"Why You Should Stop Exercising to Lose Weight"
crvynatrlbeauty
Posts: 40 Member
Replies
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I mean the title is obvious click bait but I can imagine the content after reading a few lines. It is true for people that think you really have to exercise to lose weight. Sadly there are many out there with that specific mindset. So they push themselves early on, set up unrealistic goals, and call it quits after a month or two.
Once people understand the simple mechanism of CICO, and understand their maintenance calories etc, exercising is an amazing supplementary tool for a healthier life style, and well, to be able to eat more
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There are alot of great benefits to exercise that should not be overlooked.
However, for most people, just exercising without monitoring intake and ensuring they are in a negative calorie balance does not lead to weight loss. This is because most of the time people get more hungry when they exercise, so if not tracking their intake most people will want eat more. Then they just eat back the extra calories they burned, or possibly more, and do not see the weight loss outcome they desire.
Exercise can help with weight loss to build a bigger deficit, but success typically requires tracking intake vs expenditure too.
There are those people who can successfully intuitively eat, but I don't think I have that super power
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I refuse to even click the link. Click bait or stupidity18
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While this might be true for the general population who think their 20 minute youtube video justifies that cinnamon bun, it doesn't apply to people who use this app correctly. People who understand how CICO works know when that cinnamon bun is justified by activity and when it's not. People who understand sustainability are less likely to burn out. People who know what is reasonable and what isn't know that setting goals is a good thing, but wanting to run a marathon within a month without any prior running experience is not reasonable. Exercising because you like eating more is one thing, exercising as a punishment for eating more is another. Exercising to achieve a certain calorie deficit is one thing, exercising to add to an already large calorie deficit is another...etc.
I exercise for weight loss. The fact that I enjoy certain types of exercise is just a bonus. I love eating, and exercise allows me to do more of that. The reason it works for me (and it hasn't stopped working in the past 3 years) is that I know how to navigate the CICO system, and anyone can easily learn that with enough experience.
That's like generalizing that dieting doesn't work just because it tends to not work for the general population who are misinformed about various important aspects of dieting, including sustainability and maintenance planning.17 -
I came across this article on my MSN homepage and thought it'd be interesting to hear the views of the group. 4
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I skimmed the article and I agree with the overall message. Exercising with the sole purpose of losing weight is setting yourself up to be disappointed.6
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trigden1991 wrote: »I refuse to even click the link. Click bait or stupidity
That^^.0 -
andrea4736 wrote: »I skimmed the article and I agree with the overall message. Exercising with the sole purpose of losing weight is setting yourself up to be disappointed.
If that is the point of the article, then the title is purposefully misleading.
"Why you should stop exercising to lose weight" makes it sound that you would be more successful losing weight, by NOT exercising. And that is pure bunk.5 -
I can't stop. I don't exercise to lose weight. I exercise because I care about my health.10
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I hate exercising to me it is boring. I see no benefit as in instant gratification. I finally had a doctor tell me in a nice way that the only way was CICO to lose weight. She didn't push killing myself with exercise and didn't give me pills. She gave me a calorie starting point and a diet plan. I could see the plan it was a visual. I got back onto MFP and started tracking my food. WOW I was way over on calories. I finally got my calories down to what would be my maintenance level and I lost 10 pounds in one month. I am now very close to the calorie level she set for me and I am more active. As the bits come off, I feel more like moving. I track my walking at work and I track cleaning things like the house, the car or the yard. Found out over the winter shoveling burns a lot of calories. It sure helped with the holidays and all the food. I have finally accepted that I don't have to do something I hate, which is exercise, to lose weight. I can still have food, real food, and lose weight. It has been a long and painful discovery for me. I don't lose weight exercising just to exercise for movement. I lose weight and keep it off keeping a realistic calorie level.13
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I agree with the article and don't think the title is misleading. People should exercise for maintaining/improving health and fitness, as well as for enjoyment. Not seeing anything wrong here.4
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I just skimmed the article, because it definitely is a click bait title, but I think it goes along with what a lot of people say on here. Eat less to lose weight, and exercise for health. Using just exercise to lose weight, doesn't always work because if you don't track what you are eating, you may never burn enough to compensate for that.3
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It's the way it's worded. It doesn't say you should stop exercising IN ORDER to lose weight. It's saying you shouldn't view exercise solely as a means of weight loss.2
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The workout of sprinting, 30 seconds 4 to 6 times per session, 2 to 3 times per week, burns more fat than the workout of low intensity steady state cardio for 3 hours a week. I don't even want to believe that, but I'm going to try it.
