Working out during weight loss phase, but not maintenance?

Options
islandlifenc
islandlifenc Posts: 107 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'd like input to settle a disagreement I'm having about my weight loss.

A friend who happens to be a gym fanatic says I should be working out while I'm trying to lose weight — taking walks, runs, going to the gym, whatever — to speed things along.

I am active around my house and in my day to day life, and have no intention of being a fitness fanatic even at my goal weight. I never have been, even in my youth. I'm just not athletic AT ALL. I do a bit more walking outdoors this time of year (we live on an island), and I enjoy an occasional swim, but I don't like feeling like I have to make something a routine.

There are plenty of women in my family who have been able to keep decent figures by being active in basic day-to-day living, and I think I should be able to do the same. In fact, I kept a good figure from college until I had my son (at 27), and then my eating habits just became abysmal. My most intense activity before I had him came from going out to the salsa clubs now and then.

That said, I think it doesn't make sense for me to hit the exercise hard while I'm in weight loss mode unless I'm planning to maintain that level of exercise for life. I mean, doesn't your body become accustomed to it? Wouldn't you have to keep up the same level of intensity or greater to maintain? For instance, I see all of these people doing Insanity or P90X or whatever, but I wonder why I'd do something like that if I have no plans of continuing with it.

I've changed my eating habits altogether, so I have no problem with the idea of maintaining my weight by eating just as I am now (with calories targeted for what maintenance would be if I was my ideal weight), but as far as gym-type exercise goes, I don't want to have to do that for the rest of my life, so why would I do it now, right?

Or am I missing something? I'm open to ideas or suggestions, and if I'm wrong in my logic, please tell me how.

Thanks!
«13

Replies

  • ValerieMomof2
    ValerieMomof2 Posts: 530 Member
    Options
    Well, technically you can lose weight/maintain with diet alone. You don't have to keep up with extreme programs, it simply helps with calorie burn, cardiovascular fitness, endurance, strength....(depending on what exercise you are doing). So I have a hard time not recommending exercise because there are so many benefits than simply weight loss.
  • islandlifenc
    islandlifenc Posts: 107 Member
    Options
    I know I can do it with diet alone, and I'm actually open to doing some sort of regimen during the weight-loss phase, it's just that I don't want to have to sign on for something that I'll have to keep up forever to stay at a healthy weight.

    Do you know what I mean? If you do more intense exercise during the weight loss phase, are you not just destined to gain the weight back if you don't stay with the exercise?
  • ValerieMomof2
    ValerieMomof2 Posts: 530 Member
    Options
    No because as long as you eat a proper amount of calories, you can maintain. The key with exercise is that if you HATE it, it's more work than anything and you don't stick with it. If you can find something you enjoy, do it even if it's not something that's intense. There are plenty of people who lose weight or maintain with walking, jogging, strength training, dance...and don't have to do 30 Day Shred, Insanity, P90X or whatever program. It's all about balance of eating well and finding something you enjoy that benefits the body as well.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
    Options
    you will atrophy muscle.
  • islandlifenc
    islandlifenc Posts: 107 Member
    Options
    you will atrophy muscle.

    You mean if I do strength training (but not cardio) during the weight loss phase, but then don't keep it up in maintenance, right?

    And ultimately, atrophy of muscle tissue would mean a decreased metabolic state which would cause weight to start creeping back up, right?
  • islandlifenc
    islandlifenc Posts: 107 Member
    Options
    ... The key with exercise is that if you HATE it, it's more work than anything and you don't stick with it. If you can find something you enjoy, do it even if it's not something that's intense. ...

    That's just it. I know I hate anything that FEELS like exercise, though I'm not at all averse to just generally being active, whether taking a leisurely walk or swim, or working in the garden.

    Thanks for the input.
  • xMonroeMisfit
    xMonroeMisfit Posts: 411 Member
    Options
    ..... honestly just seems like youre looking for people to validate the fact that you don't want to exercise.


    Your body needs exercise for many different reasons and although i myself don't like exercising, i do it anyway.

    - Because it speeds up the process
    -Because i dont just want skin hanging all over the place
    -Because it's a stress reliever
    -Because it makes me feel better about myself
    -Because I want to be FIT and not just thin (thin doesnt mean i can run up and down 20 flights of stairs)
    -Because I want to challenge my body
  • AmandaReimer1
    AmandaReimer1 Posts: 235 Member
    Options
    Most people here will recommend to eat back calories burned from exercising, so, as you said diet alone can help lose weight. But exercising tones the body more and all around makes you feel better. I keep hearing more and more how we should workout because when we're older it will help our bones (especially weight lifting ).

