Ok, this is hard.

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Rocinante314
Rocinante314 Posts: 13 Member
in Introduce Yourself
I am kind of depending on exercise as I am not too good at self discipline on food. I can make myself do pushups and situps for now, here I go! Good luck everyone! There is no such thing as failure, just life experience. I heard it said best "When you wake, you have everything you need". Keep breathing and appreciate the beautiful humans and nature around you!!!

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  • freda666
    freda666 Posts: 338 Member
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    It is really really hard to lose significant weight just with exercise so you far are braver than me. Of course, I have no idea whether you need to lose significant weight.

    But more power to you in any event and keep it up.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,527 Member
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    You cannot out train a calorie surplus. You can do all the push up and sit ups you want, but unless your energy balance is in the negative (calorie deficit) you're NOT going to lose weight. Exercise helps to burn some calories, but it is more for health and fitness. Learn new habitual food consumption strategies. That's what helps you to lose/gain/maintain weight.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
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    Unfortunately, you have to eat less than you burn to lose weight. Many try just exercising and it usually doesn't work. You really need to study how much you're eating. When exercising you'll need to eat enough to fuel those workouts. MFP is set up really well to understand CICO. Get your daily calorie goal, a digital food scale and start weighing and measuring all food and drink. Stay within your daily calorie goal everyday. When exercising log it in and MFP will give you more to eat that day.

    It's not all that hard and I'd suggest that you try it. You might be surprised. If you find difficulties then come and ask. Hoping you're successful.
  • Rocinante314
    Rocinante314 Posts: 13 Member
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    Ok, so I only can eat 500 calories the rest of the day as I had 2 breakfast burritos before I posted. I know starving myself wont work, so I will try salad later tonight. Meanwhile, is it good to drink water instead. I just need to get my mind off food when I am restless and board!!!!
  • freda666
    freda666 Posts: 338 Member
    edited February 2021
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    nic123jdb wrote: »
    Ok, so I only can eat 500 calories the rest of the day as I had 2 breakfast burritos before I posted. I know starving myself wont work, so I will try salad later tonight. Meanwhile, is it good to drink water instead. I just need to get my mind off food when I am restless and board!!!!

    This is why pre-logging your food is a key step in my opinion. Before I started doing that 'snacks' got forgotten and worse, I'd log to find I had gone over my calories but too late as the food was already in my belly.

    Now I plan my food before I eat anything each day and out of interest I have lost getting on for 9 stone.

    And heck.... you can do a LOT with 500 calories that does not require salad eating. :D
  • Rocinante314
    Rocinante314 Posts: 13 Member
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    Thanks! I will plan. I can do planning!
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,136 Member
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    nic123jdb wrote: »
    Ok, so I only can eat 500 calories the rest of the day as I had 2 breakfast burritos before I posted. I know starving myself wont work, so I will try salad later tonight. Meanwhile, is it good to drink water instead. I just need to get my mind off food when I am restless and board!!!!

    You're right - starving yourself won't work. Drinking some water may help you feel a little more full between meals, but not instead of a meal.

    What rate of loss do you currently have yourself set to? Setting it to a lower rate may help you make changes more gradually rather than trying to overhaul everything at once. Also it's worth noting that whilst you have 500 cals "left" for the day that doesn't mean you're not in a deficit when you go over you calorie goal. The rate of loss dictates how much of a calorie deficit you're in, 0.5lbs per week =250 cal deficit, 1lb per week = 500 cal deficit and so on. SO if you're set to 1lb per week loss and you ate 200 cals over goal, you're still 300 calories below maintenance, you'll lose fat still, just at a slower rate than you've chosen.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    nic123jdb wrote: »
    Ok, so I only can eat 500 calories the rest of the day as I had 2 breakfast burritos before I posted. I know starving myself wont work, so I will try salad later tonight. Meanwhile, is it good to drink water instead. I just need to get my mind off food when I am restless and board!!!!

    The good news is, exercise may not work by itself to lose weight, but it is an excellent way of taking your mind off food!

    Drinking water is helpful when you are dehydrated. Chugging gallons of water isn’t necessary and can even hurt you.

    There’s a lot of room between two breakfast burritos and nothing but salad. Set yourself a calorie goal on MFP and log your food. You may be surprised at where your calorie bombs are coming from and how much you can eat of the right kind of food. For example, if I had 500 calories left for dinner I would eat a salmon steak, some broccoli, a salad, and a dessert of fresh berries and Greek yogurt topped with cacao powder. You probably like different kinds of food, but you can find something you enjoy. For example, both chicken and pork loin can be low calorie, roast vegetables are low calorie, fruits, and so on. Log it and start figuring it out, you can do this!

    Also, pushups don’t burn many calories (although they are great for your arms, back, and chest) but a simple walk every day can burn quite a few, enough to make the difference between feeling deprived and having enough food. I took up running for the calories and now I love it.

    Best of luck to you.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    I'm not saying the exercise alone strategy can't work, but I would be very surprised if it did.

    When you exercise (and not watching food intake) it's not uncommon to tell yourself it's okay to have a bit more. Some forms of exercise may even make you more hungry. Some forms of exercise do not burn many calories.

    If you set your goal to maintenance, log calories in, then add exercise to create a deficit. That might work. You would be tracking and learning.

    Keep in mind a smaller you is going to require fewer calories to maintain. If your strategy is exercise only, this will include maintenance as well.

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