out-exercising a bad diet
theMDfit
Posts: 9
I know this has been asked a couple of times and the general consensus (quite rightly) is that you simply keep an eye on your food intake, stay active and results will come. However, the phrase "you can't out-exercise a bad diet" has been thrown around so much and yesterday, after PMS-eating my way through 500 above my deficit calories, I went to the gym and worked them off (according to fitbit anyway). Wouldn't this mean that I was still in deficit for the day? I do realise it is loss over time that's important but I do have at least a couple of days a week where I eat more than I "should". Can't I just work it off with extra exercise?
Thank you all for your insights - this forum is full of brilliant people!
Thank you all for your insights - this forum is full of brilliant people!
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Replies
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I'm sure there's some science behind why you can't...maybe the way humans metabolize food versus dealing with calories lost?
I wouldn't worry about it and pick up and try to follow your diet as regularly as you can.0 -
I think it depends on the individual. I definitely can't. I have to eat good, healthy foods, for the most part. My ex husband could eat 6000 calories of crap, McDonalds, ring dings, chips, beer, pizza, etc., and he had next to no body fat at 245 pounds.0
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The only reason I don't trust out-eating your diet is that I don't believe that you get an accurate read on how many calories you burn in many cases. Sure, there are ways to be more precise, but I see people on these forums insist they burn 1000 calories in an hour of exercise. I'm just not buying it. If you overestimate exercise calories, you aren't at as big of a deficit as you think you are. I'm sure this way of weight loss works for some people, I just don't personally trust that the numbers come out right according to the database of calories burned during exercise.0
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If I think about what I was eating before I started counting calories, or even write down what I eat on a particularly bad day. it might come to 3500 or 4000 calories. Now imagine eating that kind of diet day after day, week after week. There is no way you could burn off that calorie surplus, no matter how much you do. The most I've ever burned in a day is 2000 calories (a 3 hour 15 mile run). That is a once a week activity, not a daily one.
So you can compensate for an extra 500 calories now and then - most of your workouts should burn 300-500 calories. But you can't burn off 2000 extra calories per day, every day, unless you are an elite athlete. That's how I think of the expression.0 -
I think the idea behind not being able to out-exercise a bad diet is that most people, if they're not watching their calorie intake, eat several thousand calories - usually way more than you can burn off doing normal exercise. Particularly as people who are overweight & obviously got there for a reason - we eat way more than our body burns off. Eating 500 past your deficit is not that bad at all - that means you were probably at maintenance level. & burning off 500 calories also isn't very hard to do. But eating 4000 calories a day and then trying to burn 2500 of them so that you're at 1500 calories is pretty much impossible. So I think that's why you can't "out-exercise bad dieting" - it's more about not counting your calories & then thinking you can eat everything in sight because you're going to exercise it off later. In reality, you aren't going to be able to burn it all off.0
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Answer plain and simple NO. Goggle it, there are so many articles on that.
http://kbandstraining.com/burn-calories-you-cant-out-train-a-bad-diet/
"The general population that is serious about exercising spends approximately 6-8 hours working out per week. This most likely will not cover the amount of calories taken in for a person who eats whatever they want whenever they want. A great exercise workout program works if it does not have to go against an unhealthy diet. This is why you can’t out-train a bad diet. It is so important to know what to eat, when to eat, and how much to eat. A lifestyle of eating healthy is the way to utilize working out to the fullest. When a person says they can eat what they want because they exercise the body has news for them. The exercise will not offset their excess of calories. Running on a tread mill is great but it will not burn the excess calories of eating half a pizza. In general, people underestimate the actual amount of calories they eat and drink and over estimate the amount of calories they burn during a workout. Unless a person lives a healthy eating lifestyle combined with a regular exercise routine the body will not be able to burn the excess. It takes both. "0 -
Answer plain and simple NO. Goggle it, there are so many articles on that.
http://kbandstraining.com/burn-calories-you-cant-out-train-a-bad-diet/
"The general population that is serious about exercising spends approximately 6-8 hours working out per week. This most likely will not cover the amount of calories taken in for a person who eats whatever they want whenever they want. A great exercise workout program works if it does not have to go against an unhealthy diet. This is why you can’t out-train a bad diet.
