exercising doesn't promote weight loss??????

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nevergiveup66
nevergiveup66 Posts: 15 Member
in Getting Started
Im reading online that exercising doesn't actually promote weight loss. Is this true????? I really hope not.
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  • myheartsabattleground
    myheartsabattleground Posts: 2,040 Member
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    There's really no need to be dramatic about it.

    It depends on the intensity. Are you casually jogging around the block a few times, or are you doing tabata / hiit ?
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    I hear a lot of people say 'exercise is for fitness, eating a deficit is for weight loss' but I personally lose weight much faster when I exercise. Plus exercise gives me a great shape, which eating less alone would not do.

    Exercise also helps create a calorie deficit, although I don't think it burns as many calories as some people (I.e the MFP database) believe.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Exercise has multiple benefits including calorie burn

    But in an hour of moderately intense exercise you might burn 300-400 calories

    If you then go out and eat 1500 calories no weight loss

    If you exercise as part of a calorie controlled diet then weight loss, cardiovascular health and with progressive resistance amazing body composition
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    nevergiveup66 wrote: »
    Im reading online that exercising doesn't actually promote weight loss. Is this true????? I really hope not.

    Can be the case, especially if like me you fall asleep after exercise and cancel out the additional energy use.

    There aren't a huge number of studies supporting purely exercise as a weight loss strategy, it's usually an add-on to a dietary restriction as you can put a bigger hole in your intake than most people will add as exercise.
  • nevergiveup66
    nevergiveup66 Posts: 15 Member
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    myheartsabattleground wrote: »
    There's really no need to be dramatic about it.

    It depends on the intensity. Are you casually jogging around the block a few times, or are you doing tabata / hiit ?

    Actually there is because this Is surprising information.
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
    edited February 2016
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    All that matters is a calorie deficit from your maintenance number. The skill is finding out that number and deciding how much of a deficit you need or can do.

    You can create the deficit by eating less, exercising, or both.
    I do both. But I weigh my food meticulously, know my exercise calorie burns and under rather than over estimate, and do it really slowly, like a pound a month.

    I must add that if I'm not calorie counting and I am exercising, I get so hungry that I eat more than I need, so maybe that's where the rumour came from!
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,949 Member
    edited February 2016
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    In combination with eating well and calorie burn during exercise, it can definitely help with weight loss. It can help you eat more while losing weight because you're expending more calories.

    When people say is doesn't promote it, I think they just mean it isn't strictly necessary. You can choose to eat less and sit on a couch or you can eat a bit more and exercise for a bit each day. Either way works. However, exercise helps prevent muscle loss (especially weight lifting) and can be beneficial for helping you stick to your calorie intake goals.

    Exercise is also the only way to lose visceral fat, so I've read. That's the fat around your organs. That part might not be noticeable weight loss, but it is extremely important - since that's where a lot of the health issues associated with being overweight come from.

    Exercise doesn't help "boost your metabolism" though. That part is myth. Nothing does that. I guess except hormone therapy if you have hormone issues.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
    edited February 2016
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    You can certainly lose weight without exercising by eating less calories than you burn.

    For some, myself included, I am a lot hungrier when I exercise and eat more than I do when I do not exercise.

    However, exercise is beneficial to overall health.


    The stats I have read are 80% calorie deficit, 10% exercise, and 10% heredity.

    You can exercise all day, but if you eat more, or the same number of calories you burn, you will likely not lose weight and may gain weight.
  • lkpducky
    lkpducky Posts: 16,870 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    If you exercise as part of a calorie controlled diet then weight loss, cardiovascular health and with progressive resistance amazing body composition

    Exactly. If I were to lose weight with diet alone, I would go from large and round and plump to small and round and plump. The weight lost would include a high proportion of muscle.

  • WendyLaubach
    WendyLaubach Posts: 518 Member
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    I've been reading this line for years. I think what people mostly mean is that exercise won't produce weight loss if you're not controlling the calories you eat. Left to our natural devices, most of us would eat so much more in response to exercise that we'd gain net calories.

    I've been here about three months. I'm extremely consistent in my calorie intake, but my exercise level has varied a lot, because on three separate occasions I've had to knock off from the gym for three unrelated medical reasons. I can tell you, the weeks when I'm burning more calories on the treadmill are the weeks I lose faster. On the other hand, I lose no matter what, because I've set my food calorie level fairly low and I never, ever exceed it. I also don't "eat my exercise calories back," whether they're low or high. I think that's really the whole trick, right there.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    edited February 2016
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    Exercise can help you lose weight. However, as Dawnie pointed out the calorie burn is often not as much as people think it is. Combine that with portion distortion that so many people have. Overweight people who are not measuring portion sizes are often eating more than they think.

