am i cheating myself?

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cheesyP
cheesyP Posts: 56 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have been trying to lose weight for two months.. I workout at home with youtube because there is no gym near me.. okay so when i started out I could barely make it through the workout videos But today... I managed through one video the whole 30 minutes I did it!!! (I'm so proud of myself) but... I admit I've been eating BAD on this weight loss journey.. even though I've been eating horribly I still get my butt up and exercise for an hour four days a week... but I'm not noticing changes in my appearance I'm noticing I can get through workouts that use to be tough for me..

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  • mathandcats
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
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    Weight loss is about calorie deficit. You can get more fit and healthy by exercising, but if you are eating too much you will not lose weight.
  • mike_bold
    mike_bold Posts: 140 Member
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    you cannot out train a bad diet. Channel that energy into eating a clean deficit.
  • datsundriver87
    datsundriver87 Posts: 186 Member
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    As others have said diet is more important than exercise. Punch in how many calories your "bad" days are don't just say oh I'm going to go over my calorie goal so I won't enter it in to mfp. This will give you a good idea of just how much exercise it takes to burn that extra cookie or whatever it is you decided to eat.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    Bad or good, if you're eating too many calories, you won't lose weight. You need to be in a deficit. You can exercise all you want, but it doesn't mean you'll create a larger enough deficit to lose any weight. In fact, it's possible to gain weight if the exercise makes you hungry and you go over your maintenance calories regularly.

    You must track your intake.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,203 Member
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    cheesyP wrote: »
    I have been trying to lose weight for two months.. I workout at home with youtube because there is no gym near me.. okay so when i started out I could barely make it through the workout videos But today... I managed through one video the whole 30 minutes I did it!!! (I'm so proud of myself) but... I admit I've been eating BAD on this weight loss journey.. even though I've been eating horribly I still get my butt up and exercise for an hour four days a week... but I'm not noticing changes in my appearance I'm noticing I can get through workouts that use to be tough for me..

    Exercising for an hour 4 days a week doesn't amount to much in the way of calories burned. Sorry.

    Enter your information into MFP and find out how many calories you should be eating. Then make use of MFP to diligently and meticulously track your calories for a couple months. Stay at the number of calories MFP recommends.

    Then you'll start seeing results. :)

  • MissElectricEyeliner
    MissElectricEyeliner Posts: 122 Member
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    I've lost 54lbs this year with no exercise. Make sure you eat a deficit and weigh your food on a food scale for an accurate calorie count.
  • MissJay75
    MissJay75 Posts: 768 Member
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    I want to point out, the workouts are good for you. They are helping you to become stronger and more healthy.

    However, they will not add much to your weight loss, for that part you need to do as others have said, and make sure you are at a decent calorie deficit.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Good job on the work outs. :) The next step is to log your foods for a week to get used to the diary .
    After a week, evaluate to find ways to decrease calories while keeping protein.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    cheesyP wrote: »
    I have been trying to lose weight for two months.. I workout at home with youtube because there is no gym near me.. okay so when i started out I could barely make it through the workout videos But today... I managed through one video the whole 30 minutes I did it!!! (I'm so proud of myself) but... I admit I've been eating BAD on this weight loss journey.. even though I've been eating horribly I still get my butt up and exercise for an hour four days a week... but I'm not noticing changes in my appearance I'm noticing I can get through workouts that use to be tough for me..

    Exercise is for fitness. It is much better for your health to be obese and active than obese and a couch potato, so you are doing this right. But, unless you change how much you eat (regarding calories) weight loss will not happen.
  • ambreenmc
    ambreenmc Posts: 24 Member
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    It's been long long time trying to lose weight ...lose it then gain it back...exercise hard and then eat too much...trying this or that...now I am starting again...I like talk on this group...calories count
  • rhtexasgal
    rhtexasgal Posts: 572 Member
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    sunparakeet wrote: »
    Have you ever heard the phrase "you can't outrun your mouth"?

    You really, truly can't out-exercise a bad diet because the amount of calories you burn working out often doesn't even begin to cover the excess calories you eat.

    Here is an example - I burn about 75 calories per mile walking which is my main form of exercise. Every Friday, my office buys these giant bearclaw donuts that are 500 calories. So I could eat the donut and do nothing, and gain weight. Or I could eat the donut and go for a 7 mile walk to burn it off. Or I could just not eat the donut. Not eating the donut is what I generally do.

    I find it pretty scary that I can eat a 7-mile walk worth of calories (which would be about two hours of walking) in two minutes.

    And this up above is why I say no often! Or, I will make sure that I put in the extra time on cardio so I can "afford" to eat those yummy, yet empty calories. If you look at each piece of junk food as an X number of minutes running/walking/etc., all of the sudden, that junk food is not as appetizing as it once was.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    sunparakeet wrote: »
    Have you ever heard the phrase "you can't outrun your mouth"?

    You really, truly can't out-exercise a bad diet because the amount of calories you burn working out often doesn't even begin to cover the excess calories you eat.

    Here is an example - I burn about 75 calories per mile walking which is my main form of exercise. Every Friday, my office buys these giant bearclaw donuts that are 500 calories. So I could eat the donut and do nothing, and gain weight. Or I could eat the donut and go for a 7 mile walk to burn it off. Or I could just not eat the donut. Not eating the donut is what I generally do.

    I find it pretty scary that I can eat a 7-mile walk worth of calories (which would be about two hours of walking) in two minutes.

    You wouldn't gain weight if you ate the donut without going over your calories though.. that's what most people miss when they say that you have to run 4 miles to burn the calories of a donut or something... it's my main gripe about the way people consider 'bad foods'.

    But obviously it's not easy to fit a 500 calorie donut in your day, and I agree with your point, I can sweat buckets on the treadmill for an hour and burn maybe 450 calories, and I can easily eat 500 calories in 30 seconds.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    cheesyP wrote: »
    I have been trying to lose weight for two months.. I workout at home with youtube because there is no gym near me.. okay so when i started out I could barely make it through the workout videos But today... I managed through one video the whole 30 minutes I did it!!! (I'm so proud of myself) but... I admit I've been eating BAD on this weight loss journey.. even though I've been eating horribly I still get my butt up and exercise for an hour four days a week... but I'm not noticing changes in my appearance I'm noticing I can get through workouts that use to be tough for me..

    In my opinion, you aren't cheating yourself. Being at your current weight and getting some exercise in seems to be helping with your endurance, and that in itself is a N(on) S(cale) V(ictory)! It's something you have reason to be proud of.

    As for noticing changes, it might take time. Many that weight themselves don't notice for quite a while. You can take measurements or weigh yourself to track any weight loss.

    If you are doing this primarily for weight loss, you have to have some type of measure to quantify things. But personally even if you haven't lost weight yet, I'd view your above as a good thing. Being in better shape gives you one more tool to work towards your weight loss.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    Sure you can lose weight on a donut diet at deficit, but it will be mostly muscle that your lose....your percent of body fat will go UP, even though weight is going down. ;)
  • cheesyP
    cheesyP Posts: 56 Member
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    Thanks guys! I'll try to make smarter choices..eating wise
    mathandcats wrote: »
    Weight loss is about calorie deficit. You can get more fit and healthy by exercising, but if you are eating too much you will not lose weight.
    MissJay75 wrote: »
    I want to point out, the workouts are good for you. They are helping you to become stronger and more healthy.

    However, they will not add much to your weight loss, for that part you need to do as others have said, and make sure you are at a decent calorie deficit.

  • cheesyP
    cheesyP Posts: 56 Member
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    Thank you

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