I quit the gym to lose weight
Replies
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Lots of opinions here.
I'll add mine.
Exercise should not be stopped.
If you want to cut the gym, focus on body weight conditioning. Squats, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups if you can, lunges and such.3 -
Mistraal1981 wrote: »Hey all, glad to read all your input and concerns for me losing my gains!
I completely understand that I will be losing muscle as well as fat right now, but I am only looking at dropping another 10lbs (so not a massive amount and shouldn't take too long) and I have very little wiggle room when it comes to calories as I'm only 5ft3.
Personally I just find I can adhere to my calorie allowance better and make more informed adjustments when I'm not exercising as it remains constant. As opposed to trying to factor in exercise calories which will differ every day depending on what I do.
My story is more to highlight to people that they don't have to exercise to lose weight.
My plan, once I shift these 10lbs is to work with a coach on a lifting programme specifically tailored to my personal physique goals while eating slightly over maintenance for those lean gainz
You definitely don't have to exercise to lose weight, I did it that way with only 20lbs or less to lose. However...I lost a lot of muscle and my bodyfat % was very high when I got to goal. If you just want to hit a certain number on the scale as your goal then that is fine. Everyone has their own goals and way of doing things.
However... your last sentence is going backwards IMO. Losing the last 10lbs of fat and muscle then gaining muscle again is going to be very counterproductive to your goals. Again, you can do whatever you want, but I have done it both ways and losing muscle then gaining it again is super difficult and took me years to repair. I would personally take a break or maintain... recomp if you don't want to be in a deficit to improve your body composition.8 -
I think the fallacy is that those last 10 lbs will go quickly so she won’t be not working out for long. Those of us who are on the last 10 or 20 know how very long that can take. Without excercise, your calories & deficit will be low and make you more susceptible to eating over.8
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It's up to the OP of how they want to look and how they want to feel. For me, I regret not doing some lifting while I was losing. I'm not talking 4 days in the gym, I mean like 2 days to try to keep what I had. Bc now I trying to get a happy booty bc mine looks really sad.5
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Tracked my calories while half marathon training. Logged my exercise. Ate back most of my exercise calories but not all of them. According to MFP, roughly 250 calorie per day deficit. Guys, I was *kitten* starving. Once or twice a week I would wind up on some crazy late night binge that totally wiped out my deficit and put me into a modest surplus for the week. I wound up gaining about 5 lbs over the months of the training plan, most of it in the last 6 weeks.
Now my half is over, my running volume is a bit lower, and I'm sustaining a deficit. Overeating is generally planned (i.e. birthday party) and just results in a smaller weekly deficit rather than a weekly surplus.
With aggressive and intense training it can be hard to maintain a deficit and stay sane no matter how well you track. That's all the OP is getting at I think.
which is why most runners/triathletes will recommend that you don't try to lose weight while training for a race - because you can't adequately fuel your body while in a deficit and the increased stress it causes on the body1 -
gamerbabe14 wrote: »It's up to the OP of how they want to look and how they want to feel. For me, I regret not doing some lifting while I was losing. I'm not talking 4 days in the gym, I mean like 2 days to try to keep what I had. Bc now I trying to get a happy booty bc mine looks really sad.
Yea that happened to me exactly. I lost so much muscle in my glutes they were almost concave compared to my back. ... BUT... there is hope!! It just takes a lot of time and building.1 -
Well this thread blew up! Just got home and just caught up.
Firstly thank you everyone for your thoughts, tough love and support.
To address a few things; the person who commented that I struggle with balance is 100% correct. I am an all or nothing kind of person. (Let's face it, if I was able to be well balanced I wouldn't need MFP). So I have learned to recognise this as how I am and I work with it now instead of fighting it.
So FOR ME, I struggle controlling my hunger when I lift. My temperament means I want to go 100% in the gym and 100% on point with diet. The two are not compatible FOR ME so I must pick one. Right now I choose weight loss because when I can truly focus on it without having to battle gym augmented hunger it doesn't take long to drop the weight. I know i will lose some muscle, but i have accepted this. I will get it back, this is not a race.