    Casually "watching" your weight by adding a measly 150 calorie burn, but then not measuring portions is not going to help anyone lose any weight.
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
    edited February 2016
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    WendyLaubach wrote: »
    I've been reading this line for years. I think what people mostly mean is that exercise won't produce weight loss if you're not controlling the calories you eat. Left to our natural devices, most of us would eat so much more in response to exercise that we'd gain net calories.

    I've been here about three months. I'm extremely consistent in my calorie intake, but my exercise level has varied a lot, because on three separate occasions I've had to knock off from the gym for three unrelated medical reasons. I can tell you, the weeks when I'm burning more calories on the treadmill are the weeks I lose faster. On the other hand, I lose no matter what, because I've set my food calorie level fairly low and I never, ever exceed it. I also don't "eat my exercise calories back," whether they're low or high. I think that's really the whole trick, right there.

    this.

    I'm on the opposite end of this. I exercise every day because I like it and it has become part of my routine. But last year I ate like crap for most of the year and gained 15lbs back inspite of 45-60 minutes of exercise daily. I gotta lay off the craft beer.
  • sladey_182
    sladey_182 Posts: 98 Member
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    nevergiveup66 wrote: »
    Im reading online that exercising doesn't actually promote weight loss. Is this true????? I really hope not.

    For me. It doesn't matter what exercise I do; if I don't eat properly or at least count the calories and maintain a deficit. I won't lose weight

    It's a balance. Don't panic. Use this app to guide what you are putting into your body and work hard through exercise both in the gym and on the pavements
  • EddieHaskell97
    EddieHaskell97 Posts: 2,227 Member
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    It burns calories. If you don't eat the calories you burned back, it helps promote weight loss and is a factor in it.

    It you walk half a mile but then eat six Chipotle burritos, you'll get E.Coli and don't lose weight.

    Burn more than you eat = net calorie deficit = lose weight.
  • Sharkbite2016
    Sharkbite2016 Posts: 20 Member
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    nevergiveup66 wrote: »
    Im reading online that exercising doesn't actually promote weight loss. Is this true????? I really hope not.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/upshot/to-lose-weight-eating-less-is-far-more-important-than-exercising-more.html?_r=0

    Is very true. Who cares. Exercise does help with weight loss and their are a million benefits to it.
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
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    Exercise is just part of the package. To me it creates a feeling of accomplishment to go along with the weight loss, I feel better both physically and mentally. Without the exercise, I'd just be sitting around feeling hungry and lazy.
  • GBrady43068
    GBrady43068 Posts: 1,256 Member
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    The other benefit with exercise re:weight loss is that lean muscle uses more energy just by existing. If you can add lean muscle via exercise, it will help with weight loss by asking the body for more fat to "eat" if there's no other energy source...or as long as you still have an overall calorie deficit in other words. :)
  • puffbrat
    puffbrat Posts: 2,806 Member
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    The general guidelines I have been seeing for a couple of years is that taken individually dieting is better for weight loss and exercise is better maintaining weight. However, dieting and exercise together are the best for weight loss. In the end, just do what works for you. If exercising helps you burn enough calories to be in a deficit, great.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,871 Member
    edited February 2016
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    nevergiveup66 wrote: »
    Im reading online that exercising doesn't actually promote weight loss. Is this true????? I really hope not.

    You're interpreting this incorrectly. Exercise is for fitness and overall health and well being...it can make weight management easier, including weight loss, but in and of itself doesn't promote weight loss...if it did, all of us maintainers wouldn't be exercising.

    The point of the things you are reading is that you can do all of the exercise in the world, but if your diet isn't aligned with your weight management goals, it doesn't really matter. You can exercise and still over eat and gain weight...you can exercise and maintain weight...you can exercise and lose weight...the difference between the three is how much you're eating.

    There are tons of people I see everyday in the gym busting their *kitten*...they have been doing so for months...they really don't look any different. Why? Because yeah, they're exercising and have that part down...but their diet is for *kitten*.

    Where weight management is concerned, your diet is far more important. The additional calories you burn during exercise is really pretty negligible compared to what you're burning throughout the day just being alive and doing your day to day unless you're an athlete or training like one. Additional energy expenditure is a nice bi-product, of exercise, but isn't the purpose of exercise.
  • jaynee7283
    jaynee7283 Posts: 160 Member
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    For me, since I started on January 3, I have noticed that the weeks I walk 18-20 miles I lose more weight than the weeks I walk 7-8 miles. The weeks I walk 7-8 miles I lose 1 lb, and the weeks I've walked 18+ miles I've lost 2 pounds. This is in addition to eating the recommended calories to lose weight for an otherwise sedentary lifestyle. I've lost 12 pounds thus far, and intend to continue to keep my weekly walking as a way to create a calorie deficit in addition to my lowered daily calorie intake.

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