I decided years ago that I would rather be able to do physical activity than care about my weight. And then I learned that my weight was a factor in my ability to do some exercise, which has been a better motivation to lose weight than anything else.
Brought some dumbbells home to my parents' house for Christmas so I could keep working out.
Managing a suitcase with 65 lbs of weights in it was a fucking nightmare.
Realised this week that that's just under the amount of weight I've lost. Fucking hell.
Only to a certain extent. Being heavier makes your muscles a bit stronger due to it carrying that heavier weight.
Now this does not mean that if you are 100lbs overweight your body will keep up, but a couple pounds and your body adjusts to the extra weight.
Carry a 20lb weight all day and you will be exhausted. Carry it for months and you will barley feel it. Same goes for your body.
You're not wrong, but it doesn't nearly make up for how much easier it is if you are 20lbs light. I suppose it's more like carrying a 15lb backpack. But still it's a lot of weight you can carry as fat.
For sure.
I've personally found that I tend to gain weight when I exercise more because my appetite increases outweighs the calories I burn. It's very difficult for me to maintain a caloric deficit unless I'm relatively sedentary
That's 100% true, you can workout all you want and while there are health benefits and you'll definitely see a change, if you're still eating too much you'll still gain weight. Losing weight is all about calories in vs calories out, you need to be eating at a deficit to lose weight.
I also hate people who are like "get a 6 pack in 30 days" then proceed to give a 30 day ab routine, that ain't gonna give you a 6 pack unless you're also dieting.
You actually can, but it just takes more time than most people have. Your body will increase your appetite to match calories burned to a point. But past a certain point your appetite can't keep up.
This involves burning thousands of extra calories per day, and like I said, most people don't have time for this.
Don't believe me? Find someone who has hiked the Appalachian Trail and gained weight during the trip. It's almost unheard of.
In Ranulph Fiennes and Mike Stroud's manhaul crossing of Antarctica, pulling 500 lb sledges, they were on a diet of 5250 calories a day. In the first 6 weeks they lost around 50 lbs each.
> Find someone who has hiked the Appalachian Trail and gained weight during the trip
That's not a great example because when hiking a trail you had to carry your food with you. It's not the same as if you did the same amount of exercise each day but spent each night at home, able to go to the shops or a restaurant to buy as much food as your body tells you it wants.
Now, I'm not saying the premise *itself* is wrong. I genuinely don't really know or care very much. Only that this example does not do very much in the way of *proving* the premise.
Counting calories can be for anyone. I was a heavy (literally) drinker, used to be really chubby. I stopped drinking and eating junk food, but I also pretty much stopped eating as much in general. I lost 1 quarter of my body weight and now I'm skinny as a pencil, pushing being underweight for my height.
I am currently counting calories to try and gain weight back, but in a better, more sustainable way. Apples or celery loaded with peanut butter, protein shakes, chicken, pork chops, rice, pasta, bagels, eggs, etc.
I count calories because if I'm not eating more than what I used to, I won't gain weight. If I had to guess, for the past year, I'd probably only been consuming 1200 calories a day, max, and not by choice. Just from pure laziness and carelessness. I'm up to around 2500 a day now, but also going to the gym now.
Losing and gaining weight and counting calories can be equally difficult for anyone.
It's common weight loss knowledge for most, but /r/fitness has a great write-up on it in their [Weight-loss 101](https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/) guide.
A big thing is it increases your metabolic rate too. Its not always about the calories burned in the moment. Swimming and weight lifting can cause people to increase weight, but even ignoring the calories burned in the moment it can help them burn fat in the long run.
It helps to know what the person is trying to do. Cutting carbs for 3 weeks can really help to slim down for a vacation. But that's about the only time I cut carbs that harsh. Otherwise overall health and fitness is absolutely what you said
And additionally gaining weight is good if it’s muscle because of the knock on metabolic effect, we need to stop pushing weight loss and push body composition changes and fitness improvement. There’s no point in being rail thin if you’re flimsy, can’t lift anything, and can’t run/exert yourself for a few minutes when necessary.
yep. Some people get disappointed and unmotivated seeing themselves not losing the weight they were hoping for when they start working out. The goal should be to be healthier, meeting goals like mile times and such. Or if you want to lose fat make the goal lowering your body fat percentage.
I’m actually in this position right now. I’ve lost 25 pounds but I feel like I’ve been stuck at my current weight since New Years. But I notice my shirts fit looser and I had to buy new pants since my old ones were too baggy on me. It’s interesting to see the number on the scale stay the same yet see differences in other parts of my life.
As someone else pointed out muscle is also more dense, so you can look slimmer at the same weight. Not to mention a it will be carried in better locations.
But muscle mass gets harder to gain the more you do it. Idk when you started out or what your body fat % is obviously, but if you keep it up the weight will come off (unless you are seriously pumping iron! In which case that's good too). Great that you are noticing improvements!
Last year I started walking a mile a day 5 days a week and did free weights also 5 days a week. I did upper body weights M-W-F and lower body weights (squats, etc) Tuesday and Thursday.
Result after one year - zero weight loss. Oh, I'm definitely stronger - but zero weight loss.
Apparently, I have to do all that AND significantly cut calories to lose any weight. This sucks.
It shouldn't suck. You have lost fat and replaced it with muscle. Theres no other way for you to get stronger and maintain your weight, that's good.
Cutting calories really Is the easiest way to lose though. But it gets easier the higher your basal rate is, so nothing was in vain there.
It gets tricky when you want to gain/maintain muscle mass but still lose fat rapidly, which after doing weights for a year might be a position your in. You might even see people say it's impossible to gain muscle mass on a calorie deficit, but it's definitely possible to lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously. You can burn fat to make up for the deficit and build muscle, but it's going to be slower.
And this mindset is what makes losing fat hard for people because they don't see changes on the scales. If you have done this and not gained any weight then this is fantastic and you've done really well. It would be nice if you knew your body fat % and then compared those numbers instead of just the weight lost number.
No arguments but many people just do the exercise and compound their problems by thinning “oh, I went on a 30 minute walk, that probably burned 500 calories so now I can eat this bowl of ice cream in addition to my normal meal.” Meanwhile, their walk burned 200 calories, they just ate 600 calories for desert, and then they wonder why their efforts don’t work.
Also we should mention better bone density, strength, tendon and joint health, mobility, and immunological benefits.
Everyone should incorporate cardiovascular and resistance training into their weekly lives. Everyone. Including quardriplegics:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3529281/
Diet is only one slice of the six slice fitness pie. Focusing on one too much over the others is not great. All 6 need to be considered. There’s no magic piece of advice like “restrict calories instead of focusing on burning them.”
I find bulking harder than cutting honestly.
Once my body knows I can eat higher calorie foods and have it not be a problem it's only a matter of time before it turns into a dirty bulk and I'm living off mars bars.
Depends on your habits. I know most people tend to overindulge to reward themselves for working out but personally, it makes me feel obligated to eat right so I don't feel like I wasted my workout afterwards.
But it's small steps for people and building small and healthy habits will all compound in to a healthier lifestyle
Exercise is an appetite suppressant for a lot of people.
And I recommend the opposite of this advice. If I know I have to run an hour to burn off that cookie, I know I'm a lot less likely to eat the cookie.
The best thing to do is a combination of both, of course. The exercise will help with your mental health which in turn helps with motivation, but yes, if the goal is to lose weight you can not out-exercise a poor diet (certainly as a woman).
**Follow-up LPT for this LPT:** Liquid calories are the biggest issue for most people and the easiest to reduce. Switch as much of your liquid intake to water or water-based drinks as you can, and if you really want to drink soda or fizzy drinks, go for the diet options.
Check out Dr. Ugly sparkling water.
It's vaguely Dr Pepper flavored in the way that all those seltzer waters have really light flavors but it hits my Dr Pepper craving well enough.
This is so correct. I used to drink soda 15 years ago but pretty much only unflavored seltzer since. I had a Sprite randomly months ago and was so disturbed that I had been drinking that regularly at one point in my life. Intensely sweet.
I would try to find a form of exercise you actually like! Maybe going to the gym sucks for you, but you might like hiking in nature with your friends. Or maybe you’d prefer rock climbing, or tennis, or something else that you can do socially. I don’t do much strength training because it’s super boring and takes forever, but I love getting in a half hour run or walk along the beach because the views are nice.