    The key is, do something you like. But you can cannot gain weight from not exercising after stopping unless you eat more calories than you should on a regular basis.
  • albertabeefy
    albertabeefy Posts: 1,169 Member
    Options
    you will atrophy muscle.

    You mean if I do strength training (but not cardio) during the weight loss phase, but then don't keep it up in maintenance, right?
    I'm pretty sure he means if you do NOT do strength-training (or resistance-training of some kind) during weight-loss, you will lose lean mass. Strength/resistance-training during weight-loss helps retain lean mass.
    And ultimately, atrophy of muscle tissue would mean a decreased metabolic state which would cause weight to start creeping back up, right?
    If you ate more than your TDEE, yes. What it truly means is your TDEE/BMR will be lessened with less lean-mass.
  • xDawnsgrace
    xDawnsgrace Posts: 436
    Options
    listen, with diet alone, you're going to lose muscle mass, making everything seem.. saggy, for lack of a better word. If you do strength training, and/or cardio, it's going to make you look toner. It sounds like you just want to be lazy and lose weight, then be lazy the rest of your life. You're going to lose that weight, look saggy, then when you stop eating a deficit, you're going to gain that weight back. just exercise..
  • Suffer4beauty
    Suffer4beauty Posts: 44 Member
    Options
    You do not have to keep up the exercise forever. Exercise helps you loose weight faster both by burning calories and by upping your metabolism - but the upped metabolism actually means that your maintenance level of calories is higher. For a very simplified example, pretend maintenance level for your ideal weight is 10 (not realistic - just keeping example easy). If you exercised every day, it might be 14. So for now, at your current weight maintenance is 15. If you diet to 10 calories, you loose weight. If you exercise off 2 more calories you now have a deficit of 7 calories - but since the exercise and new muscles make your metabolism faster, you burn another calorie through the day, giving you an 8 calorie deficit versus just 5 - so you loose faster. You finally reach your ideal weight and if you keep up the exercise, you can eat 12 calories a day. If you drop the exercise, you just go down to 10 calories a day. Make sense?
    Lastly - exercise can be fun! I take walks with friends (admittedly I had to pester them for weeks before we could pick 2 days a week that we could both walk and I have to sets of walking friends). I also love dancing, so I got dance CDs with the idea that I was learning dance moves to use at parties and when going out (and I do). I also just dance with my kids or when joking with friends (who needs a club to go to?). And it can be different every day. Some days I walk, some days I do Hip Hop Abs, some days Dance Crunch (salsa type moves), some days pilates, etc.
    So short answer: You can exercise to help weight loss go faster and then later drop it if you want, just eat less maintenance calories.
  • AlongCame_Molly
    AlongCame_Molly Posts: 2,835 Member
    Options
    ..... honestly just seems like youre looking for people to validate the fact that you don't want to exercise.


    Your body needs exercise for many different reasons and although i myself don't like exercising, i do it anyway.

    - Because it speeds up the process
    -Because i dont just want skin hanging all over the place
    -Because it's a stress reliever
    -Because it makes me feel better about myself
    -Because I want to be FIT and not just thin (thin doesnt mean i can run up and down 20 flights of stairs)
    -Because I want to challenge my body

    THIS. All of it.

    If you really hate exercise that much, and think people who enjoy it are all "fitness fanatics", you are in the wrong place being on this site.
  • xMonroeMisfit
    xMonroeMisfit Posts: 411 Member
    Options
    Also OP...as you age, your Maintenance or TDEE calories will get lower, which means you will gain weight anyway UNLESS you build those muscles and increase your metabolic burn.
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
    Options
    You don't maintain muscle mass by sitting.
  • greeneyes0809
    greeneyes0809 Posts: 422 Member
    Options
    Basically, eating at a deficit will get you thin and working out will get you fit. It really all comes down to what you want.
  • TammyS327
    TammyS327 Posts: 134 Member
    Options
    You can be thin and you can be healthy but they are not the same thing. Exercise will help you be healthier. Being thin is just numbers on the scale and a number on a clothing tag. If all you want is to look thin and you don't worry about your health, then I would say you don't need to exercise.
    Thin people can have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attacks and strokes just like over weight people. I understand healthy people can have the same issues, but it is not as likely
    I completely understand not loving exercise. I am right there with you, but I want to be HEALTHY so I am trying to find something I can live with. Right now it is simply walking. I am trying different things to try to find my exercise. I hated the bike, Im not in love with the elliptical, but I dont hate it yet. I am going to try kick boxing next and see how that goes. I have confidence I will find an exercise that I like and that I can see myself doing on a regular basis.