Please read my OP - I know EXACTLY how many calories I overate and approximately how many I burned. I do not eat "whatever I want, whenever I want". My question was about why people still say you can't out train your excess calories if apparently it's all about calories in vs out.0 -
If you are doing a huge amount of cardio then it is possible, but it depends how bad your definition of "bad" diet is.
When I was doing 14-20 hours of cardio per week I "got away with" a pretty crap diet and stayed lean. But the overexercising caused me to start peeing blood, so that probably indicates you shouldn't try and out-exercise a bad diet.0 -
In a way....you can. If you are very active, you will have a higher TDEE. You'll be able to eat more calories without gaining weight, because you burn more.0
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If you are doing a huge amount of cardio then it is possible, but it depends how bad your definition of "bad" diet is.
When I was doing 14-20 hours of cardio per week I "got away with" a pretty crap diet and stayed lean. But the overexercising caused me to start peeing blood, so that probably indicates you shouldn't try and out-exercise a bad diet.
Thank you for your input but again - I am talking about a controlled excess calories (not a "bad diet" all the time - phrasing was my fault, sorry) and compensating those with exercise.0 -
OP, from your post it seems like you have things under control and are mindful of what you eat and how much you're taking in vs. output.
That said, this is coming from a semi-former "bad dieter". I lost weight a couple of years ago eating donuts and fast food. My cal intake was less then my output and I lost 30 lbs. This time around, I decided to focus on health a little more and in the beginning focused on one thing. Protein. I shot for 100gs of Protein a day.
What I learned from that and am still working on (because I still eat fast food a couple days a week) is that it is pretty difficult to get that number and eat crap food. So I'm making progress in the "bad diet" area. Just sharing because that is something that's helping me.
That said. You can lose weight on a "bad diet". I'm proof. It really is calories in vs. calories out. But if you are working out and trying to have enough energy for a good burn and keep as much muscle as possible, the people on MFP are very right when they say, you can eat what you want, just make sure it hits your macros and are eating at a deficit if you're trying to lose.0 -
The only reason I don't trust out-eating your diet is that I don't believe that you get an accurate read on how many calories you burn in many cases. Sure, there are ways to be more precise, but I see people on these forums insist they burn 1000 calories in an hour of exercise. I'm just not buying it. If you overestimate exercise calories, you aren't at as big of a deficit as you think you are. I'm sure this way of weight loss works for some people, I just don't personally trust that the numbers come out right according to the database of calories burned during exercise.
This is why it's important to invest in an HRM! I only started eating back my calories once I got my monitor and felt more like I could trust what I was burning.0 -
Comes down to definition of "bad diet". A lot of calories is not necessarily a bad diet; top sportsmen blow through 6,000 cals daily which they need to fuel their exercise and stay lean or bulk up. But they eat the right nutrients.
A real "bad diet" would be eating stuff bad for you, and avoiding anything good (eg, stacks of sugar and sodium, zero protein, zero vitamins). If you do that, then no amount of exercise will save you.0 -
OP, from your post it seems like you have things under control and are mindful of what you eat and how much you're taking in vs. output.
That said, this is coming from a semi-former "bad dieter". I lost weight a couple of years ago eating donuts and fast food. My cal intake was less then my output and I lost 30 lbs. This time around, I decided to focus on health a little more and in the beginning focused on one thing. Protein. I shot for 100gs of Protein a day.
What I learned from that and am still working on (because I still eat fast food a couple days a week) is that it is pretty difficult to get that number and eat crap food. So I'm making progress in the "bad diet" area. Just sharing because that is something that's helping me.