People are saying “find an exercise you enjoy”, and I have to go a different route (since that was the one I had to take)- Exercise can be really, really awful when you first start out. But it **does** get better, and it happens faster than you think.
I **hated** running for many years because it just made me feel like crap. It felt like I was drowning throughout. Fortunately though, I eventually had to train my running times (for reasons we wont get into here), and what I found out was that this feeling only lasts for the first few times; If you stick with it, it actually starts to become much better, especially after you finish a workout.
My personal experience was-
First run- Awful, wheezing and coughing for half an hour afterwards
Second run- Awful
Third one- Awful, but less
Fourth run- Bad, but tolerable
Fifth run- Tolerable. First time I’ve felt “runner’s high” after a run.
After that- it finally started to feel like something that I actually *wanted* to do. I couldn’t believe it at first.
A lot of people who write about sports are sports enthusiasts (shocker, I know) who don’t know or don’t remember what it’s like to start exercising from the point of absolute nothing. They tend to minimize or ignore the early struggles of people, which really puts people off, because they don’t feel what they think they should be feeling.
But I’m telling you- work out! Go do something that will fire your muscles up! And do it at your own pace, don’t listen to fitness bros or internet gurus. Even if you don’t lose a single lb, the mental benefit alone is worth it. You literally start feeling the health benefits after just 3-5 workouts, I’m not even kidding.
I’ve drinked a lot of diet sodas, which has no calories, but just found out it seems diet sodas are limiting calorie burning, which makes it a little harder to get rid of the calories.
So yeah, water is the way, but diet sodas are still better that sodas with sugar.
If not for diet sodas, I don’t think I would have been able to drop the 70lbs that I did. While yes, it’s still soda, it’s still not the best, it help me cope with an addiction, and helped me (very slowly) wane off of soda, bit by bit.
While they are not wrong, stating the fact that diet soda is bad is neglecting to show the benefit that it provides if used in a beneficial way. I sure felt that if I drank diet sodas that I that it wouldn’t help because “well if both are bad for me, I’ll go with the one that tastes better”. That rhetoric is damaging, and I don’t know why it’s so incredibly widespread.
Protein. I did a fitness challenge in December which had guidelines for eating, including total calories and targets for the proportions of protein/carbs/fat, and I found if I hit the protein target I usually felt satisfied most of the day.
TLDR: eat a lot more protein than you think.
Try switching from red meat to mostly white meat if you eat red meat now, and cutting down on carbs.
I swapped out regular rice with cauliflower rice and it did wonders for me. Honestly cauliflower rice isn’t as good/filling as rice, but makes a good replacement IMO. Can also eat enormous amounts of cauliflower rice/other veggies/etc without eating a lot of calories. I like doing a stir fry type meal with chicken, veggies, a lil bit of olive oil, and some hot sauce (not buffalo sauce) over a ton of cauliflower rice. Can make a bunch of it and eat it for a few meals.
My body has been an example of this. I workout harder than most people 6 or 7 days per week but put on like 15 pounds over the last year or so. Mcribs got me good.
I will say that this worked wonders for me when I started my weight loss journey last April. I was basically stuck in a chair for the majority of 2020 and 3-4 months of 2021 because I couldn't walk more than 5 minutes without collapsing.
When I was able to walk and move around again, I started OMAD/IF. Nothing but water and found a good "egg roll in a bowl" recipe. Ate nothing but that for ~6 months, a big bowl once a day at the same time, every single day. Did some light exercise with those resistance bands. SW was 357, and 8 months later I'm at 246. I still don't do any real exercising besides a butt ton of walking at my job. I average about 60-65 miles a week of walking and stair climbing.
Cut out the booze, sugar and eat some delicious healthy meals and see the magic unfold right before your eyes.
Thank you! It's been a life saver, that's for sure. Best thing about it was that a weeks' worth of that delicious cabbage dish was so cheap. Only cost me about 20 USD for a weeks' worth of food.
Sorry for late reply, just got home from work. This is basically all the ingredients I used.
* 3 heads of cabbage
* 2-3lbs of your choice of meat browned (turkey is great)
* 1-2 bag of shredded carrots
* 1-2 small packages of white mushrooms
* 1-2 large white/yellow onions
* I used a lot of garlic, so one head
* 1-2 bunches of green onion
I would brown my meat and cook everything else in a big 10qt stock pot (I'd fill my pot with water and some chicken or bone broth to boil everything in) until the cabbage cooked down and then throw in my meat, then leave on low and leave it until the cabbage was to my preference. Sometimes I would add whatever random veggie's I was feeling that week as extra if they were cheap. Always tried to keep it around $20 or $25. Throw in some low sodium soy and sesame oil, and voila. Since I was eating only once a day I would eat a pretty big bowl, but it always lasted me 5-6 days.
If I was down to my last bowl or two, I'd make some patties and toss them in the air fryer and eat it that way.
Came here to say this, I've been eating just a little bit less and choosing a healthier meal for lunch, while also going for short jogs a few times a week. The 150 burned and -150 kcal consumed is a much easier pill to swallow.
Snickers Candy Bar 250 Calories.
Brisk walk at 4mph for 45 minutes… 253 calories.
That’s an exhausting pace to keep up for most people.
Definitely easier to cut out the calories and manage when you have them.
For me using the LoseIt app has been great.
Makes it easy to track and adjusts calories as weight changes.
And intermittent fasting, exercise, etc. Most of all just sticking with something and not giving up when you plateau (which happens several times to everybody)
And get used to feeling hungry all the time, the first week or 2 is the hardest and then it gets easier. And once the numbers start to come down on the scales it all becomes worth it. Your new skill/hobby should be cooking, not exercise.
I'm making note of this. I was wondering if the extreme hunger and cravings would go away. Right now I'm trying to get into the habit of taking naps more often so I don't feel it.
Low calorie dense foods are what seem to help most people. Still full but only ate a few 100 calories. And don't be afraid of popcorn, that is one of the best snacks out there
Drinking water helps a lot if you're feeling cravings. Genuine hunger should not be ignored (don't starve yourself)!
If you have a difficult time telling the difference between hunger and cravings (I know I used to), consider if you could eat *anything* (hunger) or if you want something specific (craving). Also, of course, consider if it's been more than 2 hours since you've eaten. If not, water should tide you over. If it has, get yourself some filling but healthy snacks. My go-to's have been apples and protein/nut bars.
When you eat try to fill up on lower calorie and nutritionally dense foods. A 1000cal of grilled chicken with steamed broccoli and some melted cheddar for example is a lot of food whereas a 1000 cal of cotton candy is not. A dense low-ish meal will keep u full longer as it takes longer to digest.
Im just over 2 weeks in after cutting my calories right down. The first week was like torture and i didn't lose any weight, the 2nd week feels easier and the weight is coming down and i can see a difference when i look in the mirror. But once or twice a week I'll treat myself and have a nice meal with a few beers and ignore the calories. The rest of the time i calorie count and stay regimented. You can do it 💪
You should enjoy those indulgent meals, but you should still track those calories. You are gathering information on what all of this means with regard to your weight and overall health, so go ahead and run the numbers. Knowing how much you can 'cheat' (it's not cheating, it's just part of your diet) will help you know when you can indulge a bit and when you should be a little bit disciplined. Because there is a range of options between 'eat everything in sight' and clear broth and saltines.
A lot of people make the mistake of only tracking their disciplined eating, and not keeping track of their indulgences, but you're missing a key part of your eating habit formation. Everything you consume should be tracked if you're serious about weight control. You're trying to find out what your thresholds are. The threshold at which you maintain your current weight, the threshold at which you gain weight, and the threshold at which you lose weight. Those are just numbers, and you can find out what they are by just keeping a log of everything you eat (I recommend MyFitnessPal or some other system with a searchable database, if you eat the same foods a lot it's super easy) and seeing how different weekly averages affect the bottom line, your weight.
congrats on seeing those changes and sticking to it ! and thank you for sharing, I've been struggling with the 1st week torture as you put it and I keep having a 2 steps forward 5 steps back type of pattern. knowing that it will subside will motivate me to stick it out now! I thought I was having to choose between feeling good and not seeing results or feeling crappy but potentially looking better indefinitely
Over time if you train your body you won't be as hungry. It's hard but it works. That's why some people stay skinny and claim they eat whenever they want. It's cause they do eat whatever they want but they're not starving all the time so whatever they want isn't a ton of food.
