How Many People Are Not Increasing Their Activity Level As Part Of Their Weight Loss Plan?

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  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    My main goal in losing weight was to get active and fit again, so getting active was an important part of it from the beginning, and I've always found that I have a much easier time eating well when I'm active. It gives me a motivation that actually matters to me. (I like that I look better and I theoretically think it's healthier not to be fat, but I never really had any health problems as a result of being fat, never had any bad test results or was told my weight was causing issues, and somehow wanting to be fit and athletic and strong motivates me more consistently than wanting to wear cuter clothes or look better.)
  • hutchin88
    hutchin88 Posts: 83 Member
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    I personally have to be more active. Walking works for me.
  • booksandchocolate12
    booksandchocolate12 Posts: 1,741 Member
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    trina1049 wrote: »
    When I previously tried to lose weight I didn't exercise much, if at all, because I hated it (or so I thought). That was a mistake. I knew I had to do something about my weight so this time I started out walking and joined MFP. I read on the forums about the importance of maintaining muscle mass while losing so I joined a nearby gym and got my bum in gear. I took the weight lifting classes (Les Mills Body Pump) and cardio classes. I loved the lifting and cut way back on the cardio. That was the best method for me to get healthy. I also added a Fitbit to track my daily activity and make sure that I'm hitting 10,000 steps most days.

    The Body Pump classes have reshaped my body and I'm into a 4/6 Petite (US) now, down from a 14/16. I've learned to love exercise and lots of daily activity.

    Edited to add that I'm 65 years old, soon to be 66 and want to keep my bones healthy.

    You are an inspiration!

    I think you should re-post this every time someone says they're having a hard time losing weight "because of my age". Usually they're like 35 or something, LOL.

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    i like to eat, therefore i work out
  • professionalHobbyist
    professionalHobbyist Posts: 1,316 Member
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    I eat to my activity strategy during the week. 3 days are closer to maint calories and more protein. I lift hard two and rest one of those days. Diet more for the next 4 days and do cardio 3 of those days.

    It has worked for the last year. Lose weight and slowly add muscle but not fat.

  • weavingtheweb
    weavingtheweb Posts: 135 Member
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    booksandchocolate12 wrote: »
    trina1049 wrote: »
    When I previously tried to lose weight I didn't exercise much, if at all, because I hated it (or so I thought). That was a mistake. I knew I had to do something about my weight so this time I started out walking and joined MFP. I read on the forums about the importance of maintaining muscle mass while losing so I joined a nearby gym and got my bum in gear. I took the weight lifting classes (Les Mills Body Pump) and cardio classes. I loved the lifting and cut way back on the cardio. That was the best method for me to get healthy. I also added a Fitbit to track my daily activity and make sure that I'm hitting 10,000 steps most days.

    The Body Pump classes have reshaped my body and I'm into a 4/6 Petite (US) now, down from a 14/16. I've learned to love exercise and lots of daily activity.

    Edited to add that I'm 65 years old, soon to be 66 and want to keep my bones healthy.

    You are an inspiration!

    I think you should re-post this every time someone says they're having a hard time losing weight "because of my age". Usually they're like 35 or something, LOL.

    Agree!
  • MamaBirdBoss
    MamaBirdBoss Posts: 1,516 Member
    edited June 2015
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    I HAVE to increase activity. Eating 1200 calories would give me less than a pound of weightloss a week without it. Which is just too depressing. I want to eat more than that some days!

    Also, it's a serious concern even at 35 to start losing muscle mass and potentially bone density in the future.
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,195 Member
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    I didn't change my diet at all until I had lost 55 pounds--I just started exercising again after being unable to do so during a serious illness. For me, weight loss is 80% exercise.

    Experiment, track and do whatever works for you.
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
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    I like to think of it as a virtuous circle.

    Eating better helps me lose weight making it easier and more pleasurable to do active things.

    Doing active things lets me eat more calories making it easer and more pleasurable to eat better.

  • ElJefeChief
    ElJefeChief Posts: 651 Member
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    bcalvanese wrote: »
    Are you including exercise into your plan in addition to cutting calories, or just cutting calories?

    I am doing both, and think it would be much harder to just cut calories. If I sit around all day, I think of eating more, and wind up using up most of my calories too soon in the day. When I increased my activity level with exercise, I think about eating less, and have plenty of calories left over later in the day. In addition, the calories I have burned adds even more calories, so by the end of the day, I may still have calories left over, and am not even really hungry.

    I think this is a very important point, because it could mean the difference between succeeding or not.

    I completely agree. I exercise every day (no, I don't think exercising every day means impending injury) and I do it because it leaves me a comfortable calorie cushion and I have a good loss rate. I actually lost about 15 pounds prior to MFP without counting a single calorie. It was just from upping my exercise.

  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
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    My activity level was already very high. No need to increase. Just needed to cut calories.
  • PopeyeCT
    PopeyeCT Posts: 249 Member
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    I think it really depends on where you are in the grand scheme of things.

    There is a huge difference between where I started, 280lbs and couldn't do a flight of stairs without resting, and someone who is trying to get rid of that last 2 pounds before the body building competition next month.
  • trina1049
    trina1049 Posts: 593 Member
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    weavingtheweb wrote: »
    booksandchocolate12 wrote: »
    trina1049 wrote: »
    When I previously tried to lose weight I didn't exercise much, if at all, because I hated it (or so I thought). That was a mistake. I knew I had to do something about my weight so this time I started out walking and joined MFP. I read on the forums about the importance of maintaining muscle mass while losing so I joined a nearby gym and got my bum in gear. I took the weight lifting classes (Les Mills Body Pump) and cardio classes. I loved the lifting and cut way back on the cardio. That was the best method for me to get healthy. I also added a Fitbit to track my daily activity and make sure that I'm hitting 10,000 steps most days.

    The Body Pump classes have reshaped my body and I'm into a 4/6 Petite (US) now, down from a 14/16. I've learned to love exercise and lots of daily activity.

    Edited to add that I'm 65 years old, soon to be 66 and want to keep my bones healthy.

    You are an inspiration!

    I think you should re-post this every time someone says they're having a hard time losing weight "because of my age". Usually they're like 35 or something, LOL.

    Agree!

    Thanks for the kind words! I also try to keep it real, at 65+ it's all about health. Because of MFP I've found how to balance my diet and exercise with my life's activities and keep the diet/exercise as my priorities.

  • lucyholdcroft363
    lucyholdcroft363 Posts: 124 Member
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    I've done dieting without exercise and lost a hundred pounds doing so, but then gained back a good fifty of those as I still was very unfit and sedentary and then made some bad food choices. So, I do believe you can lose weight that way as long as you are prepared to continue doing so. When I lost weight that way I was still flabby, weak and always absoloutely ravenous!

    I'm now down seventeen pounds with ten to go by increasing my activity level, lifting and making sure I eat less than I burn. I like it as I find that I am much more 'toned' than I was during my last loss, I have more energy and I can enjoy the occasional takeout without having to starve myself all day! I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the NSVs associated with exercise...like a new running PR, brilliant. It has me focused on a lifestyle which I love rather than a diet which I hated.

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