That said. You can lose weight on a "bad diet". I'm proof. It really is calories in vs. calories out. But if you are working out and trying to have enough energy for a good burn and keep as much muscle as possible, the people on MFP are very right when they say, you can eat what you want, just make sure it hits your macros and are eating at a deficit if you're trying to lose.
Thank you for sharing - that sounds like a great way to approach things (focusing on macros instead of just calories alone). I do follow this most of the time but as I mentioned, a couple of days a week I go over my calorie allowance and try to make it up in the gym. (all in all a difficult issue to tackle because the overeating is mostly emotional).
I suppose I just want reassurance that when I do overeat slightly and then do summon the willpower to do extra exercise, there is actually some point to it.0 -
It doesn't mean that you can't exercise to counteract some extra calories (what you did). In fact, when you exercise, you NEED more calories to fuel your body (adjusted for weight loss needs).
What the phrase means is that you have to watch what you're eating. There are a lot of people who decide they want to lose weight so they hit the gym. They don't do anything to change eating habits, and because they aren't tracking it, they probably end up eating more than before. As a result, they don't lose much weight, if any, and give up. This is what the phrase is referring to.0 -
Comes down to definition of "bad diet". A lot of calories is not necessarily a bad diet; top sportsmen blow through 6,000 cals daily which they need to fuel their exercise and stay lean or bulk up. But they eat the right nutrients.
A real "bad diet" would be eating stuff bad for you, and avoiding anything good (eg, stacks of sugar and sodium, zero protein, zero vitamins). If you do that, then no amount of exercise will save you.
Well, again - aside from STACKS of sugar (how much is a stack?:)) ... if I eat 1500kcal of junk food per day for weeks on end and maintain my activity level, I will lose weight, isn't that correct? It might be largely muscle etc but technically...0 -
OP, from your post it seems like you have things under control and are mindful of what you eat and how much you're taking in vs. output.
That said, this is coming from a semi-former "bad dieter". I lost weight a couple of years ago eating donuts and fast food. My cal intake was less then my output and I lost 30 lbs. This time around, I decided to focus on health a little more and in the beginning focused on one thing. Protein. I shot for 100gs of Protein a day.
What I learned from that and am still working on (because I still eat fast food a couple days a week) is that it is pretty difficult to get that number and eat crap food. So I'm making progress in the "bad diet" area. Just sharing because that is something that's helping me.
That said. You can lose weight on a "bad diet". I'm proof. It really is calories in vs. calories out. But if you are working out and trying to have enough energy for a good burn and keep as much muscle as possible, the people on MFP are very right when they say, you can eat what you want, just make sure it hits your macros and are eating at a deficit if you're trying to lose.
Thank you for sharing - that sounds like a great way to approach things (focusing on macros instead of just calories alone). I do follow this most of the time but as I mentioned, a couple of days a week I go over my calorie allowance and try to make it up in the gym. (all in all a difficult issue to tackle because the overeating is mostly emotional).
I suppose I just want reassurance that when I do overeat slightly and then do summon the willpower to do extra exercise, there is actually some point to it.
You're doing it how I would, if I know I over ate for the day I try to move more, even later in the evening. Check out the Sworkit app if you haven't. I will do a 10-20 minute circuit right in the living room while I'm watching TV after the kids go to bed just to get a few more calories burned for the day. It's cool.
Also, check out IIFYM. It's pretty awesome I think. Found it a month or so ago and it really helps in making "better" food choices for me because it forces me to look at nutritional content, not just the cals
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OP, from your post it seems like you have things under control and are mindful of what you eat and how much you're taking in vs. output.
That said, this is coming from a semi-former "bad dieter". I lost weight a couple of years ago eating donuts and fast food. My cal intake was less then my output and I lost 30 lbs. This time around, I decided to focus on health a little more and in the beginning focused on one thing. Protein. I shot for 100gs of Protein a day.
What I learned from that and am still working on (because I still eat fast food a couple days a week) is that it is pretty difficult to get that number and eat crap food. So I'm making progress in the "bad diet" area. Just sharing because that is something that's helping me.