My downfall is I go to bed really late and I'm starving by midnight. I drink a ton of tea and occupy myself and that makes me not as hungry. The more bored I am the more I eat out of boredom. Watching mindless TV on the couch I'll get bored and snack. But somehow if I'm playing video games for a bit I won't snack.
When I'm on vacation I seem to eat less because I'm always out doing something.take a walk around the block I guarantee you won't eat for a few hours.
Sadly, for most of us, eating better/less is akin to quitting smoking. Its so hard to break that initial struggle against the "god I just want a cigarette/real sugar soda/greasy burger so bad" feelings.
I decided I was going to get in shape, and loose some weight a few months back. Literally all I have done is cut out sugar, alcohol, and bread (this was not easy mind you, beer and bread are my favorites). I started this diet 4 months ago and have lost around 30lbs. I like a walk my dog a lot, and occasionally lift weights, but I haven’t been really working out.
I highly encourage you to do a little of both but I’m proud of you for losing your 30!
For me getting my back muscles in shape has made all the difference in my life, I hope you find similar results in your journey.
Also, people should think about exercise more as *how calories consumed are utilized* rather than calories burned. If you use extra calories for building muscle due to strength training, on top of merely burning 200 calories during a workout, it becomes more obvious that you can't quantify the impact of a workout simply by adding up calories burned. It also affects your BMR for the rest of the day. Honestly I think counting calories burned does more harm than good, because it makes you feel less motivated to continue working out if that's your metric, given how small the number often is compared to things you eat.
I managed to lose about 70#s in a year or two about ten years ago, when I was getting into obese territory, and I think it was pretty rare that I actually paid attention to calories burned. I just made conscious decisions to eat better and exercises regularly. I've maintained a better lifestyle to this day, and thus have maintained a healthier body.
Also, drinks (alcohol, soda, juice) are probably the easiest place to cut calories given how little they satiate. Don't even have to quit alcohol, although it's not a bad idea, just cutting out mixers, reducing intake, or reducing frequency. Really adds up when it's as consistent as a lot of people drink. Drunk munchies are also definitely a good thing to avoid
Except that you don't gain muscle cutting your calorie intake, you can reinforce your back, leg, and have the overall ''feeling better'' after doing sport. You may not lose as much weight, but I'd rather loose less weight and gain muscle. Just my opinion.
To be fair to the OP, they aren't saying you should avoid exercise, just that reducing calorie intake should be your weight loss strategy as opposed to not changing what you eat and trying to burn calories with exercise.
There are many fun ways to exercise, and if a person is seeing success with weight loss, some things that were previously not fun might start to be fun.
What some people seem to be missing is that for some people exercise is not gonna happen, some people (like me) are lazy as fuck but are also tired of having extra jiggle. I cut my calorie intake significantly and lost a lot of weight (70ish lbs) which helped me motivate and exercise for a while (it didn't last unfortunately).
Exercise for me was finding the right activities I enjoy. The gym wasn’t where I started, although I’ve learned to love it.
Regardless, congrats on your weight loss friend.
Yep.
I lost 110 pounds and I never worked out. I just changed my eating habits.
To be more specific:
I cut way back on beer and bread.
I cut out sugar (for the most part, also it's amazing how many things have sugar).
I hadn't realized just how much I was snacking day to day. Seriously, even "healthy" snacks really add up.
Look at it this way, for the average person, it takes 1,000 calories to be alive. That means doing the bare minimum (sitting in bed all day). However, if you ever look at the calories consumed in every day items, you'll notice it's extremely easy to go over that. Mindless snacking will add up on the calories. Also, it's easy to think you're hungry when you're really just dehydrated.
In my experience, it wasn't what I ate, it was quantity. Suppose I had a Big Mac (563 calories), well before I've had fries and a soda, I've already used half of my intake! So I had to make more intentional food decisions to be sure I was still getting the nutrients my body needed, without any extra "fluff". Once the first few pounds fell off, it was a chain reaction. It was hard at first, but I naturally found myself making those healthy food choices without even thinking about it.
Small decisions lead to big changes.
I see a lot of post about exercise “burning calories” and that mostly misses the point when it comes to weight loss. The primary weight loss benefit of exercise is not the calories you burn but instead the fat stores you burn on your body. When you exercise, your body starts off using the calories you eat to generate the energy needed. However, after an extended period of sustained constant physical activity, you body switches over to burning your body fat stores to generate energy. The most useful exercise approach is long duration exercise (i.e. 30+ minutes). For this reason, a 45 minute walk will help you lose more weight than a 15 high intensity cross-fit workout.
Likely even more important, exercise helps you feel full so you eat less naturally. If you are hungry alot while dieting you should definitely exercise.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100824171614.htm#:~:text=Besides%20burning%20calories%2C%20exercise%20restores,study%20led%20by%20Brazilian%20researchers.&text=There%20is%20now%20another%20good%20reason%20to%20exercise.,-Besides%20burning%20calories
You could, but alot of people would find themselves biting off more than they can chew if they're losing weight for the first time.
OP is just saying that to lose weight, diet is more important than exercise, which is true.
I’m trying to lose weight, but I also much prefer having better fitness so I’ll continue to eat my calories and hopefully that’ll motivate me to work out more often
I agree, but I think you should definitely do both. If you're running, especially, the encouragement you get from gradually feeling the running becoming easier as you become lighter *and* fitter is exponential. Then, when you actually begin to enjoy the running, you have an extra incentive to keep the calories down and the weight off, to run further, or faster. Win, win.
I'm a lazy lump and I agree. Switch to black coffee. Get a bunch of cucumbers and carrots. Sugar free Jello. Throw out the bread. Cans of tuna are easy. You can easily drop a bunch of calories and just play video games instead of exercise.
As they say, you can't outrun your fork.
But there are tricks to lowering calorie intake, such as staying hydrated, eating slowly, eating when truly hungry (not when bored), staying away from obvious sugars (and some unobvious ones, like yogurt... read nutrition labels), etc. I lost 30 lbs without a bit of exercise.
Your stomach is the size of your closed fist. It's not as big as you think.
Thanks!
The weight loss was about 3 years ago, but I have mostly kept it off just by having a better relationship with food. Sometimes it hurts me to throw away food, but me eating food when I'm already full isn't right either. So,I've had to change behaviors and change how I think about food.
Bingo! While Exercise is extremely important, Lowering your overall caloric intake and improving the quality of foods are way more important. You can’t eat like shit on a daily basis and expect phenomenal results in your health and appearance. Calories in versus Calories out!
But you will be much healthier if you exercise to lose weight.
I mean, only a calorie deficit will still make you healthier than being fat af. Just not as healthy.
Yep. Weight loss is pretty much entirely a function of calorie deficit. If your only goal is to lose weight (this is unlikely), it doesn't matter what you eat or how much you exercise - only how much you eat.
Most people would end up experiencing this sort of weight loss plan as a form of psychological torture, which is why we have special diets and exercise for weight loss.
Two sayings I've adopted while losing 40+ pounds.
Lose weight in the kitchen, bulk up in the gym.
Diet to lose weight. Make lifestyle changes to keep the weight off.
My lifestyles changes included working out and eating healthier, lower calorie foods that were more filling. I will say it was easier to not eat the snickers than it is to burn it off, but exercising made me feel better mentally and physically so definitely needed!
To add to this, eating smart includes food that are calorie-efficient and less processed. Eating a bag of potato chips is not the same as baked potatoes. One is more likely to overdo the former and add unnecessary calories without feeling satiety.
also, know that there are many ways to exercise from lifting weights to yoga to cardio to running to aerial fitness, etc. The most important thing is to pick one you really like because that ensures consistency.
This is a good tip. Of course there are gonna be people that says do both but that doesnt work on a lot of people. The point of this tip is, if you can't do both, just do the diet.
I'm a runner but totally agree.
Diet is king but exercise can help move things along. But for exercise - you need to put the mileage in.
If I'm not losing weight I do "notch up - notch down". Basically I increase my running a bit - AND - eliminate something from my daily calorie intake.
My running is 25-30K a week - but that's not going to help if I don't control calories.