    I think your question is if you workout now but stop when you reach your goal will you gain weight? I say you will if you eat like you are still exercising but if you are prepared to cut your calories to meet your TDEE then you shouldn't gain weight, but you will lose muscle tone which will make you appear flabbier.
  • sorryfrench
    sorryfrench Posts: 163 Member
    Options
    Like the people above me have stated, it sounds like you just want validation to be lazy.
    Exercise isn't just a tool for weight loss.
    It has many physical and mental health benefits.
    Yes, you can lose weight by cutting calories and not working out. However, you'll probably be soft and saggy.
    Thin girls may look good in clothes, but FIT girls look better naked.
  • thecakelocker
    thecakelocker Posts: 407 Member
    Options
    90% of people in the National Weight Control Registry -- people who have lost a significant amount of weight and KEPT IT OFF -- exercise regularly.

    http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

    Exercise isn't mandatory. But people who are real success stories (and have been for years) overwhelmingly use exercise as a tool to maintain weight loss.
  • islandlifenc
    islandlifenc Posts: 107 Member
    Options
    Me? Lazy? LOL :laugh:

    Although I think some of you have misunderstood my original post (and I think some of you may not have actually read it), my question has been answered in a roundabout way.

    Apparently, no one noticed where I said I'm active in my day-to-day life. Again, I live on an island. Particularly from this time of year through about December (when the weather begins to turn cold), we don't 'take walks', but we do walk quite a bit to go here and there just BECAUSE WE ENJOY IT and it's a way to get from place to place. The market is not far in one direction, the tourist district isn't too much farther, and my road dead-ends at the beach, where we also walk, and that's a good 'work out' if you want to call it that. But it's not to 'take a walk.'

    It's leisurely and it's NOT something I'm doing because I feel like I need to rack up points on some exercise goal sheet. In colder months, I enjoy swimming in the indoor pool at the local wellness center. I garden without power tools.

    I'm a single parent, I work from home AND I homeschool, so yeah, I'm active — though I don't have a 'work out' routine.

    That said, I feel good about the level of activity I'm getting which is precisely why I don't think it's a good idea for me to do something rigid and intense just while I'm trying to lose weight if I have no intention of staying with it once I'm in maintenance. Period.

    My opinion is, a healthy life SHOULD be an active life, but for me, I don't think 'active' necessarily means having to go to the gym or do intense, defined 'work outs.'

    I hope when I'm their age to be blessed to be as active as my almost 80-year-old grandparents who still tend their farm and garden with vigor.

    They'd both tell you they've never gone to a gym or done a 'work out', but they're both strong as oxen and happy as can be. :happy: (Oh, and my never-works-out grandmother was an all-natural knockout back in the day! She's more of an ideal for me than the skinny 'beauty' ideals we so often see for women today.)

    Thanks for everyone's responses.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
    Options
    it doesn't need to be gym type of exercise to count. there's light lifting going on everytime you put away groceries, lift the dog food bag, very heavy baskets of laundry, moving furniture to vacumn. there's plenty of exercise going on with yard work or gardening,
    and if it isn't a routine than many plants would die or be overgrown with weeds.

    I do know what you mean about maintaining without a specific exercise routine, and eating healthy with portion sizes.
    I can do the same in my house, if i'm not being lazy (i often am) there's always something to clean or yard work to do.

    I would suggest doing a simplified lifting routine, so that you can keep your muscle as you are losing and into maintenance too.
    lifting has many benefits, preventing osteoporosis and much more.
    it doesn't require a gym, just get or use the ones you already have, some dumb bells, or even make your own equipment.
    you can even use resistance bands if you like. so long as it's challenging your muscles.
    the simplest routine will focus on compound moves like bench press, squats, and deadlift.
    and you could argue that just doing these exercises on separate days, would be enough to maintain muscle.
    probably no more than 15 mins a day, less if you wanted to do heavier weight with less reps.

Categories