How do you get over this mindset?
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weight3049
Posts: 72 Member
Trying to get some advice on this mindset I'm having.
It takes me 1 hour to exercise (burn about 300 calories) and takes me minutes to eat all those calories back. Is this in the back of everyone's mind or is it just me?
It takes me 1 hour to exercise (burn about 300 calories) and takes me minutes to eat all those calories back. Is this in the back of everyone's mind or is it just me?
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Replies
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I don't consider it a "mindset" to get over as much as it's just reality. It's a lot easier to control your weight by focusing on your food intake instead of exercise. I exercise for fitness. That it burns calories so I can eat more is a nice bonus, but it's very easy for most of us to eat more than we need even if we're exercising.21
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That isn't really a mindset...as much as a realization. To me, some high calorie foods/treats aren't worth the "effort." Let me use soda as an example...early in my weight loss journey, I realized a soda=40 minutes of walking (rough estimate).
I don't drink soda anymore. It's gone in a matter of minutes, and I can't savor the experience like I can with ice cream. Ice cream brings me joy, so I still eat it...just less frequently than before.10 -
It is why I quit eating cheesecake 😁6
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Maybe reconsider why you should exercise?
Health, fitness, strength, body composition - perhaps even enjoyment!
Plus the weight loss benefit of being able to eat more while keeping the deficit you selected which makes it far easier to hit nutritional goals on a bigger calorie allowance and maybe have some room for "fun foods" too.
I'm a very high exerciser as I'm retired with plenty of time, really enjoy my exercise and my sport entails a very high calorie burn and matching food intake but I still can't have a complete eating free-for-all.
There's a reason many people say the masseter muscles are the strongest muscles in the body.
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I spent hours cooking Thanksgiving dinner for it to be gone in minutes.
I spent hours working for my paycheck for it to be gone in minutes.
I spent hours working on a needlework project that I had a fleeting moment of joy it was complete before I gave it away.
I spend hours keeping my house spotless for it to have crumbs and pet hair on floors within minutes.
I spend an hour washing my car for the first bird to bomb it.
If you look at life this way, you’ll just tread water forevvvvvvvvver.42 -
Maybe reconsider why you should exercise?
Health, fitness, strength, body composition - perhaps even enjoyment!
Plus the weight loss benefit of being able to eat more while keeping the deficit you selected which makes it far easier to hit nutritional goals on a bigger calorie allowance and maybe have some room for "fun foods" too.
I'm a very high exerciser as I'm retired with plenty of time, really enjoy my exercise and my sport entails a very high calorie burn and matching food intake but I still can't have a complete eating free-for-all.
There's a reason many people say the masseter muscles are the strongest muscles in the body.
^^^
I enjoy lifting weights and I enjoy some forms of cardio (not running, running is evil).
I do the exercise I enjoy because I enjoy it and it makes me feel better overall. It’s nice that it also allows me to eat dessert or have a night out on the weekend where I don’t have to worry about blowing my entire deficit for the week.
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Now you know, you can address the issue as you see fit. I did not take up exercising to lose weight. Nevertheless it was an eye opener to me when a PT told me to get on the rower and work flat out until I'd burned off ten calories. I thought he'd made a mistake. "You mean a hundred or something, surely?". "No," he said. "Ten." That was the total end of any notion I might ever have had of supposing I could have a muffin and a mocha just because I'd been in the gym.11
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Perhaps compartmentalize exercise for fitness and calories for nutrition.2
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weight3049 wrote: »Trying to get some advice on this mindset I'm having.
It takes me 1 hour to exercise (burn about 300 calories) and takes me minutes to eat all those calories back. Is this in the back of everyone's mind or is it just me?
Hmmm...I guess I don't really think of it that way. I don't really think of calories from exercise as "different"...they simply add to what I require from an overall energy standpoint...they are just a fractional part of the whole.
I burn a boatload of calories just being alive...I burn more calories going about my day to day business and I burn calories through regular exercise. All of that adds up to my total requirement...if I eat less than what my body requires, I will burn bodyfat to reconcile the energy deficiency...if I eat up to my requirements, I will maintain the status quo...if I eat over my requirements on a consistent basis, that surplus energy will be stored as bodyfat.
For most people (outside of being an athlete or training like one), regular exercise is only going to provide for a small fraction of their total energy (calorie) requirements. This is why diet has a far more pronounced impact on weight management. Regular exercise has numerous physical and mental health benefits and can also be a whole heck of a lot of fun.
As weight management goes, the greatest benefit of regular exercise for myself is that it makes me feel good...it makes me feel healthy...and in turn makes me want to eat in a way that promotes health. When I'm exercising regularly, I also tend to eat more healthfully. I was injured for a few months over the summer and unable to do much of anything exercise wise and noticed that my diet slipped during that time as well...I was more inclined to sit on my couch eating Doritos and feeling sorry for myself than I was to make a nice big garden salad with grilled chicken.
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weight3049 wrote: »Trying to get some advice on this mindset I'm having.
It takes me 1 hour to exercise (burn about 300 calories) and takes me minutes to eat all those calories back. Is this in the back of everyone's mind or is it just me?
I don't really think of it that way: I think of it more as having a calorie budget, with things that add to my credit balance (daily activity, exercise), and things that subtract from it (food, drink). As with a financial budget there are certain necessities I need to cover from my budget as first priority (nutrition would be the analog of stuff like rent & utilities), then if I'm fortunate enough to have discretionary calories, I can spend my those on stuff that's more for fun than necessity.