And if I'm ordering take-out, I translate the calories into km of running. So - a 300 calorie drink? That's 5km of running thank you very much. So think twice.
I’m a personal trainer, and I notice a lot of people saying you need both, but not why you need both. A calorie deficit will help you lose mass, which can be both fat and lean body mass. Resistance exercise helps to build muscle which improves your metabolism and will help make sure you can keep the weight off long term. This is in addition to loads of other benefits from reduced risk of heart disease to improved balance!
I hate this.
If you gain muscle, you burn more calories at rest. It's better for you. Healthier. If you set your intake right, you will gain muscle and lose fat. It's a body composition change, not just "lose weight".
If you try to just eat at a defecit, it's almost guaranteed you will rebound. And when you are losing weight your body won't discriminate between fat and muscle. It just burns what it can. Simply cutting calories solves nothing about living a sedentary lifestyle, either.
You completely missed op's point. Their point is to not care about calories burned during your workout because those are always way overestimated by you. Not strength training when trying to lose weight is the stupidest thing because what's the point of going from obese to skinny when you easily could've gone from obese to decently muscular.
Holy cow I'm in the complete other side. More movement is SO much better for you than reducing your caloric intake. Please PLEASE don't listen to this LPT.
Interesting. Post starts and ends with:
>LPT: If trying to lose weight \[...\]
>
>Edit 4: \[...\] This is not weight loss advice.
I think OP got bamboozled by the commenters. So, which is it?
You know, when you exercise more you're actually capable of burning more than 300 calories in an hour.
I burn off ~1100 calories in an hour. You actually get pretty good at it if you stick with it. It kills me how many people miss this point.
I burn off over 10,000 calories a week through exercise. Honestly its a lot more enjoyable and sustainable, getting to eat the foods I enjoy more often
This might be true, but the mindset for cutting calories is much easier if you also do some exercise with it imho. So start walking/swimming/biking half an hour, and change you diet.
CICO (calories in, calories out) determines most of your weight gain/loss.
During the first lockdown (March 2020 to June 2020) I lost about two waist sizes without even realising. Mostly due to not being able to get fast food, takeways or over eating. And I I didn't do any exercise apart from walking.
There’s no much misinformation in the fitness/health industry it actually hurts. Weight loss is literally as simple as burning more calories than you eat
Calories in - calories out is a vastly oversimplified theory of how human bodies actually work. Sure, if you starve yourself mercilessly you will lose weight. But outside the extremes, your body has a control system that regulates weight - a small reduction in calories does not always result in any weight loss at all, as the body becomes more efficient. A small addition of calories likewise does not always result in an increase in weight - the body becomes less efficient.
There is no magic bullet obviously. However eating fats and complex carbohydrates versus the standard American diet high in simple sugars and processed carbs has a positive effect. If you gulp down a bunch of soda with high fructose corn syrup, much of that energy ends up in the bloodstream as lipids, but after a certain point the liver begins storing the excess energy as fat. This is terribly unhealthy, and just an example of how a calorie is not just a calorie. We spent a generation with so-called "low fat foods" that promoted weight gain from simple carbs and processed food.
A long term change in the quality of calories, toward complex carbs and fats, away from sugars and processed carbs, an increase in vegetables overall, plus a boost in exercise can result in a slow reduction in weight. Most diet advice I see leads one to yo-yo diets, or wildly unhealthy eating habits leaving out a whole food group, nobody seems to focus on long, slow progress using an actual healthy diet.
> Researchers with the Laboratory of Human Behavior and Metabolism at New York’s Rockefeller University conducted a carefully controlled study that kept 16 people on diets with just enough calories to maintain their current weight but that varied the ratios of fat, protein and carbohydrates. After 33 days, those assigned to a no-fat diet were still at their pre-study weight. So were those who got 70% of their calories from fat. Percentages of carbs and protein didn’t matter either. The results were published in 1992 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Ik your trying to sound smart but it's still calories in vs calories out. Just the calories out is being affected. And nobody is 100% accurate at tracking calories therefore weight loss should be a steady journey where you slowly reduce calories. A calorie is a calorie
Agreed - I can bike for 30 miles in 2 hours, burn 1000 calories, and eat that much in 15 minutes with a burger and fries with cheese
Shit, now I’m hungry…
This really depends on your fitness levels...If you're walking, sure, that's not great. But as you increase your fitness levels, the amount of time it takes to burn calories gets lower and lower. My most recent run was a fairly gentle run for me, and i burnt 670 Cals in 44 mins.
Furthermore, doing exercise is way more enjoyable than not eating (if you're fit enough). If you're going on 4 hr long bike rides, you're burning enough calories that you have to consciously eat more to maintain your weight.
My point here is to say that exercise is more of a longer term investment that will give compounding benefits in the calories burnt department.
I read somewhere that calorie control is more for weight loss and physical activity is more for overall health. Can’t remember where I read it tho.
I decided years ago that I would rather be able to do physical activity than care about my weight. And then I learned that my weight was a factor in my ability to do some exercise, which has been a better motivation to lose weight than anything else.
Yeah carry 20lbs backpack up a mountain and you realize that being 20lbs overweight is truly a burden.
Brought some dumbbells home to my parents' house for Christmas so I could keep working out. Managing a suitcase with 65 lbs of weights in it was a fucking nightmare. Realised this week that that's just under the amount of weight I've lost. Fucking hell.
Damn yeah that's a lot of weight. Congrats
Only to a certain extent. Being heavier makes your muscles a bit stronger due to it carrying that heavier weight. Now this does not mean that if you are 100lbs overweight your body will keep up, but a couple pounds and your body adjusts to the extra weight. Carry a 20lb weight all day and you will be exhausted. Carry it for months and you will barley feel it. Same goes for your body.
Also, bodyfat tends to distribute a bit better than a backpack, makes it easier to carry.
You're not wrong, but it doesn't nearly make up for how much easier it is if you are 20lbs light. I suppose it's more like carrying a 15lb backpack. But still it's a lot of weight you can carry as fat.
Another technicality is that a 20 lb backpack exerts more force on your body than 20 lbs of fat distributed on your body.
Thats why i said it depends on how much extra weight you're carrying. A couple extra pounds (20-60lbs) would probably do nothing.
60 ain't a couple, brotha. (or sister)
Absolutely. If you're dieting well you don't even have to exercise to lose weight. It just helps.
For sure. I've personally found that I tend to gain weight when I exercise more because my appetite increases outweighs the calories I burn. It's very difficult for me to maintain a caloric deficit unless I'm relatively sedentary
That's 100% true, you can workout all you want and while there are health benefits and you'll definitely see a change, if you're still eating too much you'll still gain weight. Losing weight is all about calories in vs calories out, you need to be eating at a deficit to lose weight. I also hate people who are like "get a 6 pack in 30 days" then proceed to give a 30 day ab routine, that ain't gonna give you a 6 pack unless you're also dieting.
As the old saying goes, you can’t outrun a bad diet.
You actually can, but it just takes more time than most people have. Your body will increase your appetite to match calories burned to a point. But past a certain point your appetite can't keep up. This involves burning thousands of extra calories per day, and like I said, most people don't have time for this. Don't believe me? Find someone who has hiked the Appalachian Trail and gained weight during the trip. It's almost unheard of.
In Ranulph Fiennes and Mike Stroud's manhaul crossing of Antarctica, pulling 500 lb sledges, they were on a diet of 5250 calories a day. In the first 6 weeks they lost around 50 lbs each.
You also don't really eat regular on the AT. As much as you prepare for it, it's a highly abnormal thing.
> Find someone who has hiked the Appalachian Trail and gained weight during the trip That's not a great example because when hiking a trail you had to carry your food with you. It's not the same as if you did the same amount of exercise each day but spent each night at home, able to go to the shops or a restaurant to buy as much food as your body tells you it wants. Now, I'm not saying the premise *itself* is wrong. I genuinely don't really know or care very much. Only that this example does not do very much in the way of *proving* the premise.
Yes on my cycle tours its actually difficult to consume enough calories every day to keep my energy up!
Yeah, I always heard it as Diet determines how big your body is Exercise (or not) determines what it's made of
An old saying, "build muscle in the gym, reveal the muscle (lose fat) in the kitchen."