Again to be clear, I do not intend to do bulk/cut cycles. I know I would suck at that. So I choose the slower route of lean bulking.
Because a few have mentioned it...No I will not do cardio, I don't like it.
The whole reason I posted initially is because more than a few people I work with blame not being able to lose weight on the fact they can't go to gym due to time/money/etc (we have all heard the excuses). I merely wanted to point out to people who may feel unhappy at the prospect of HAVING to go to the gym to lose weight (because they mistakenly believe that is what they have to do) that they don't even try that it is not necessary to go to the gym if they don't want to.9 -
I'd like to thank the OP for her post. People can do what they want or comment how they see fit but I do think the message is inspirational to those trying to lose weight but don't have access to a gym for physical, financial, time, etc.....whatever reasons. I think it gives hope to people trying to shed pounds1
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Mistraal1981 wrote: »Well this thread blew up! Just got home and just caught up.
Firstly thank you everyone for your thoughts, tough love and support.
To address a few things; the person who commented that I struggle with balance is 100% correct. I am an all or nothing kind of person. (Let's face it, if I was able to be well balanced I wouldn't need MFP). So I have learned to recognise this as how I am and I work with it now instead of fighting it.
So FOR ME, I struggle controlling my hunger when I lift. My temperament means I want to go 100% in the gym and 100% on point with diet. The two are not compatible FOR ME so I must pick one. Right now I choose weight loss because when I can truly focus on it without having to battle gym augmented hunger it doesn't take long to drop the weight. I know i will lose some muscle, but i have accepted this. I will get it back, this is not a race.
Again to be clear, I do not intend to do bulk/cut cycles. I know I would suck at that. So I choose the slower route of lean bulking.
Because a few have mentioned it...No I will not do cardio, I don't like it.
The whole reason I posted initially is because more than a few people I work with blame not being able to lose weight on the fact they can't go to gym due to time/money/etc (we have all heard the excuses). I merely wanted to point out to people who may feel unhappy at the prospect of HAVING to go to the gym to lose weight (because they mistakenly believe that is what they have to do) that they don't even try that it is not necessary to go to the gym if they don't want to.
What are your stats OP? Is there a reason for losing weight? Are you within a healthy BMI?
Also lean bulking is still gaining weight... you will gain muscle and fat. So most people will cut after a bulk (even a lean one, unless they are going from underweight to normal weight of course).
Again you can do as you wish, I did it the hard way too but one benefit of all of it.. it taught me a lot and forced me down a path I would have never encountered otherwise, so you really just have to do what you want to do in the end.3 -
I agree SGT1372!
I understand. Last fall I seriously counted calories, in a deficit and only did daily long walks (60-90 minutes). I lost 40 lbs. Then it was so much easier this spring to start swimming and bicycling. I did a Rookie Triathlon last week.
My weight loss has slowed way down but today in measuring myself, despite no real weight loss or gain since January my hips and waist are down an inch. I do need to lose more weight (fat) but waiting until after a sprint triathlon to put myself in a calorie deficit to do so. I started lifting weights last week too. In the fall, I won't quit exercising but not so intense while I concentrate on losing more weight. I know it seems counter productive but it works for me at this time. Some people think it is easy to exercise hard and be in a calorie deficit but not for me.3 -
Mistraal1981 wrote: »Well this thread blew up! Just got home and just caught up.
Firstly thank you everyone for your thoughts, tough love and support.
To address a few things; the person who commented that I struggle with balance is 100% correct. I am an all or nothing kind of person. (Let's face it, if I was able to be well balanced I wouldn't need MFP). So I have learned to recognise this as how I am and I work with it now instead of fighting it.
So FOR ME, I struggle controlling my hunger when I lift. My temperament means I want to go 100% in the gym and 100% on point with diet. The two are not compatible FOR ME so I must pick one. Right now I choose weight loss because when I can truly focus on it without having to battle gym augmented hunger it doesn't take long to drop the weight. I know i will lose some muscle, but i have accepted this. I will get it back, this is not a race.
