Exercise or nutrition?
roz112
Posts: 77 Member
How much of an impact does exercise really have on overall weight loss? Do you believe its as important as people say? (speaking strictly about weight loss and fat loss, not health)
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It really depends on how much you are eating. A calorie deficit needs to occur one way or another.0
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Most people say nutrition is the biggest deal, because it's harder to work off calories than to adjust your diet to be under. It probably depends on how much exercise and what you're doing. If you're a runner or are lifting weights (and packing on muscle) then it's probably a big impact, but for most of us it's going to be the diet. (Which is why I'm going to start jogging soon)
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Exercise helps your body burn more calories. The more you move, the more fit you are the more calories you will burn. Also, the more you exercise the less time you will have to stuff your face.
Get out and move around. Being healthy isn't only about being at your target weight goal.
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80% diet, 20% exercise.0
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I've generally heard that in terms of body recomposition it's 80% diet, 20% activity0
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The reason why i ask is because i use to be pretty consistent with going to the gym and doing weights but now that i have an office job im so tired to workout after, if i eat healthy and have a calorie deficit i can still achieve my goals, but it'll just be more difficult?0
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For weight loss it's nutrition. People say to add exercise to help with the deficit and to retain muscle mass because when people say weight loss they mean fat loss.0
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In my experience, weight loss is almost entirely about nutrition. Keeping close track of my calories and macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs) has been the secret to my 90 pound loss. Exercise, specifically strength training, is helpful in changing the shape of one's body due to increased muscle mass, but its ability to help you lose fat is underwhelming. Cardio exercise will burn calories in the short term, but many people find it just makes you tired and chronic cardio (more than 45 minutes of running, jogging, etc a day) can lead to increased stress hormones (cortisol) which actually can make losing fat harder.
In order to lose weight, it is SO crucial to maintain a caloric deficit. I would argue it is 90-95% of the equation, with sleep, hydration and exercise playing a significantly smaller role (5-10%).
I hope this is helpful! Good luck!0 -
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You've asked 2 questions: weight loss & fat loss. If you're looking for simply weight loss, then do nothing and eat at a deficit and you'll lose weight. If you're looking for primarily fat loss, then adding 3-4 days of heavy weight full body type lifting while eating a deficit is needed to attempt to lose more fat and conserve whatever muscle possible. Granted you're bound to lose some muscle even doing this, but it'll be much less than doing nothing and eating at a deficit. Oh, and YES, I 100% believe that lifting while losing weight will produce a much better result than the latter.0
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I lost my first 45lbs only counting my calories. I just added exercise in 4 months ago in hopes of toning up all my excess skin and I've also lost another 14lbs since then.0
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How do you know that your weight lifting and workout is strenuous enough? I mean after i workout im exhausted and can barely walk down the stairs but i havent seen any major changes since i stopped working out about 2 weeks ago. Thats why im curious if working out actually makes a difference0
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As for question you stated. Booth are good to keep up. But I don't always eat well, I do like to enjoy a slice of cake here and there. Mater of speaking. Not everyday. I do workout about 3-4 times a week. Nothing wrong in being active. Even if its just walking your doy for an hour. Im sure they love it too!
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It takes time for workouts to start showing improvements. Like for instance, if you do the rowing machine everyday for your cardio it can take 12 weeks before you start seeing results. It can take 4-8 weeks with weight lifting to see results depending on how much of it you're doing. It's never fast.0
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I've always found that when I've lost weight due to a caloric deficit without working out, I'm thin, but not toned...it's not cute lol. But yes, you CAN lose weight without working out based only on nutrition.0
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How do you know that your weight lifting and workout is strenuous enough? I mean after i workout im exhausted and can barely walk down the stairs but i havent seen any major changes since i stopped working out about 2 weeks ago. Thats why im curious if working out actually makes a difference
What's your workout?
If you are tired after work, go before work.
You can lose weight without exercise, but for overall body comp exercise is critical.0 -
How much of an impact does exercise really have on overall weight loss? Do you believe its as important as people say? (speaking strictly about weight loss and fat loss, not health)
Your weight loss is going to be largely about your consumption. Exercise simply increases your body's energy (calorie) requirements which can make it easier to adhere to a calorie deficit because you can eat more and accomplish the same things.