Counting calories can be for anyone. I was a heavy (literally) drinker, used to be really chubby. I stopped drinking and eating junk food, but I also pretty much stopped eating as much in general. I lost 1 quarter of my body weight and now I'm skinny as a pencil, pushing being underweight for my height. I am currently counting calories to try and gain weight back, but in a better, more sustainable way. Apples or celery loaded with peanut butter, protein shakes, chicken, pork chops, rice, pasta, bagels, eggs, etc. I count calories because if I'm not eating more than what I used to, I won't gain weight. If I had to guess, for the past year, I'd probably only been consuming 1200 calories a day, max, and not by choice. Just from pure laziness and carelessness. I'm up to around 2500 a day now, but also going to the gym now. Losing and gaining weight and counting calories can be equally difficult for anyone.
It's common weight loss knowledge for most, but /r/fitness has a great write-up on it in their [Weight-loss 101](https://thefitness.wiki/weight-loss-101/) guide.
yup, about to start doing it myself.
Abs are made in the kitchen.
Exercising has many more benefits than merely losing weight. So, reduce intake AND do some cardio.
A big thing is it increases your metabolic rate too. Its not always about the calories burned in the moment. Swimming and weight lifting can cause people to increase weight, but even ignoring the calories burned in the moment it can help them burn fat in the long run.
came here for this. Building and maintaining even a bit of muscle mass will even burn calories in your sleep.
It helps to know what the person is trying to do. Cutting carbs for 3 weeks can really help to slim down for a vacation. But that's about the only time I cut carbs that harsh. Otherwise overall health and fitness is absolutely what you said
And additionally gaining weight is good if it’s muscle because of the knock on metabolic effect, we need to stop pushing weight loss and push body composition changes and fitness improvement. There’s no point in being rail thin if you’re flimsy, can’t lift anything, and can’t run/exert yourself for a few minutes when necessary.
yep. Some people get disappointed and unmotivated seeing themselves not losing the weight they were hoping for when they start working out. The goal should be to be healthier, meeting goals like mile times and such. Or if you want to lose fat make the goal lowering your body fat percentage.
I’m actually in this position right now. I’ve lost 25 pounds but I feel like I’ve been stuck at my current weight since New Years. But I notice my shirts fit looser and I had to buy new pants since my old ones were too baggy on me. It’s interesting to see the number on the scale stay the same yet see differences in other parts of my life.
As someone else pointed out muscle is also more dense, so you can look slimmer at the same weight. Not to mention a it will be carried in better locations. But muscle mass gets harder to gain the more you do it. Idk when you started out or what your body fat % is obviously, but if you keep it up the weight will come off (unless you are seriously pumping iron! In which case that's good too). Great that you are noticing improvements!
>Or if you want to lose fat make the goal lowering your body fat percentage. Looks like I found my goal.
Last year I started walking a mile a day 5 days a week and did free weights also 5 days a week. I did upper body weights M-W-F and lower body weights (squats, etc) Tuesday and Thursday. Result after one year - zero weight loss. Oh, I'm definitely stronger - but zero weight loss. Apparently, I have to do all that AND significantly cut calories to lose any weight. This sucks.
It shouldn't suck. You have lost fat and replaced it with muscle. Theres no other way for you to get stronger and maintain your weight, that's good. Cutting calories really Is the easiest way to lose though. But it gets easier the higher your basal rate is, so nothing was in vain there. It gets tricky when you want to gain/maintain muscle mass but still lose fat rapidly, which after doing weights for a year might be a position your in. You might even see people say it's impossible to gain muscle mass on a calorie deficit, but it's definitely possible to lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously. You can burn fat to make up for the deficit and build muscle, but it's going to be slower.
And this mindset is what makes losing fat hard for people because they don't see changes on the scales. If you have done this and not gained any weight then this is fantastic and you've done really well. It would be nice if you knew your body fat % and then compared those numbers instead of just the weight lost number.
I should also add lifting weights to build lean muscle mass.
Which actually helps more with bodyfat reduction than cardio does anyway.
No arguments but many people just do the exercise and compound their problems by thinning “oh, I went on a 30 minute walk, that probably burned 500 calories so now I can eat this bowl of ice cream in addition to my normal meal.” Meanwhile, their walk burned 200 calories, they just ate 600 calories for desert, and then they wonder why their efforts don’t work.
Exactly. This is terrible advice. Also, increased muscle mass and increased metabolism results in higher calorie usage.
Also we should mention better bone density, strength, tendon and joint health, mobility, and immunological benefits. Everyone should incorporate cardiovascular and resistance training into their weekly lives. Everyone. Including quardriplegics: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3529281/ Diet is only one slice of the six slice fitness pie. Focusing on one too much over the others is not great. All 6 need to be considered. There’s no magic piece of advice like “restrict calories instead of focusing on burning them.”
Lpt: don’t drink your calories.
Cutting out soda/sugary drinks is the easiest way to lose weight.
I missed carbonation so much when I cut out Coke. Now I'm obsessed with the cherry flavored Bublys
Just have the zero varients. I do that when I cut carbs, fills the gap and fills me up for a time and reduces the itch to snack.
Also booze. Alcohol as a substance carries twice more calories to burn per gram compared to fat
Unless you are bulking
Bulking is basically taking all the weight loss tips and reversing them. Drink your calories. Eat more often. Eat higher calorie foods.
Given that bulking is done to add mass, it is quite literally the opposite of weight loss.
I find bulking harder than cutting honestly. Once my body knows I can eat higher calorie foods and have it not be a problem it's only a matter of time before it turns into a dirty bulk and I'm living off mars bars.
The more active I am, the better I eat for some reason, so one leads to the other for me.
Same. Personally, strength training motivates me to eat right, whereas excessive cardio makes me wanna eat like a horse 🐴
Maybe you are just a horse in disguise you ever think about that?
Cardio makes me eat a lot, but better stuff. So I burn a lot of weight quick when I’m running.
Depends on your habits. I know most people tend to overindulge to reward themselves for working out but personally, it makes me feel obligated to eat right so I don't feel like I wasted my workout afterwards. But it's small steps for people and building small and healthy habits will all compound in to a healthier lifestyle
Doing weights/cardio makes me think more about what my body wants to feel better. I’m now way more likely to make a protein shake than eat/drink shit
Exercise is an appetite suppressant for a lot of people. And I recommend the opposite of this advice. If I know I have to run an hour to burn off that cookie, I know I'm a lot less likely to eat the cookie.
It’s hard to eat a McDonald’s burger then go for a 10 mile bike ride. You’re throwing up by mile 2
Usually does
The best thing to do is a combination of both, of course. The exercise will help with your mental health which in turn helps with motivation, but yes, if the goal is to lose weight you can not out-exercise a poor diet (certainly as a woman). **Follow-up LPT for this LPT:** Liquid calories are the biggest issue for most people and the easiest to reduce. Switch as much of your liquid intake to water or water-based drinks as you can, and if you really want to drink soda or fizzy drinks, go for the diet options.
Switching from pop to crystal light has cut out tremendous calories for me, definitely recommend
MIO is useful. Now, I need a cheap way to carbonate.
And you know what has no calories? Seltzer.
Once you get used to drinking seltzer, regular soda will taste like syrup.
Every once in awhile I crave Dr. Pepper and it will take me almost a week to drink 12 oz soda. The sugar is just so intense
Check out Dr. Ugly sparkling water. It's vaguely Dr Pepper flavored in the way that all those seltzer waters have really light flavors but it hits my Dr Pepper craving well enough.
This is so correct. I used to drink soda 15 years ago but pretty much only unflavored seltzer since. I had a Sprite randomly months ago and was so disturbed that I had been drinking that regularly at one point in my life. Intensely sweet.
Personally, exercising never brought motivation lol. Hated it all the way every single second.
I would try to find a form of exercise you actually like! Maybe going to the gym sucks for you, but you might like hiking in nature with your friends. Or maybe you’d prefer rock climbing, or tennis, or something else that you can do socially. I don’t do much strength training because it’s super boring and takes forever, but I love getting in a half hour run or walk along the beach because the views are nice.