Again to be clear, I do not intend to do bulk/cut cycles. I know I would suck at that. So I choose the slower route of lean bulking.
Because a few have mentioned it...No I will not do cardio, I don't like it.
The whole reason I posted initially is because more than a few people I work with blame not being able to lose weight on the fact they can't go to gym due to time/money/etc (we have all heard the excuses). I merely wanted to point out to people who may feel unhappy at the prospect of HAVING to go to the gym to lose weight (because they mistakenly believe that is what they have to do) that they don't even try that it is not necessary to go to the gym if they don't want to.
Thanks for coming back and clarifying a few points.'
A few random thoughts I had:
Lean bulking is still gaining weight. And as Sardelsa said, you will put on muscle and fat. Women, unfortunately, tend to put on a higher percentage of fat than men do during bulks simply because we don't grow muscle as easily as they do.
If you're going to lift while eating maintenance calories, that's recomp.
And... just because you're all or nothing now doesn't mean you have to stay that way.
Let me ask you a question:
What happens when you hit goal weight, start training hard, are maintaining weight, and the hungries hit? What will you do to strike balance?
Actually don't answer that, just keep it in the back of your mind, but how about this ...what is your ultimate goal with training?5 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »jefamer2017 wrote: »The piling on effect of the negative responses in this thread is an example of what can go wrong in the MFP forums specifically and the Net generally.
It is evidence of a lack of reading comprehension at best and raging insensitivity and hubris at worse.
The OP has said that she (I assume she) has been lifting daily at the gym but feels that she can best lose the weight she has gained by taking a hiatus from lifting to reach her goal weight before returning to lifting again.
So, why harrangue her about not lifting until she reaches her goal?
Her health, strength and fitness will not go into the toilet just because she does this and she has already said she will go back to lifting as soon as she reaches her goal weight.
There's no one right way to do things and it's presumptuous to suggest that you know better how to do what she desires to do, especially since she's already made clear that she understands the benefits of lifting.
The only thing that these such reponses will accomplish will be to make the OP reticent to post a thread or comment on MFP again and limit the participation on the forums to just the most aggressively vocal or thick skinned, which IMO is not necessarily for the better.
Amen!!!!
So take the OP's thread and substitute "going to do a juice detox" for "going to stop lifting" until I reach my goal. Does this change you perspective of trying to talk her out of it?
Science, physiology, and people with a TON more experience say that strength training is very important at this stage, and will leave her much farther ahead in the long run, especially when she has the goal of improving her physique when she reaches her goal. Why would anyone here encourage someone to follow a very sub optimal plan?
See, what you did there is called a Strawman argument. You're creating a position that isn't the same to the original point and arguing against that instead. What the OP has said is that lifting at the moment is making it hard to stick to her calorie target so to lose the last few pounds she's going to stop lifting temporarily, not introducing useless pseudo-science rubbish. They're not equivalent.
I wonder, would everyone be so up in arms if she'd said "Eating higher carbs is making me hungry and I overeat so I'm gonna lower my carb intake for a while"? or "I've found running 10 miles a day is making me hungry and I overeat so I'm gonna stop running for a while"?
Regarding your last paragraph: your two statements aren't equal.
Lowering her carb intake isn't the same as stopping something altogether, which is what she's doing. And *that's* the issue.
She has the option of lowering her training load so that she's not so hungry AND of eating back her exercise calories so that she's not so hungry.
She has a stated fitness goal of making gains and running a bulk cycle, which implies that she will want to pursue a balance of food/fitness in the future, and she can't even find it now!
What does that tell you?
I get what you're saying and I'm partly jumping to her defence as that's my nature after seeing the pile on that occurred.
That said, she is also not stopping all physical activity either, she's just cutting back by stopping one aspect of her energy output, namely the lifting. The equivalent of 'eliminating all carbs' would be deciding to remain voluntarily bedridden.
The way people reacted was like a hiatus from lifting was going to result in the OP withering away to a pile of atrophied muscles and brittle bones unable to move under her own steam (exaggeration for emphasis). It was completely OTT.10 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »jefamer2017 wrote: »The piling on effect of the negative responses in this thread is an example of what can go wrong in the MFP forums specifically and the Net generally.