I'm probably helped in that by a pretty long-term internalized view of exercise as being for fun (I love my main activity so much I'd do it even if it weren't good for me, honestly), and for long term independence and health (I'm already age 65, wishing I'd started down the exercise road earlier in life for those reasons). I've been very active for much longer (12+ years longer) than I've been at a healthy weight (5+ years so far since major loss), which probably contributes to my not equating exercise as such to calories in the way you are talking about.3 -
Accept it.
I think that it should be highlighted much more than it is.
" It is reality ." " . . some high calorie foods/treats aren't worth (it) " etc. as already mentioned above.
A UK news report at beginning of this year stated that people ate less of foods when told the "exercise equivalent " eg = 90 minutes walking, as well as cals.
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Look at it as an hour of exercise to eat an extra 150 to 200 calories. That could be a protein bar, dressing for salad, butter or cheese for a sammie w.e. basically an hour to get some flavor in your food2
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As an afterthought/aside: If my mindset is not serving me well in some way, I figure I can change it. I'm not saying it's easy (way not), but it's pretty darned close to 100% under my individual control, when it comes down to it. Further, if I *don't* change it, that's a pretty good objective sign that I don't *really* want to change.
For example, I was obese for decades, but I was pretty clear in my own head that I could change that, if I wanted to, and really buckled down to do it (and that proved true eventually). If I wasn't doing it, I had to pretty much admit to myself that I was voting with my feet (feed? 😉) that I didn't want to. (That doesn't mean I knew how to flip that switch: I wish I did know how!)
Sometimes my behavior leads my attitude/mindset, sometimes my mindset leads my behavior. Either route can be productive.10 -
How on earth can anyone disagree with that?
*mind blown*
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Looking at it, sort of like you, is what lead me to being in the best shape of my life. I've always eaten back exercise calories from day one. But I was obese and couldn't do much for exercise when I started. I was fat, out of shape and had gout in my toe and a terrible right knee.
But I did what I could and that meant I could eat, even if just a little more that day. Within a year, I was burning an extra 400 to 500 calories a day. Now, I've been on maintenance for 8 or 9 years, but it's not uncommon for me to burn 1000+ calories in a day exercising.
I also know that I don't put crap in my mouth that is 700 senseless calories. The biggest realization I had the first year of logging was just by cutting out the worst calorie "bombs" that I put in my mouth, I could likely stop gaining weight, even without exercise. Identifying things that just aren't worth it or are worth X amount of exercise is a huge learning step.
I believe everyone on here should log for a month and do nothing else -- just educate themselves. Logging is hard enough. Habits are built one thing at a time. And by adding in more than one thing, your chances of building a habit are greatly diminished. People that change just one thing at a time have over an 80% chance of success of building that habit. Add in one thing more and it drops below 40%. So just log. Educate yourself for a month. See what things you are putting in your mouth add up to. That education is the groundwork for success, not the way you are looking at it -- as something that's insurmountable.5 -
Everyone prior has said things a lot more eloquently than I would, so I'll just say I agree with previous advice
Personal perspective from my household:
-I exercise to be fitter/stronger/faster. The biggest tip I got when I started at a gym with trainers was "Don't log your exercise". They helped me set a healthy calorie budget that factored in exercise burn and told me to eat the same every day regardless of my workout style. That really helped me break away from the mindset of "I have to do x mins to earn this food" and instead let me focus on strength gains and such.
-My husband is doing everything on his own with no outside advice (not even me). He still views exercise as a punishment/taking time away from pleasure hobbies, and the only workouts he does are the ones with highest burn for shortest time (aka cardio only). He will not do anything that burns less or takes longer. I'm very proud of him for losing 100 lbs so far, but also a little sad that he won't do anything to recomp his body. He won't even give it a chance because he has never adjusted his mindset away from "I can burn this many calories doing x for y mins, that is most effective so that is all I do"1 -
I like this " . . calorie "bombs" . ."0
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It gets easier when you do things you enjoy for their own sake. Then it isn’t having to do something torturous but getting to do something fun, and you wish your body was fit enough to let you do it for longer!
Everyone is different, but I enjoy running in beautiful places, learning new dance routines, and lifting weights I didn’t use to be able to lift. Setting new PRs and mastering new skills is a reward in itself. When I first started out, I would never have imagined that I would be heartbroken from being unable to run due to injury! Being injured taught me that being able to work out is something you should give thanks for, not something you should complain about.
Also, it takes a while for your body to get used to eating the right amount of food to fuel itself. If you are like most humans there will never be a day when you it would be appropriate to eat a whole pizza, a giant dessert, and so on and so on. If your past habits have involved eating thousands of calories over your needs, there will be a period of grieving when you realize that never again will be a thing you do. But once you are used to the right amount of food, getting to eat 300 extra calories can be pretty generous. That’s not a ton of food. But it is a modest, human being sized portion of dessert or meat. It’s not a large 5 guys fries and the extra ones in the bag all to yourself with ketchup, but it is a reasonable human being sized portion of fries. If you were used to eating the whole bag of fries you are going to have to adjust your expectations to reality. But then, appreciate it!6 -
Eat what makes your body feel full and energized to fuel your workout, don't workout to "earn" certain foods that only give you a moment of pleasure, it's just not worth it in the long run0
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