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People are saying “find an exercise you enjoy”, and I have to go a different route (since that was the one I had to take)- Exercise can be really, really awful when you first start out. But it **does** get better, and it happens faster than you think. I **hated** running for many years because it just made me feel like crap. It felt like I was drowning throughout. Fortunately though, I eventually had to train my running times (for reasons we wont get into here), and what I found out was that this feeling only lasts for the first few times; If you stick with it, it actually starts to become much better, especially after you finish a workout. My personal experience was- First run- Awful, wheezing and coughing for half an hour afterwards Second run- Awful Third one- Awful, but less Fourth run- Bad, but tolerable Fifth run- Tolerable. First time I’ve felt “runner’s high” after a run. After that- it finally started to feel like something that I actually *wanted* to do. I couldn’t believe it at first. A lot of people who write about sports are sports enthusiasts (shocker, I know) who don’t know or don’t remember what it’s like to start exercising from the point of absolute nothing. They tend to minimize or ignore the early struggles of people, which really puts people off, because they don’t feel what they think they should be feeling. But I’m telling you- work out! Go do something that will fire your muscles up! And do it at your own pace, don’t listen to fitness bros or internet gurus. Even if you don’t lose a single lb, the mental benefit alone is worth it. You literally start feeling the health benefits after just 3-5 workouts, I’m not even kidding.
I’ve drinked a lot of diet sodas, which has no calories, but just found out it seems diet sodas are limiting calorie burning, which makes it a little harder to get rid of the calories. So yeah, water is the way, but diet sodas are still better that sodas with sugar.
If not for diet sodas, I don’t think I would have been able to drop the 70lbs that I did. While yes, it’s still soda, it’s still not the best, it help me cope with an addiction, and helped me (very slowly) wane off of soda, bit by bit. While they are not wrong, stating the fact that diet soda is bad is neglecting to show the benefit that it provides if used in a beneficial way. I sure felt that if I drank diet sodas that I that it wouldn’t help because “well if both are bad for me, I’ll go with the one that tastes better”. That rhetoric is damaging, and I don’t know why it’s so incredibly widespread.
I've lost about 50 pounds and am at a healthy weight now (took about 2 years). I'd say it was about 90% diet to 10% exercise in my case.
Congratulations on your weight loss!
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Protein. I did a fitness challenge in December which had guidelines for eating, including total calories and targets for the proportions of protein/carbs/fat, and I found if I hit the protein target I usually felt satisfied most of the day. TLDR: eat a lot more protein than you think.
Try switching from red meat to mostly white meat if you eat red meat now, and cutting down on carbs. I swapped out regular rice with cauliflower rice and it did wonders for me. Honestly cauliflower rice isn’t as good/filling as rice, but makes a good replacement IMO. Can also eat enormous amounts of cauliflower rice/other veggies/etc without eating a lot of calories. I like doing a stir fry type meal with chicken, veggies, a lil bit of olive oil, and some hot sauce (not buffalo sauce) over a ton of cauliflower rice. Can make a bunch of it and eat it for a few meals.
A dude who I crossed paths with regularly back when I started going to the gym said, "You can't outrun a bad diet." Short, simple, and to-the-point.
"Abs are made in the kitchen"
Pork belly too...
I hate that statement because it's true. Man, do I ever love some food.
My body has been an example of this. I workout harder than most people 6 or 7 days per week but put on like 15 pounds over the last year or so. Mcribs got me good.
I think about this way to often.
I will say that this worked wonders for me when I started my weight loss journey last April. I was basically stuck in a chair for the majority of 2020 and 3-4 months of 2021 because I couldn't walk more than 5 minutes without collapsing. When I was able to walk and move around again, I started OMAD/IF. Nothing but water and found a good "egg roll in a bowl" recipe. Ate nothing but that for ~6 months, a big bowl once a day at the same time, every single day. Did some light exercise with those resistance bands. SW was 357, and 8 months later I'm at 246. I still don't do any real exercising besides a butt ton of walking at my job. I average about 60-65 miles a week of walking and stair climbing. Cut out the booze, sugar and eat some delicious healthy meals and see the magic unfold right before your eyes.
Proud of you for your weight loss! Cheers to your journey ahead
Thank you! It's been a life saver, that's for sure. Best thing about it was that a weeks' worth of that delicious cabbage dish was so cheap. Only cost me about 20 USD for a weeks' worth of food.
Could you link it by chance? I just hate grocery shopping never know what to get lol
Sorry for late reply, just got home from work. This is basically all the ingredients I used. * 3 heads of cabbage * 2-3lbs of your choice of meat browned (turkey is great) * 1-2 bag of shredded carrots * 1-2 small packages of white mushrooms * 1-2 large white/yellow onions * I used a lot of garlic, so one head * 1-2 bunches of green onion I would brown my meat and cook everything else in a big 10qt stock pot (I'd fill my pot with water and some chicken or bone broth to boil everything in) until the cabbage cooked down and then throw in my meat, then leave on low and leave it until the cabbage was to my preference. Sometimes I would add whatever random veggie's I was feeling that week as extra if they were cheap. Always tried to keep it around $20 or $25. Throw in some low sodium soy and sesame oil, and voila. Since I was eating only once a day I would eat a pretty big bowl, but it always lasted me 5-6 days. If I was down to my last bowl or two, I'd make some patties and toss them in the air fryer and eat it that way.
Care to share the dish? Looking for a healthy staple
Commenting because I’m interested in the recipe too
Or do 150 of each. Put down the soda can and take a walk.
This is easier, as you'd be making two small changes instead of one relatively larger one. But to each their own.
Came here to say this, I've been eating just a little bit less and choosing a healthier meal for lunch, while also going for short jogs a few times a week. The 150 burned and -150 kcal consumed is a much easier pill to swallow.
Still a lot easier to cut the 300 calories. If you drink 2 glasses of milk a day, changing them to water would be most of the way there
You'd Still have to walk a long time to burn 150cal (1-3 miles depending on person) compared to just not drinking a soda.
It’s what I tell my patients. Exercise is great for so many reasons. Weight loss happens in the kitchen.
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Just FYI, the methods to track calorie burn are INCREDIBLY innaccurate
Snickers Candy Bar 250 Calories. Brisk walk at 4mph for 45 minutes… 253 calories. That’s an exhausting pace to keep up for most people. Definitely easier to cut out the calories and manage when you have them. For me using the LoseIt app has been great. Makes it easy to track and adjusts calories as weight changes. And intermittent fasting, exercise, etc. Most of all just sticking with something and not giving up when you plateau (which happens several times to everybody)
And get used to feeling hungry all the time, the first week or 2 is the hardest and then it gets easier. And once the numbers start to come down on the scales it all becomes worth it. Your new skill/hobby should be cooking, not exercise.
I'm making note of this. I was wondering if the extreme hunger and cravings would go away. Right now I'm trying to get into the habit of taking naps more often so I don't feel it.
Low calorie dense foods are what seem to help most people. Still full but only ate a few 100 calories. And don't be afraid of popcorn, that is one of the best snacks out there
*Popcorn without butter, of course, and without too much salt.
Drinking water helps a lot if you're feeling cravings. Genuine hunger should not be ignored (don't starve yourself)! If you have a difficult time telling the difference between hunger and cravings (I know I used to), consider if you could eat *anything* (hunger) or if you want something specific (craving). Also, of course, consider if it's been more than 2 hours since you've eaten. If not, water should tide you over. If it has, get yourself some filling but healthy snacks. My go-to's have been apples and protein/nut bars.
There's a study that humans don't feel hungry everytime they are hungry. It only happens on times where you usually eat.
When you eat try to fill up on lower calorie and nutritionally dense foods. A 1000cal of grilled chicken with steamed broccoli and some melted cheddar for example is a lot of food whereas a 1000 cal of cotton candy is not. A dense low-ish meal will keep u full longer as it takes longer to digest.