It is evidence of a lack of reading comprehension at best and raging insensitivity and hubris at worse.
The OP has said that she (I assume she) has been lifting daily at the gym but feels that she can best lose the weight she has gained by taking a hiatus from lifting to reach her goal weight before returning to lifting again.
So, why harrangue her about not lifting until she reaches her goal?
Her health, strength and fitness will not go into the toilet just because she does this and she has already said she will go back to lifting as soon as she reaches her goal weight.
There's no one right way to do things and it's presumptuous to suggest that you know better how to do what she desires to do, especially since she's already made clear that she understands the benefits of lifting.
The only thing that these such reponses will accomplish will be to make the OP reticent to post a thread or comment on MFP again and limit the participation on the forums to just the most aggressively vocal or thick skinned, which IMO is not necessarily for the better.
Amen!!!!
So take the OP's thread and substitute "going to do a juice detox" for "going to stop lifting" until I reach my goal. Does this change you perspective of trying to talk her out of it?
Science, physiology, and people with a TON more experience say that strength training is very important at this stage, and will leave her much farther ahead in the long run, especially when she has the goal of improving her physique when she reaches her goal. Why would anyone here encourage someone to follow a very sub optimal plan?
See, what you did there is called a Strawman argument. You're creating a position that isn't the same to the original point and arguing against that instead. What the OP has said is that lifting at the moment is making it hard to stick to her calorie target so to lose the last few pounds she's going to stop lifting temporarily, not introducing useless pseudo-science rubbish. They're not equivalent.
I wonder, would everyone be so up in arms if she'd said "Eating higher carbs is making me hungry and I overeat so I'm gonna lower my carb intake for a while"? or "I've found running 10 miles a day is making me hungry and I overeat so I'm gonna stop running for a while"?
Regarding your last paragraph: your two statements aren't equal.
Lowering her carb intake isn't the same as stopping something altogether, which is what she's doing. And *that's* the issue.
She has the option of lowering her training load so that she's not so hungry AND of eating back her exercise calories so that she's not so hungry.
She has a stated fitness goal of making gains and running a bulk cycle, which implies that she will want to pursue a balance of food/fitness in the future, and she can't even find it now!
What does that tell you?
I get what you're saying and I'm partly jumping to her defence as that's my nature after seeing the pile on that occurred.
That said, she is also not stopping all physical activity either, she's just cutting back by stopping one aspect of her energy output, namely the lifting. The equivalent of 'eliminating all carbs' would be deciding to remain voluntarily bedridden.
The way people reacted was like a hiatus from lifting was going to result in the OP withering away to a pile of atrophied muscles and brittle bones unable to move under her own steam (exaggeration for emphasis). It was completely OTT.
To be fair, not everyone reacted that way and I think you know that.
Some of us expressed concern about her need for balance and her all or nothing attitude moving forward and she herself addressed that.
I'd like to see her come back to this thread and discuss how she sees that attitude playing out for her moving forward into maintenance because I am genuinely concerned for her. I know how it is to balance fitness and nutrition. You have good and bad spells and you have to calibrate what you're able to do (your performance) and your intake and find balance to maintain your weight.
It's an ongoing process. She's going to need to learn this.6 -
happytree923 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »sollyn23l2 wrote: »I've heard a number of experts say exactly what you're saying.... during the weight loss phase exercise can be counterproductive because it makes you hungry and you end up eating way more than you burned off. If it is working for you that's fantastic! We all have to get to know our own bodies and what works for us.
Please post a links to "experts" telling you this.
Complete horse poo.
Medical doctor and professor Aaron Carroll, for one. His show healthcare triage did an episode covering many studies that show exercise does not help weight loss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCtn4Ap8kDM
Which is not the same as saying exercise is bad! But if OP finds it easier to stick to a deficit without structured exercise, she is smart to wait to start a strenuous program until at her goal weight. The dogpiling in here is ridiculous. Exercise is not and will never be a major factor in weight loss. Aesthetics, yes. Overall health, yes.