That's almost to the point of not working out at all.2 -
I used to exercise without a caloric deficit at my highest weight. Of course I didn't lose anything, so I learned that exercise alone won't produce weight loss. So I switched gears to cleaning up my diet and creating a deficit, and weight loss followed. Now it's food first, exercise to feel good and look better.0
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newheavensearth wrote: »I used to exercise without a caloric deficit at my highest weight. Of course I didn't lose anything, so I learned that exercise alone won't produce weight loss. So I switched gears to cleaning up my diet and creating a deficit, and weight loss followed. Now it's food first, exercise to feel good and look better.
Exactly, I gained 30 lbs doing the exact same level of exercise I do now. It's all about what I eat.5 -
That's the point of the article - exercise for health, eat for weight.
Reminds me of this story from James Fell's FB feed:
several years ago I was at the allergy doc's office with my daughter. The doctor was quite overweight, and somehow the subject of my new writing career came up. He grabbed his belly and said, "I've been wanting to do something about this for years. Inspire me!"
I took a moment, then said, "Find an activity you're passionate about. Throw time and effort and even money into it. Just keep trying to get better. After a while, you'll realize that what you eat can either make you better at it, or worse. Then you'll be ready to tackle that side of it as well." I didn't say anything about weight loss.
A year later we returned to his office and he was in great shape. He had a photo on his wall of him riding a mountain bike down a steep grade.10 -
andrea4736 wrote: »It's the way it's worded. It doesn't say you should stop exercising IN ORDER to lose weight. It's saying you shouldn't view exercise solely as a means of weight loss.
Obviously they worded it that way intentionally, to get people's curiosity up. Who views exercise solely as a means of weight loss? It's intentionally misleading, and that is why it is clickbait.1 -
fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »andrea4736 wrote: »It's the way it's worded. It doesn't say you should stop exercising IN ORDER to lose weight. It's saying you shouldn't view exercise solely as a means of weight loss.
Obviously they worded it that way intentionally, to get people's curiosity up. Who views exercise solely as a means of weight loss? It's intentionally misleading, and that is why it is clickbait.
A ton of people do, lol. I hate click bait so that definitely annoys me. I think the message is important though. I have SO many friends/coworkers/acquaintances that go through the same song and dance over and over and over again. Don't exercise at all. Start taking hardcore classes at the gym. Lose 10 pounds quickly. Get lazy and stop going to the gym. Pack back on the 10 lbs plus 5 more and complain about how it's impossible to lose weight. Rinse and repeat. Over and over and over again. The amount of people who think exercise is the only way to lose weight is actually pretty scary.8 -
I just kind of skimmed the article. But I agree. I think diet is more important for weight loss than exercise and exercise is more important for fitness. I can see how someone would read the title and think that it is saying if you want to lose weight you should stop exercising.4
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fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »andrea4736 wrote: »It's the way it's worded. It doesn't say you should stop exercising IN ORDER to lose weight. It's saying you shouldn't view exercise solely as a means of weight loss.
Obviously they worded it that way intentionally, to get people's curiosity up. Who views exercise solely as a means of weight loss? It's intentionally misleading, and that is why it is clickbait.
A lot of people do. It's the same people who post about being jealous of people who are thin and can 'eat only junk'. A lot of people associate healthy habits only with weight loss whether it's balanced diet or exercise. If you are thin you don't need either of these things because they are purely ways to lose weight.3 -
andrea4736 wrote: »The amount of people who think exercise is the only way to lose weight is actually pretty scary.
No, people that think exercise is ONLY useful for losing weight. That's what the title is implying as I read it. Two different things. Even you and I are interpreting it differently. I seriously don't know anyone that thinks that. See how screwy the wording is? You could also read it as "Stop exercising....to lose weight". So stop exercising and you'll lose. So much wrong with that title, LOL!
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fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »andrea4736 wrote: »The amount of people who think exercise is the only way to lose weight is actually pretty scary.
No, people that think exercise is ONLY useful for losing weight. That's what the title is implying as I read it. Two different things. Even you and I are interpreting it differently. I seriously don't know anyone that thinks that. See how screwy the wording is? You could also read it as "Stop exercising....to lose weight". So stop exercising and you'll lose. So much wrong with that title, LOL!
Ahhhhh, gotcha! Lol.