Diet for weight control; exercise for fitness. I've been in maintenance for 19 months + and I train like mad...because of fitness...obviously not trying to lose weight if I'm maintaining.
Ultimately, you need to separate the two...they work congruently together, but really you should have separate goals for each...you should have independent fitness goals outside of just burning calories or trying to lose weight or whatever. One of the reasons so many people ultimately fail to keep the weight off is that they only think about exercise as a part of weight loss...they fail because they fail to see the bigger picture here. There's so much more to exercise and fitness than weight control.
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micheleld73 wrote: »80% diet, 20% exercise.
This^^^
You can't outwork a crappy diet. The key is to balance between the two, as you eat healthier you have the energy to complete your exercise of choice (not saying you don't eat healthy now as I didn't look at your diary, but I'm pointing out what I've noticed in myself).0 -
You can lose weight without exercise, but that doesn't mean you'll end up with the body you think you will.0
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I would say personally for losing weight it is calorie control but if you don't want to be flabby once you've lost it then exercise helps with that, wish I had known that when I started
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I lost a lot of weight at one point because i didn't eat much and I didn't exercise but I wasn't exactly healthy because I sat down all the time. But yes, diet is the most important thing, but you won't exactly get a toned looking body0
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Weight loss is mostly eating at a calorie deficit. You can not spot reduce.
However, exercise is important to overall health, so both are important.0 -
if just weighing less is your goal, for health reasons for example, then you don't have to exercise.
if you want to weigh less AND look better AND be more physically fit and enjoy the sweet benefits that come with it - like a better defined body and more abilities, you can't diet your way to that - that actually requires some exercise.
so the answer is yes or no depending on what your personal specific goals are
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The reason why i ask is because i use to be pretty consistent with going to the gym and doing weights but now that i have an office job im so tired to workout after, if i eat healthy and have a calorie deficit i can still achieve my goals, but it'll just be more difficult?
Nutrition makes you look good with clothes on, exercise makes you look good without clothes on...
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I am a firm believer in the "both" policy, but I've found that if I just go reduced intake, I start to feel lethargic after a few days. Less activity requires less fuel which leads to a desire for less activity, etc.
Also, exercise helps make things run more efficiently which will help burn fat more quickly and will help you feel more energized throughout the day.
Personally, I'd rather run in the morning and have a drink at night than have to find a way to fit in that extra 150 calories.0 -
How much of an impact does exercise really have on overall weight loss? Do you believe its as important as people say? (speaking strictly about weight loss and fat loss, not health)
Speaking strictly about weight loss, it's hard to say. What matters is a sustained calorie deficit. If you can do that through diet alone, then exercise is irrelevant. If you struggle with your diet, then exercise becomes more and more important.The reason why i ask is because i use to be pretty consistent with going to the gym and doing weights but now that i have an office job im so tired to workout after, if i eat healthy and have a calorie deficit i can still achieve my goals, but it'll just be more difficult?
Difficult is a relative term. Some people manage their diet very easily, others struggle with it on a daily basis. If you struggle to control your eating, then yes - it'll be more difficult without exercise. If watching what you eat is easy, then it won't be difficult at all.How do you know that your weight lifting and workout is strenuous enough? I mean after i workout im exhausted and can barely walk down the stairs but i havent seen any major changes since i stopped working out about 2 weeks ago. Thats why im curious if working out actually makes a difference
In the grand scheme of things, 2 weeks matters very little. Almost nothing happens that quickly, and certainly nothing meaningful. But to your question - a workout is strenuous enough when it's all you can do AND it's geared towards your goals. A spin workout, regardless of the intensity, means nothing to someone looking to compete in powerlifting. So the workout has to make sense for your goals. After that, it's about giving the workout everything you've got. That sounds simple, but it's actually much harder than most realize, generally because people are capable of far more than they think.0 -
Weight loss is almost all about nutrition. This doesn't mean you shouldn't workout but you have to work out a lot to make a big enough caloric impact to matter. For example its a hell of a lot easier to not eat a Snickers bar then it is to eat the Snickers and try and burn it off with exercise.0
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both are best for your over all health
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