotten used to that routine or do you think he is just eating a whole lot during the day?

Paco4gsc

If he has no medical issue, I'd agree with your first instinct in that he's probably just eating a lot and not realizing that all the exercise in the world isn't going to do any good for weight loss if his calories don't end up in a deficit.

plumwd

He probably has some kind of medical issue that makes it hard, or he's so big that it's not obvious.

Regardless, I think it's rude to spy on people's equipment and times at the gym. It's a good thing he's there, don't make him self-concious.

YoungDoc2B

Classic case of trying to out exercise a bad diet

psuLemon

He probably eats and drinks a lot more than he burns. Also, treadmills can over estimate caloric burn by as much as 40%. If he does the routine daily, his body will adapt and burn a lot less calories so realistically, he is probably burning 500 calories.. Keep in mind the manufactures want you to use their machines.. so they help that out.

jzammetti

That much cardio can be counterproductive...

There is a very nice man in my gym who has a huge beer gut - he is always in there swinging weights around (not literally, but you know what I mean). He is obviously very strong...but keeps telling me he wants to lose his tummy. I asked him about his food and OMG he eats a lot. I told him the tummy gets smaller in the kitchen and he is considering how bad he wants to lose the belly (his words) because he is not sure he wants to track his food or change his diet.

Could just be that for your guy too.

Warchortle

45 minutes --> 1200 calories? He must be sprinting.

EricMurano

He probably has some kind of medical issue that makes it hard, or he's so big that it's not obvious.

It is more likely that he's not aware that the amount that he's eating is the problem. Very few people have bona fide medical issues that make it difficult to lose fat.

Not knowing about nutrition doesn't make him lazy; he just doesn't know. He was never informed. Worse, there's so much crap information available that he knows less than nothing. What chance does he have?

Regardless, I think it's rude to spy on people's equipment and times at the gym. It's a good thing he's there, don't make him self-concious.

Got a point there

affacat

i was doing a walk/jog/run on a treadmill for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for months (plus some limited strength training m/w/f). lost 20, then plateaued. i was only taking in around 1600 cals a day (i didn't do the counting then, but i was consistent and figured it out when i found this site). then researched and found this site and discovered i was undereating. even with that much effort, and a strict diet, weight stopped coming off.

i'm now doing treadmill only an hour a day, 5 days a week at 6mph (so, 1/3 the time and just under half the distance). I Increased my calorie count considerably (400-500 cals) and am pushing myself harder on the strength training.

i'm still at the plateau weight, but i can tell increasing my cals and decreasing my time on the machine was the right thing to do and hope the last of my weight starts coming off. plus i have 2 more free hours a day.

anyway, point is, i was not eating a lot (and in fact, undereating), doing treadmill for 13 miles a day 5 days a week... and NOT losing weight. as such, i don't know that this guy eats a lot. it honestly sounds a lot like my situation (though i workout at home).