Obese- Focus or Diet w or w/out Exercise?

Of course it is 100% up to you, but for what it is worth I started at a bit more than where you are now and just focus on my food intake when it comes to counting my calories.

I go for walks and dig the garden, much more so now I have lost 5 stone, but I am still easily large enough to stand the extra deficit when I do without feeling the need to do the so called "eating back calories" thing and instead gratefully take that extra bit of weight loss the walk might win me.

Might well step it up when I have lost more weight, when it gets harder to maintain a deficit and have enough to eat, but at the moment I am eating well and getting all my nutrients. So I exercise simply for the overall health benefits and the good it does my heart.

Always focus on the food - but exercise as much as you can, too. I've gone from obese after years of yoyo dieting to a healthy weight (still want to lose a bit) by managing calories. BUT the reason I started managing calories was because I found some exercise forms I utterly love and I wanted to be able to enjoy them more by not having to lug around so much body weight. AnnPT77 mentioned the lifestyle change and she is so right. The gym is now non-negotiable and I love it.

Developing an exercise habit is easier if you are eating the right balance of calories to lose weight but still provide adequate energy. If you do not have your calories nailed down and you are eating too little exercise, even ones you normally enjoy, may become a truly miserable experience.

It is also possible that if you are eating too little then exercise will drive your deficit even higher to the point you break and eat everything in sight. Been there, done that.

If you have already been exercising for awhile then continue doing what you are doing. If not, ramp it up slowly to allow you to figure out your calories while also allowing your body to adjust to the new physical demands. It does not have to be anything more than just getting out for a nice walk if that would work for you.

empressjasmin wrote: »

@NovusDies I have also been there done that - overeating because I haven’t eaten much and then become hungry and eat everything! I know it’s a process that I must learn all over again!

Thank you!

Now that I think of it, if you have at least 75 pounds to lose, you might enjoy joining Novus's "Larger Losers" group. Link is here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/133315-larger-losers

not to mention that exercise does earn you back a nice bonus in calories for the day because the way MFP works, it does not take into account intentional exercise and expects you to eat those back, though, as was suggested above, start with only half and see where that takes you.

I lost my first 110 lbs or so purely through diet alone. But the more you lose, the less energy it takes to keep you alive and thus the lower the calorie limit goes. I eventually hit where I know is my rock bottom - I cannot maintain a deficit lower than about 1450 calories, and once I had lost enough weight that sedentary setting for my height and weight began to dip below that, I started feeling like I was hungry all the time and found myself slipping over my deficit often. But about 2 months ago or so now, I decided to start trying to get more active for my health's sake, and I've been increasing the activity since then. A nice bonus, besides finding myself with better endurance, stamina, and mobility is the couple hundred calories I get to add to my day. It's been amazing to me the difference those calories make in ending my day feeling like I'm hungry and ending the day feeling satisfied. Being able to add those calories back oftentimes means the difference between me staying within my daily allotted deficit or slipping over, or the difference between meeting my goals or not.

If you want to lose weight, you must have a deficit. Find a healthy way to create that deficit, whether it be diet alone, or eating exactly the same but adding exercise, or a combination of the two. Just don't let the exercise trick you into eating more - many folks do that. They'll exercise for an hour and earn 200-300 calories, but then blow it all on a high calorie protein shake or an extra slice or two of pizza and then end up eating more which in turn can wipe out their deficit. Remember - to lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit!

empressjasmin wrote: »

Hello!
So I’ve been a yo-yo dieter for sometime now. I’ve recently gotten to my highest weight ever (265lbs), thanks to quarantine, but also bad eating habits prior to lockdown.

My question has always been should I just focus on eating within my daily calorie limits or also make sure I’m exercising too?

While I know this may seem like a silly question, I wasn’t sure that if because of my weight I should be focusing on food intake more?

The types of exercise that I enjoy are walking and dance.

Thanks!

Weight management is about calories coming in vs calories going out regardless of exercise. IMO, regular exercise makes weight management that much easier because you're increasing your CO and have more to work with. Regular exercise also has numerous health benefits beyond weight management and is probably the single best thing you can do for your overall health and well being aside from getting to and maintaining a healthy weight.

I'm like @richardgavel . I could (probably) lose weight through diet and calorie deficit alone, but it's really hard for me, and right now I'm struggling because I'm stuck at home all day and don't get my regular daily activity.

Here's what exercise gives me, in some order or importance:
1. A mood boost and stress relief, which prevent me from snacking to make me feel better
2. An energy boost, which prevents me from snacking to get energy and not be so tired
3. A motivation boost and a small success, which feed into a circle of success where I want to do more good things towards my goals
4. Calorie burn that I can eat back and still be in deficit.

Currently I'm missing out on a lot of regular everyday activity, like walking a few minutes here and there to get to places, and on top of that my gym was closed for a month and I lost my routine. It's reopened now but I'm still anxious to go. I'm positive that losing weight would be easier for me if I was in my regular routine, which includes a lot more daily activity and the ability to go to the gym. Coincidentally (?), this quarantine also makes me stressed, anxious and exhausted, which means I could really use a mood and energy boost, and not reaching my goals (seriously, my current trend rate is 0,05kg/0,1lbs per week) makes me need a boost of motivation.

PaleoPrince wrote: »

I don't think it is worth doing rigorous exercise because I find it makes you want to eat the world after. I just eat 1500 calories and walk for 1 to 2 hours a day, I find it makes me feel better in the same way that cardio does but without the urges to eat tons afterwards.

I think it's great that you're pointing out that possibility. Thing is, the relationship between hunger/appetite/cravings is very individual.

It can be intensity-specific for some, as it appears to be for you. For others, it can vary with exercise type (strength vs. cardiovascular), even specific activity (running vs. cycling, for example). And this is one case where (anecdotally) it seems like snack/meal timing can have an individualized effect, even though food timing is generically (per most research) a very minor factor for normal people's weight loss or sub-elite athletes' athletic performance.

For me, moderate weight training tends to increase my appetite, but intense cardiovascular exercise (mostly rowing, in my case) doesn't have that effect at all. I've seen others report exactly the opposite. Bodies are weird!

I'd not recommend rigorous/intense exercise for starters, to a relative exercise beginner, in any case. But I would suggest that each person might profitably experiment and notice how different types and intensities of exercise affect them personally, when it comes to appetite.