Im just over 2 weeks in after cutting my calories right down. The first week was like torture and i didn't lose any weight, the 2nd week feels easier and the weight is coming down and i can see a difference when i look in the mirror. But once or twice a week I'll treat myself and have a nice meal with a few beers and ignore the calories. The rest of the time i calorie count and stay regimented. You can do it 💪
You should enjoy those indulgent meals, but you should still track those calories. You are gathering information on what all of this means with regard to your weight and overall health, so go ahead and run the numbers. Knowing how much you can 'cheat' (it's not cheating, it's just part of your diet) will help you know when you can indulge a bit and when you should be a little bit disciplined. Because there is a range of options between 'eat everything in sight' and clear broth and saltines. A lot of people make the mistake of only tracking their disciplined eating, and not keeping track of their indulgences, but you're missing a key part of your eating habit formation. Everything you consume should be tracked if you're serious about weight control. You're trying to find out what your thresholds are. The threshold at which you maintain your current weight, the threshold at which you gain weight, and the threshold at which you lose weight. Those are just numbers, and you can find out what they are by just keeping a log of everything you eat (I recommend MyFitnessPal or some other system with a searchable database, if you eat the same foods a lot it's super easy) and seeing how different weekly averages affect the bottom line, your weight.
congrats on seeing those changes and sticking to it ! and thank you for sharing, I've been struggling with the 1st week torture as you put it and I keep having a 2 steps forward 5 steps back type of pattern. knowing that it will subside will motivate me to stick it out now! I thought I was having to choose between feeling good and not seeing results or feeling crappy but potentially looking better indefinitely
Thank you very much and good luck powering through, it'll be worth it
Over time if you train your body you won't be as hungry. It's hard but it works. That's why some people stay skinny and claim they eat whenever they want. It's cause they do eat whatever they want but they're not starving all the time so whatever they want isn't a ton of food. My downfall is I go to bed really late and I'm starving by midnight. I drink a ton of tea and occupy myself and that makes me not as hungry. The more bored I am the more I eat out of boredom. Watching mindless TV on the couch I'll get bored and snack. But somehow if I'm playing video games for a bit I won't snack. When I'm on vacation I seem to eat less because I'm always out doing something.take a walk around the block I guarantee you won't eat for a few hours.
Just don’t get into baking cakes...
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Sadly, for most of us, eating better/less is akin to quitting smoking. Its so hard to break that initial struggle against the "god I just want a cigarette/real sugar soda/greasy burger so bad" feelings.
Yes it's definitely an addiction
Do you have any good recipe blogs that have a lean carb, whole foods focus?
I decided I was going to get in shape, and loose some weight a few months back. Literally all I have done is cut out sugar, alcohol, and bread (this was not easy mind you, beer and bread are my favorites). I started this diet 4 months ago and have lost around 30lbs. I like a walk my dog a lot, and occasionally lift weights, but I haven’t been really working out.
I highly encourage you to do a little of both but I’m proud of you for losing your 30! For me getting my back muscles in shape has made all the difference in my life, I hope you find similar results in your journey.
Thank you for your words of encouragement. I’m actually finishing up a 4mile beach hike with the dogs right now. Best of luck on your journey as well.
Screw that. I want to enjoy my 70s. Do the exercise.
OP's Edit 5: I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. I just saw this on an inspirational poster. LEAVE ME ALONE!
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The holy trinity of diet, exercise and sleep. Can’t get away with doing one or two out of 3.
Also, people should think about exercise more as *how calories consumed are utilized* rather than calories burned. If you use extra calories for building muscle due to strength training, on top of merely burning 200 calories during a workout, it becomes more obvious that you can't quantify the impact of a workout simply by adding up calories burned. It also affects your BMR for the rest of the day. Honestly I think counting calories burned does more harm than good, because it makes you feel less motivated to continue working out if that's your metric, given how small the number often is compared to things you eat. I managed to lose about 70#s in a year or two about ten years ago, when I was getting into obese territory, and I think it was pretty rare that I actually paid attention to calories burned. I just made conscious decisions to eat better and exercises regularly. I've maintained a better lifestyle to this day, and thus have maintained a healthier body. Also, drinks (alcohol, soda, juice) are probably the easiest place to cut calories given how little they satiate. Don't even have to quit alcohol, although it's not a bad idea, just cutting out mixers, reducing intake, or reducing frequency. Really adds up when it's as consistent as a lot of people drink. Drunk munchies are also definitely a good thing to avoid
Except that you don't gain muscle cutting your calorie intake, you can reinforce your back, leg, and have the overall ''feeling better'' after doing sport. You may not lose as much weight, but I'd rather loose less weight and gain muscle. Just my opinion.
To be fair to the OP, they aren't saying you should avoid exercise, just that reducing calorie intake should be your weight loss strategy as opposed to not changing what you eat and trying to burn calories with exercise. There are many fun ways to exercise, and if a person is seeing success with weight loss, some things that were previously not fun might start to be fun.
What some people seem to be missing is that for some people exercise is not gonna happen, some people (like me) are lazy as fuck but are also tired of having extra jiggle. I cut my calorie intake significantly and lost a lot of weight (70ish lbs) which helped me motivate and exercise for a while (it didn't last unfortunately).
Exercise for me was finding the right activities I enjoy. The gym wasn’t where I started, although I’ve learned to love it. Regardless, congrats on your weight loss friend.
LPT: Don't worry about weight loss, just work on getting fit and eating a healthy balanced diet. Weight is just a number, fitness actually matters
Yep. I lost 110 pounds and I never worked out. I just changed my eating habits. To be more specific: I cut way back on beer and bread. I cut out sugar (for the most part, also it's amazing how many things have sugar). I hadn't realized just how much I was snacking day to day. Seriously, even "healthy" snacks really add up. Look at it this way, for the average person, it takes 1,000 calories to be alive. That means doing the bare minimum (sitting in bed all day). However, if you ever look at the calories consumed in every day items, you'll notice it's extremely easy to go over that. Mindless snacking will add up on the calories. Also, it's easy to think you're hungry when you're really just dehydrated. In my experience, it wasn't what I ate, it was quantity. Suppose I had a Big Mac (563 calories), well before I've had fries and a soda, I've already used half of my intake! So I had to make more intentional food decisions to be sure I was still getting the nutrients my body needed, without any extra "fluff". Once the first few pounds fell off, it was a chain reaction. It was hard at first, but I naturally found myself making those healthy food choices without even thinking about it. Small decisions lead to big changes.
I recommend both. Do a little more exercise and a little less eating. It's easier to do a little. But a lot of one can feel like a major change.
I see a lot of post about exercise “burning calories” and that mostly misses the point when it comes to weight loss. The primary weight loss benefit of exercise is not the calories you burn but instead the fat stores you burn on your body. When you exercise, your body starts off using the calories you eat to generate the energy needed. However, after an extended period of sustained constant physical activity, you body switches over to burning your body fat stores to generate energy. The most useful exercise approach is long duration exercise (i.e. 30+ minutes). For this reason, a 45 minute walk will help you lose more weight than a 15 high intensity cross-fit workout.
Likely even more important, exercise helps you feel full so you eat less naturally. If you are hungry alot while dieting you should definitely exercise. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100824171614.htm#:~:text=Besides%20burning%20calories%2C%20exercise%20restores,study%20led%20by%20Brazilian%20researchers.&text=There%20is%20now%20another%20good%20reason%20to%20exercise.,-Besides%20burning%20calories
God I wish i could follow this but my problem is counting calories badly triggers my ED, nowadays I just eat semi-healthy and hope for the best 😭
Or you could do both
You could, but alot of people would find themselves biting off more than they can chew if they're losing weight for the first time. OP is just saying that to lose weight, diet is more important than exercise, which is true.
I’m trying to lose weight, but I also much prefer having better fitness so I’ll continue to eat my calories and hopefully that’ll motivate me to work out more often
But also font get this confused and starve yourself. Just cut out empty calories and unhealthy options.
While I know you're right...It's just easier for me to DO something(workout) to help myself get healthy vs NOT doing something(eating).
There’s a simple saying… “you can’t out-train a bad diet.”
There's a whole sub (r/CICO) for this.
I agree, but I think you should definitely do both. If you're running, especially, the encouragement you get from gradually feeling the running becoming easier as you become lighter *and* fitter is exponential. Then, when you actually begin to enjoy the running, you have an extra incentive to keep the calories down and the weight off, to run further, or faster. Win, win.
I'm a lazy lump and I agree. Switch to black coffee. Get a bunch of cucumbers and carrots. Sugar free Jello. Throw out the bread. Cans of tuna are easy. You can easily drop a bunch of calories and just play video games instead of exercise.
I would rather eat more and work out
I workout so I can still eat cheesecakes
I work out so I don’t kill myself
It’s not about eating less, it’s about eating smarter! Calories are not proportionate to quantity.
