Fast or work out, that is the question?

I'm going to be blunt. I apologize if it seems harsh. I truly want to help.

There's a lot of complete nonsense on the internet, on TV, and in print publications about weight loss. There's no blame or shame about believing it, because it's EVERYWHERE. But IMO success depends on throwing out the nonsense completely, and learning how weight loss works in real people.

Things I think you you may be believing that in my experience are false and unhelpful:

* Fasting is necessary or at least a key tool for success
* Extreme exercise is a good thing for weight loss
* A person need to eat only "healthy" foods to lose weight
* Gym exercise is the best (only?) exercise that counts
* Volume of food eaten matters

You've gotten replies here from multiple people who've lost meaningful amounts of weight. They're all pretty much saying the same thing: Eat manageably less, in calorie terms. Do moderate, manageably challenging exercise you enjoy.

Fasting is optional, and it will only trigger weight loss if you burn fewer calories than you spend in all ways (from just being alive, to daily life chores/job, to intentional exercise), and do that on average over quite a period of time, with 50+ (let alone 100+) pounds to lose.

Don't starve yourself, or even eat so little that it takes white-knuckled determination. That won't last, plus it's bad for your health, plus your body will adapt in ways that reduce your calorie needs (which is obviously counter-productive). You need nutrition to thrive, and nutrition comes with calories.

Extreme exercise is counter-productive. For one, if you're like me, punitively intense exercise feels miserable, and I will put it off or skip it with the slightest excuse.

For two (and perhaps more importantly), doing too much extreme exercise will tend to make a person drag through the rest of their days, resting more, doing less, and burning fewer calories during non-exercise time. That wipes out some of the calorie benefit of the exercise. The amount wiped out can be a surprising lot. For most of us, our biggest daily calorie burn is from just being alive, even if completely still. Second biggest is daily life stuff, like job and home chores. Intentional exercise is in third place, for typical people. Don't give it more power in your thinking than that.

For three, too-intense exercise increases injury risk, and many people here will tell you that injury can put exercise off limits for a long time, derailing that method of burning calories.

Listen to the folks posting here:

* Plan for a sensibly moderate weight loss rate. At your current size, 2 pounds a week should be OK for a while, but plan to slow down as you get lighter. However, if slower than 2 pounds a week is more doable, then lose slower. A slow loss rate that a person can stick with can get them to goal weight in less calendar time than theoretically fast loss that causes bouts of deprivation-triggered overeating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.

* Eat foods you enjoy at an appropriate level of calories, choosing foods and eating patterns (times) that keep you feeling reasonably full and happy most of the time. There aren't magic "diet foods" or total deal-breaker "bad foods". Bonus points if you get good overall nutrition. Calorie counting is one way to eat the right amount, but not the only possible way. (Calories matter, not food volume. A whole head of cauliflower has roughly the same calories as 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. Either of those are healthy, useful foods, right?)

* Find exercise you enjoy that's moderately, manageably challenging. Do that regularly (not necessarily daily at first). It doesn't have to be some gym thing. Any extra movement helps. Walking is ideal for a lot of people. But biking, dancing, sports, active VR or video games, frisbee, golf, bowling, canoeing, swimming, playing with kids, blah blah blah whatever - that's fine. As you do it regularly, it will get easier (that's improving fitness). When it gets easy, add some intensity, duration, frequency, or new exercise type to keep a challenge in the picture. That challenge will create fitness progress. Don't become exhausted. That's counter-productive.

stayoffmylawn wrote: »

Ok thanks everyone for all your responses, from what I gathered you guys would like to know more about my situation. So, back in 2016-2017 I was taking a medication that caused weight gain. When I started it I was 230 pounds. I didn't really work out at the gym at the time so the weight got up to 360 poundsish and I decided to stop taking the medication by that time. Well, when I stopped the medication I actually almost immediately lost about 40-50 pounds without any effort at all. The medication was called Nardil... aka Phenelzine. So I have been stuck at around 330 pounds since 2017.

I don't eat a whole lot every day, just an average amount, but I will keep track of what I eat for 1 day and report back to you guys.

One thing I learned was that my personal definition of "normal eating" came from my social context. That included how my parents ate, how my friends ate, the foods I saw in advertisements, on TV, or in magazines. Many of those were - it turned out - normalizing eating too many calories, whether too-big portions, or very calorie dense foods.

Currently I take Abilify which is weight neutral and doesn't really cause weight gain unless you eat too much and can be good for weight loss if you don't eat much (it has a side effect called "lack of appetite".. something like that). The most I have lost before was about 20 pounds down to 309ish, but I gained it back because I haven't been eating very healthy I guess.

So I am a 6"2, 35 year old male. I'd say my weight loss goal is around 170 pounds (back to where I used to be).

I had a gym membership but gave it up because I wasn't even using it. Maybe I'll sign up again if I get some positive feedback here on what I should do.

Eating too many calories isn't healthful because of excess weight, but "unhealthy foods" are often over-emphasized as meaningful for weight loss. Fast food and so-called junk food have nutrition, but can be high in calories. We may need to moderate high-calorie foods, but that includes supposedly health high-calorie foods like peanut butter, nuts, avocados, olive oil, etc.

So far I thank you guys for your feedback, I hope the info I provided can give you guys a better idea of my situation. I meant with the question "fast, or work out" as the question of, should I fast only until I lose all the weight (without working out), or should I work out 100% until the weight is lost (with the risk of saggy skin). I'd like to lose the weight in at least a year if I do choose to work out, but maybe that will take longer because 150 pounds is a lot.

Anyways, I'll get back to you guys on how much I eat in a day (with calorie count etc). Thanks again.

What people are trying to tell you is that your best route isn't either of the bolded things.

They're suggesting your best route is reducing your food intake (in calorie terms) so that you're eating somewhat fewer calories than you're burning. You can add moderate exercise for extra benefits. Do both food reduction and exercise, ideally . . . but do them manageably and moderately.

Fast loss is a trap. Fast loss increases risks of sagging skin, no matter whether the fast loss is from eating less (too much less) or exercising lots (way too much).

Genetics matter, and likely age does, too. That's the hand we're dealt, and it's unpredictable and pretty much unchangeable.

Beyond that, skin is an organ. The things that keep other organs healthy will also tend to keep skin healthy, which means elastic and more willing to adjust. These include:

* avoiding fast loss, like we said (because it's a physical stress to lose fast),
* getting good well-rounded nutrition (macros and micros, especially but not exclusively protein),
* getting regular exercise (both cardiovascular and strength),
* managing all-source life stress,
* hydrating adequately (not crazy much, but enough),
* avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol,
* specific to skin, also avoiding tanning.

People will say all kinds of things about creams, dry-brushing, etc., but personally I'm inclined to thing those are mainly ways to pass the time while skin does pretty much what it was going to do anyway. Help a little? Maybe. Big help? I doubt it. But it can feel good to feel like we're doing *something*.

If you're worried, go look at some of the before and after photos in the Success Stories part of the Community. There are photos of people who've lost around the amount of weight you're wanting to lose. The results aren't terrible, generally. It does take time for skin to shrink, even after fat is lost. Mine kept shrinking at least into year 2 of maintenance (at age 60+), and maybe longer, since the rate of shrinkage gradually slowed with time. Now, I don't think I look dramatically different from other always-slim 68 y/o women who were never obese like I was.

Best wishes! Success is worth the effort.

P.S. Food for thought, research on the US National Weight Control Registry:

http://www.nwcr.ws/Research/default.htm

. . . and the "Most Helpful" success stories here on MFP:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300359/most-helpful-posts-success-stories-must-reads#latest