Exercise isn't enough for weight loss

That was a surprisingly sensible article.

It is important to note that the participants were allowed to self report their food intake and calories were not held constant between the groups. As such, it is likely that the group who exercised more simply ate more to compensate for their physical activity. In addition it seems the high exercise group also compensated for their planned physical exercise (TEA) by reducing their non exercise activity (NEAT) leading to a lower overall calorie "burn" during the day.

Now it would be interesting to see what the results would have been if calories were kept constant and both groups were told to consciously keep their usual day to day routine in place and not rest more. I think we already know the answer to that one.

Finally, one thing is also clear. Weight loss is relatively easy. The harder thing is weight maintenance and regular exercise has been shown to be a key determinant in keeping weight stable....

pastorchriscoppernoll wrote: »

Does anyone else bypass entering their exercise stats on the app? If I consume additional calories - because I burned extra cals through exercising - my weight increases the following day.

Hmmm, well . . . maybe that's what happens.

Another thing that happens: When we exercise to the point of physical challenge, our muscles are broken down a bit so that they can build back better and stronger. That building back process increases water retention, because water is part of the repair process. That can add a small number of pounds literally overnight.

I tend to strength training only seasonally. Every time I restart, I gain a couple of otherwise unexplained pounds. As long as I keep strength training regularly and progressively, I hang onto those pounds. When I stop strength training in a few months, I lose a couple of otherwise unexplained pounds. It's water, not fat. (Some people with a similar training schedule will add and drop pounds periodically while still training regularly. Bodies are individualistic, and weird.)

If you're gaining more weight than the extra calories would explain (3500 calories to gain a pound, roughly), it's likely that you're seeing water weight, not fat gain. Water retention is part of how healthy bodies stay healthy. We shouldn't meddle with that.

HOWEVER:

If you don't want to be credited with exercise calories, AFAIK your options are:

* Pay for premium MFP, which has a setting that will stop exercise calories being added; or
* Unsync your fitness tracker from MFP, if that's where the exercise calories are coming from; or
* Don't log your exercise, if typing it into MFP is where the exercise calories are coming from; or
* Log your exercise, if typing into MFP, but overtype the calorie value with 1 calorie (or zero, but I don't think it'll let you do zero).

That's the options I know of, but I'm ignorant. I've always estimated my exercise calories carefully, eaten them all back . . . and doing that the whole time, lost from obese to healthy weight in a bit under a year, and maintained a healthy weight for around 8 years since. YMMV.

If you don't believe me: step on the scale and note your weight. Down a big glass of anything calorie-free and step on the scale again*. If you drank 500ml of water then you're now 500gr heavier until you pee it out again. Of course water leaves quicker than food, but the situation is the same.

*some scales save the last measured weight for a while and hence this won't work.