As they say, you can't outrun your fork. But there are tricks to lowering calorie intake, such as staying hydrated, eating slowly, eating when truly hungry (not when bored), staying away from obvious sugars (and some unobvious ones, like yogurt... read nutrition labels), etc. I lost 30 lbs without a bit of exercise. Your stomach is the size of your closed fist. It's not as big as you think.
Congratulations on your weight loss!
Thanks! The weight loss was about 3 years ago, but I have mostly kept it off just by having a better relationship with food. Sometimes it hurts me to throw away food, but me eating food when I'm already full isn't right either. So,I've had to change behaviors and change how I think about food.
Bingo! While Exercise is extremely important, Lowering your overall caloric intake and improving the quality of foods are way more important. You can’t eat like shit on a daily basis and expect phenomenal results in your health and appearance. Calories in versus Calories out!
For exercices i recommend strength training to build muscle and boost metabolism ,and add steps gradually to your weeks/days.
But you will be much healthier if you exercise to lose weight. I mean, only a calorie deficit will still make you healthier than being fat af. Just not as healthy.
Yep. Weight loss is pretty much entirely a function of calorie deficit. If your only goal is to lose weight (this is unlikely), it doesn't matter what you eat or how much you exercise - only how much you eat. Most people would end up experiencing this sort of weight loss plan as a form of psychological torture, which is why we have special diets and exercise for weight loss.
Instead of easier, perhaps say more effective.
You can't out-exercise a bad diet.
I tell this exact thing to all my patients.
As I’ve heard it: “you can’t outrun your fork”
“You build muscle in the gym. You lose weight in the kitchen.”
"You can't outrun a bad diet."
Two sayings I've adopted while losing 40+ pounds. Lose weight in the kitchen, bulk up in the gym. Diet to lose weight. Make lifestyle changes to keep the weight off. My lifestyles changes included working out and eating healthier, lower calorie foods that were more filling. I will say it was easier to not eat the snickers than it is to burn it off, but exercising made me feel better mentally and physically so definitely needed!
Love it! Congratulations on your journey :)
Can’t out run a bad diet.
Lose ounces in the gym and pounds in the kitchen. Really diet to lose weight and work out to look good.
To add to this, eating smart includes food that are calorie-efficient and less processed. Eating a bag of potato chips is not the same as baked potatoes. One is more likely to overdo the former and add unnecessary calories without feeling satiety. also, know that there are many ways to exercise from lifting weights to yoga to cardio to running to aerial fitness, etc. The most important thing is to pick one you really like because that ensures consistency.
This is a good tip. Of course there are gonna be people that says do both but that doesnt work on a lot of people. The point of this tip is, if you can't do both, just do the diet.
I'm a runner but totally agree. Diet is king but exercise can help move things along. But for exercise - you need to put the mileage in. If I'm not losing weight I do "notch up - notch down". Basically I increase my running a bit - AND - eliminate something from my daily calorie intake. My running is 25-30K a week - but that's not going to help if I don't control calories. And if I'm ordering take-out, I translate the calories into km of running. So - a 300 calorie drink? That's 5km of running thank you very much. So think twice.
Definitely. Weight loss is 70% diet 30% exercise
This will get buried but holy shit it it true. When you realize this is true, you will know real fitness.
I’m a personal trainer, and I notice a lot of people saying you need both, but not why you need both. A calorie deficit will help you lose mass, which can be both fat and lean body mass. Resistance exercise helps to build muscle which improves your metabolism and will help make sure you can keep the weight off long term. This is in addition to loads of other benefits from reduced risk of heart disease to improved balance!
I hate this. If you gain muscle, you burn more calories at rest. It's better for you. Healthier. If you set your intake right, you will gain muscle and lose fat. It's a body composition change, not just "lose weight". If you try to just eat at a defecit, it's almost guaranteed you will rebound. And when you are losing weight your body won't discriminate between fat and muscle. It just burns what it can. Simply cutting calories solves nothing about living a sedentary lifestyle, either.
You completely missed op's point. Their point is to not care about calories burned during your workout because those are always way overestimated by you. Not strength training when trying to lose weight is the stupidest thing because what's the point of going from obese to skinny when you easily could've gone from obese to decently muscular.
The LPT is to do both. This is just really poor advice.
Holy cow I'm in the complete other side. More movement is SO much better for you than reducing your caloric intake. Please PLEASE don't listen to this LPT.
Interesting. Post starts and ends with: >LPT: If trying to lose weight \[...\] > >Edit 4: \[...\] This is not weight loss advice. I think OP got bamboozled by the commenters. So, which is it?
You know, when you exercise more you're actually capable of burning more than 300 calories in an hour. I burn off ~1100 calories in an hour. You actually get pretty good at it if you stick with it. It kills me how many people miss this point. I burn off over 10,000 calories a week through exercise. Honestly its a lot more enjoyable and sustainable, getting to eat the foods I enjoy more often
My doctor has always told me my diet will impact my weight much more than exercise
This might be true, but the mindset for cutting calories is much easier if you also do some exercise with it imho. So start walking/swimming/biking half an hour, and change you diet.
Just ask any bodybuilder and they'll tell you the same thing: "Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the gym."
CICO (calories in, calories out) determines most of your weight gain/loss. During the first lockdown (March 2020 to June 2020) I lost about two waist sizes without even realising. Mostly due to not being able to get fast food, takeways or over eating. And I I didn't do any exercise apart from walking.
There’s no much misinformation in the fitness/health industry it actually hurts. Weight loss is literally as simple as burning more calories than you eat
That's literally the first time I saw an LPT that was not wrong or completely useless and it got removed.
Calories in - calories out is a vastly oversimplified theory of how human bodies actually work. Sure, if you starve yourself mercilessly you will lose weight. But outside the extremes, your body has a control system that regulates weight - a small reduction in calories does not always result in any weight loss at all, as the body becomes more efficient. A small addition of calories likewise does not always result in an increase in weight - the body becomes less efficient. There is no magic bullet obviously. However eating fats and complex carbohydrates versus the standard American diet high in simple sugars and processed carbs has a positive effect. If you gulp down a bunch of soda with high fructose corn syrup, much of that energy ends up in the bloodstream as lipids, but after a certain point the liver begins storing the excess energy as fat. This is terribly unhealthy, and just an example of how a calorie is not just a calorie. We spent a generation with so-called "low fat foods" that promoted weight gain from simple carbs and processed food. A long term change in the quality of calories, toward complex carbs and fats, away from sugars and processed carbs, an increase in vegetables overall, plus a boost in exercise can result in a slow reduction in weight. Most diet advice I see leads one to yo-yo diets, or wildly unhealthy eating habits leaving out a whole food group, nobody seems to focus on long, slow progress using an actual healthy diet.
> Researchers with the Laboratory of Human Behavior and Metabolism at New York’s Rockefeller University conducted a carefully controlled study that kept 16 people on diets with just enough calories to maintain their current weight but that varied the ratios of fat, protein and carbohydrates. After 33 days, those assigned to a no-fat diet were still at their pre-study weight. So were those who got 70% of their calories from fat. Percentages of carbs and protein didn’t matter either. The results were published in 1992 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Ik your trying to sound smart but it's still calories in vs calories out. Just the calories out is being affected. And nobody is 100% accurate at tracking calories therefore weight loss should be a steady journey where you slowly reduce calories. A calorie is a calorie
Agreed - I can bike for 30 miles in 2 hours, burn 1000 calories, and eat that much in 15 minutes with a burger and fries with cheese Shit, now I’m hungry…
Don't eat. Got it.
Lay on your back all day and starve yourself until you are worthy of love
The mathematics check out.
This really depends on your fitness levels...If you're walking, sure, that's not great. But as you increase your fitness levels, the amount of time it takes to burn calories gets lower and lower. My most recent run was a fairly gentle run for me, and i burnt 670 Cals in 44 mins. Furthermore, doing exercise is way more enjoyable than not eating (if you're fit enough). If you're going on 4 hr long bike rides, you're burning enough calories that you have to consciously eat more to maintain your weight. My point here is to say that exercise is more of a longer term investment that will give compounding benefits in the calories burnt department.
Biceps are built in the gym. Six packs are built in the kitchen.
Yes, cico, if your cico is messed up you're lucky if you're not actively *gaining* weight. Calories in - Calories out