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I went straight tothe comments! Have a very bad hip and exercise difficult. Have lost 14 lbs to date by dieting alone but note that I am now walking quicker so may look at gentle exercise too now, but I am proof that diet alone works. That said, exercise will strengthen and make me fitter :-)0
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fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »andrea4736 wrote: »It's the way it's worded. It doesn't say you should stop exercising IN ORDER to lose weight. It's saying you shouldn't view exercise solely as a means of weight loss.
Obviously they worded it that way intentionally, to get people's curiosity up. Who views exercise solely as a means of weight loss? It's intentionally misleading, and that is why it is clickbait.
I used to be one of those people. Who are those people? Speaking for myself, confused and misinformed by every piece of diet and nutrition info out there, ranging from the medical community to broscience. I learned nothing about portion control, meal planning, calorie control and psychological coping for my binge and emotional eating issues until Weight Watchers and MFP. Exercise was the only thing I knew I could accomplish and get right. Really, I lost count of how many times I felt I failed my diet du jour, but every time I finished a workout I felt I was on top of the world. So that's why exercise came first on my life and diet second. But now that I know better, it's the other way around. And there are many in my life who still think "she lost weight exercising" because I eat what I like within reason, but they don't understand the amount of work and restraint I put into controlling my food intake and issues. This myth still is out there- eat what you want, burn it off. Nope.4 -
annacole94 wrote: »That's the point of the article - exercise for health, eat for weight.
Reminds me of this story from James Fell's FB feed:
several years ago I was at the allergy doc's office with my daughter. The doctor was quite overweight, and somehow the subject of my new writing career came up. He grabbed his belly and said, "I've been wanting to do something about this for years. Inspire me!"
I took a moment, then said, "Find an activity you're passionate about. Throw time and effort and even money into it. Just keep trying to get better. After a while, you'll realize that what you eat can either make you better at it, or worse. Then you'll be ready to tackle that side of it as well." I didn't say anything about weight loss.
A year later we returned to his office and he was in great shape. He had a photo on his wall of him riding a mountain bike down a steep grade.
As someone who was inspired to get her mountain bike back down from the garage wall by people on this site, this is a great story!
However, I have found that even something like running, which I thought I hated, can become something I love--or something like the feel of heavy weights in my hand, which had never even crossed my mind before (regrettably).
I have a hard time thinking of exercise in these binary, black-and-white calories because to me it is all part and parcel of being healthy and looking nice. Even the concern about weight has slowly dropped off my radar...I've barely lost any weight since I started lifting, but I've dropped from a 12/14 to a 6/8 pants size. Plus I can outrun the zombies should the zombie apocalypse occur.
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fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »andrea4736 wrote: »The amount of people who think exercise is the only way to lose weight is actually pretty scary.
No, people that think exercise is ONLY useful for losing weight. That's what the title is implying as I read it. Two different things. Even you and I are interpreting it differently. I seriously don't know anyone that thinks that. See how screwy the wording is? You could also read it as "Stop exercising....to lose weight". So stop exercising and you'll lose. So much wrong with that title, LOL!
But title does not say that. You are inferring things that aren't really there. Granted it's a headline and the purpose of a headline is to draw readers in, but it's a pretty far stretch to say it suggests you'll lose weight if you stop exercising.
Just out of curiosity, what headline would give an article advising that we not use exercise as a means to lose weight?1 -
I've tried to like running, but I don't. And my body is really ill suited for running (a childhood of pneumonia and bronchitis makes it challenging to breathe, mismatched legs make it stressful on my knees and hips, and I generally just... don't like it). I like biking to work. It feels like accomplishing something, it's less frustrating than driving or busing, and it doesn't take much extra time out of my day.
Exercise is important. Click-bait is the way life is now - it's pretty much a requirement to drive traffic and they wouldn't do it if it didn't work. And I do think that anyone that can tap into making exercise and enjoyable hobby has a much better chance of sticking with it, whatever it is.0 -
weight is important but health is MOST important.
calorie deficit + working out + nutrients & vitamins = track to best health1 -
Rubbish in my opinion. Making a blanket statement on human beings in general is never accurate. Some people's only motivation to exercise is to burn the extra calories so they will lose weight and still be able to eat more than some tiny calorie amount. Some people start out only doing it for that reason but come to enjoy it and stick with it because it brings them joy, relaxation, stress relief etc.... For people who do not enjoy their chosen exercise? Those people may not stick to it long term no matter WHY the began to start with. The key is to find an exercise you ENJOY. Be it walking, dancing, cycling, skating, trampoline jumping, swimming, mountain climbing, running, etc... If you don't like it your initial motivation most likely will not be enough to keep you at it.2
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