Exercise vs weight loss

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lauralinf
lauralinf Posts: 3 Member
in Getting Started
Hi! Need to lose some weight after piling far too much on over the last 2 years. Introduced fitness classes and swimming but I seem to have put on a couple of pounds. Not sure im balancing calorie counting and the exercise properly yet 😅

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  • _Kelly_3000
    _Kelly_3000 Posts: 45 Member
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    goal06082021 wrote: »
    Exercise isn't really for weight loss - you can't out-exercise a bad diet, generally. So you will probably be better served by focusing on the "calories in" side of the equation and really getting a handle on how much you're eating.

    Go through the guided setup, set it to lose 1lb per week (sustainable for most people), pick an activity level that describes how active you are OUTSIDE of that purposeful exercise. Log the exercise you do on the days you do it and eat back some of those calories. MFP tends to overestimate calorie burn; if you have a wearable device that calculates burn based on your height/weight/age/sex and heart rate and/or accelerometer data, that will probably be more accurate.

    If you just started exercising like five minutes ago, you'll also need to just give it more time - the body retains water to repair muscles following exercise, so if you weigh yourself the day before and the day after a workout, you may indeed see an increase on the scale the second time - it's water. Get religious about your logging and stick with it for a couple of months, two full menstrual cycles if that's something your body does, and see if the overall trend in your weight is moving in the right direction.

    Thanks for your reply to OP! This is great! 😁
  • cherchechristine
    cherchechristine Posts: 84 Member
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    Abs are made in the Kitchen! LOL
  • dralicephd
    dralicephd Posts: 401 Member
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    You can't outrun your fork. :)

    Due to perimenopause, I have a lot of water gain and loss over the course of a month. Because of that, I find it helpful to use a weight trending app (trendweight.com is one, but there are others). It helps me see if I'm still on track even when the scale is wonky. I like lots of data for the trendline, so I weigh daily. YMMV, of course.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    Lot's of ways to get started. You can learn what your maintenance level is (with exercise, if you like). MFP is great for that. You could go for a while on maintenance, tracking what you need to eat including to compensate for workouts. Watch your weight (expecting daily variations of a pound or more) and see if everything works out on average. This teaches you how to not overcompensate for working out, and with no caloric deficit, you should be satisfied by your meals.

    Whenever you are ready, you can go into deficit at whatever level you think will work for you. (e.g., -500kcals/day to lose 1lb/week, or whatever suits you). The main thing is to adopt a sustainable plan.

    Best of luck!
  • MostlyWater
    MostlyWater Posts: 4,294 Member
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    Swimming doesn't burn fat
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
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    Your heart BEATING burns fat. Every movement you make burns fat.

    If you're eating fewer calories than you're using to stay alive, and keep staying alive, you're burning fat.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    MostlyWater wrote: »
    Swimming doesn't burn fat

    I think this misconception comes from the fact that heavier people can be amazing swimmers. Body weight is less of an issue in the pool, after al. The main thing is not to over-compensate in your diet for your swimming. But, that applies equally to all forms of exercise.

    And swimming burns plenty of calories. I'm a cross trainer, so I swim, ride, and run. Using the MFP database, I get the following for 1 hr total workouts at my paces:

    Swimming laps, freestyle, fast, vigorous effort: 793kcal
    Running (jogging), 6 mph (10 min mile): 793kcal
    Bicycling, 16-20 mph, very fast (cycling, biking, bike riding): 951kcal

    The point is that they all burn significant calories!

    (I have no idea why the MFP number for swimming and jogging are exactly the same, but there you have it! Also, I think the cycling number is a bit high. I actually use a Garmin watch to estimate calories for all these activities, including swimming.)
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/46416330#Comment_46416330

    how can you have that many posts and be that misinformed? swimming is fantastic exercise....

  • georgiabandgirl
    georgiabandgirl Posts: 1 Member
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    66 year old female, 5'1" and started out at 180. Began tracking and water aerobics on July 3rd. Goal was to lose 20 pounds by Christmas. Water aerobics (with water weights) 3x week for 60 minutes. Calorie goal 1,000 - 1,200/day. Lost 10 pounds in first two months but I'm stuck. Logging in everyday and most days do not use my exercise points. Help!
  • ridiculous59
    ridiculous59 Posts: 2,832 Member
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    I exercise to re-shape my body and for my overall health. I count calories to lose weight. I have to view it that way otherwise I tend to overeat "because I earned all those extra calories". I eat back some of my exercise calories, but not all, because like others have mentioned, calorie burns are usually inflated.

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