From the video:
He did mention that diet is a more critical factor than exercise in weight loss, which is correct. He also said some people will eat more after exercise thinking they burned more than they actually did. All that does shows calories in vs calories out. One just needs to control their calories, same as if they are sitting on the couch.6 -
Mistraal1981 wrote: »Hey all, glad to read all your input and concerns for me losing my gains! I completely understand that I will be losing muscle as well as fat right now, but I am only looking at dropping another 10lbs (so not a massive amount and shouldn't take too long) and I have very little wiggle room when it comes to calories as I'm only 5ft3.
Personally I just find I can adhere to my calorie allowance better and make more informed adjustments when I'm not exercising as it remains constant. As opposed to trying to factor in exercise calories which will differ every day depending on what I do.
My story is more to highlight to people that they don't have to exercise to lose weight.
My plan, once I shift these 10lbs is to work with a coach on a lifting programme specifically tailored to my personal physique goals while eating slightly over maintenance for those lean gainz
I agree! I am also 5'3" and I also find it really difficult to work out and keep any sort of calorie deficit. I can barely eat enough calories to have 3 decent meals, and eating more to compensate for workouts only makes me gain muscle, not lose the fat. Cardio does help me though - but that is a different topic. If you are looking to cut fat, and you are fine with losing a little muscle while you do it, it DOES work to skip the work out, and eat in a calorie deficit. It works really well actually. Just know (and it sounds like you already do) that if you want that tight lean body, you will need to those muscle building workouts back in once the fat is gone.
I think there is one very clear point here that people are missing – everyone is different. There is not 1 correct way to lose fat, so you have to do what works for you. Keep on keeping on!
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Funny - I lost 89lb creating a deficit through exercise alone my first go round. I did not change how I was eating and focused solely on increasing activity. I must be a rare unicorn
I guess I'm a rare unicorn like you. Who knew we were rare? I eat at what my maintenance calories will be at my goal weight, eat back a little of my exercise calories, but my deficit is mostly created through exercise. I honestly thought that was how you created a deficit without starving yourself. I guess I should starve myself?
Nah, I like our way better!6 -
Funny - I lost 89lb creating a deficit through exercise alone my first go round. I did not change how I was eating and focused solely on increasing activity. I must be a rare unicorn
I guess I'm a rare unicorn like you. Who knew we were rare? I eat at what my maintenance calories will be at my goal weight, eat back a little of my exercise calories, but my deficit is mostly created through exercise. I honestly thought that was how you created a deficit without starving yourself. I guess I should starve myself?
Nah, I like our way better!
You are literally describing cutting calories. If you’re not eating maintence for your current weight, you are reducing calories.7 -
Packerjohn wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »sollyn23l2 wrote: »I've heard a number of experts say exactly what you're saying.... during the weight loss phase exercise can be counterproductive because it makes you hungry and you end up eating way more than you burned off. If it is working for you that's fantastic! We all have to get to know our own bodies and what works for us.
Please post a links to "experts" telling you this.
Complete horse poo.
Medical doctor and professor Aaron Carroll, for one. His show healthcare triage did an episode covering many studies that show exercise does not help weight loss.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCtn4Ap8kDM
Which is not the same as saying exercise is bad! But if OP finds it easier to stick to a deficit without structured exercise, she is smart to wait to start a strenuous program until at her goal weight. The dogpiling in here is ridiculous. Exercise is not and will never be a major factor in weight loss. Aesthetics, yes. Overall health, yes.
From the video:
He did mention that diet is a more critical factor than exercise in weight loss, which is correct. He also said some people will eat more after exercise thinking they burned more than they actually did. All that does shows calories in vs calories out. One just needs to control their calories, same as if they are sitting on the couch.
And OP has found the way that works for her to stick to a deficit.0 -
If you were always hungry with working out perhaps looking at what you're eating (both content and amounts) is something to overhaul.
As many have said, working out isn't just about losing weight. There's many other health benefits to it.1 -
Yikes.5
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