That said. You can lose weight on a "bad diet". I'm proof. It really is calories in vs. calories out. But if you are working out and trying to have enough energy for a good burn and keep as much muscle as possible, the people on MFP are very right when they say, you can eat what you want, just make sure it hits your macros and are eating at a deficit if you're trying to lose.
Thank you for sharing - that sounds like a great way to approach things (focusing on macros instead of just calories alone). I do follow this most of the time but as I mentioned, a couple of days a week I go over my calorie allowance and try to make it up in the gym. (all in all a difficult issue to tackle because the overeating is mostly emotional).
I suppose I just want reassurance that when I do overeat slightly and then do summon the willpower to do extra exercise, there is actually some point to it.
If the question is "can I recover a bit of over eating by doing extra time in the gym?", the answer is a definite yes!!0 -
If the question is "can I recover a bit of over eating by doing extra time in the gym?", the answer is a definite yes!!
I suppose that is what I'm asking indeed! (I'm blaming the lack of clear thinking on pms hormones!) Great, well - /thread, I guess.
Thank you to all who contributed - I had misunderstood the bad diet saying a bit.0 -
It should be: You can't out exercise a bad diet* followed by a paragraph of fine print. In general, you really can't out exercise a bad diet, day after day. However, if it is not a daily occurance, and know how many calories you went over your deficit, AND you have a HRM, you can hit the gym/treadmill/whatever and burn off the damage.
Example: I've been PMSing and cramping and craving crap for a few days, and finally caved last night. Half a cup of Trader Joe's choc chip mint ice cream put me 320 calories in the red, so I strapped on my HRM and hopped on my elliptical for an hour a twelve minutes of sweat in my fat burning zone... while watching Orange Is The New Black!
Short answer: just because you can out exercise a bad diet doesn't mean you should make it a habit.0 -
If you are doing a huge amount of cardio then it is possible, but it depends how bad your definition of "bad" diet is.
When I was doing 14-20 hours of cardio per week I "got away with" a pretty crap diet and stayed lean. But the overexercising caused me to start peeing blood, so that probably indicates you shouldn't try and out-exercise a bad diet.
Thank you for your input but again - I am talking about a controlled excess calories (not a "bad diet" all the time - phrasing was my fault, sorry) and compensating those with exercise.
In that case, most definitely :-)0 -
The phrase comes from the fact that people go workout, but they're surprised that they don't lose weight...because most people do not track calories so they go workout which generally makes people hungrier so they usually negate any possible deficit they may create with exercise. How many people do you know that workout all the time but never lose a Lb? There are tons of them in my gym...they're trying to out exercise their diet...it doesn't matter "good" or "bad" foods...if you overeat, you overeat and it can be difficult to out pace consumption.
To boot, it's just really not very efficient...it is far more efficient for both loss and maintenance to utilize your diet for weight control and exercise for fitness. Always trying to outrun your diet and/or overeating with exercise can bring about an unhealthy relationship with exercise as well as lead to over training and injury.
Really, it is diet for weight control; exercise for fitness.0 -
You definitely can burn off extra calories - but if you consistently have a bad diet (it doesn't sound like you do) it will eventually catch up with you!! You will burn yourself out, and it will show. When you exercise you are breaking your body down physically, neurologically and hormonally. If you follow a strenuous exercise regimen then you want to make sure to give your body proper nutrition so it can repair itself. Unfortunately, Twinkies ain't gonna cut it. :sad:0
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The only reason I don't trust out-eating your diet is that I don't believe that you get an accurate read on how many calories you burn in many cases. Sure, there are ways to be more precise, but I see people on these forums insist they burn 1000 calories in an hour of exercise. I'm just not buying it. If you overestimate exercise calories, you aren't at as big of a deficit as you think you are. I'm sure this way of weight loss works for some people, I just don't personally trust that the numbers come out right according to the database of calories burned during exercise.
FINALLY!!! I am so glad to see that I am not the only one who thinks that 1 hour of cardio burns all these calories.0
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