I was wondering if anyone has had any success losing weight with exercise and not being on a diet. I mean you eat decent, but mostly your attention is on the exercising? Let me know, I am horrible at diets but I can stick to a regimen of exercise...
The sad thing is diet is probably a larger part of the puzzle, however if you eat moderately and exercise very regularly it's possible. You still will want to limit your intake which probably means writting it down until you have a feel for what you eat.
For example I''m heavier then you but I eat 1800-2000 calories a day which is basically a normal food intake, but I also exercise 6days a week for atleast and hour sometimes and hour and a half. I alternate cardio and strength so my metabolism gets a slight boost.
If your not watching your food intake at all it really depends on what you eat regularly. I did lose about 30lbs one year walking to work 3-6 miles a day but it took a long time for the weight to drop versus watching my eatting and exercising. It also came right back when I got bored of walking.
I think they say it's like 85 percent diet and the rest is exercise.
So if you don't mind it happening slow and you feel you can eat reasonably without dieting it's possible as long as you keep at it, but you have to be patient.
For me I still need to write down everything I eat I aim for a 1000calorie deficit a day which comes to about 2lbs a week on average. I'm not on a diet per say as I allow myself basically anything, but I aim to make healthy choices as much as I can and I keep the junk out of the house I dont have control over.
I see what you are saying...I do exercise regularly though so I think I will see some results soon. I play with my son at the park, but I also get on my gazelle twice a day, 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes before I go to bed. I also do abdominals at some point during the day, depending on when my son gives me time. I think with that activity I'll be good. ill be sure to update my journal to track my results. Thanks for your post
i was exercising regularly recently and eating fairly average and although my fitness increased and i lost inches, i did not lose weight.
try not to think of it as a diet. just make some gradual changes in your life. one week try to consciously increase your water intake. the next add another piece of fruit to your daily meal planner.
for me i am trying to only increase whole foods into my diet. this alone is eliminating the foods are are not giving me any nutritional value (essentially empty calories) but i focus on what i should be having, not what i can't have.
it is the major part of the puzzle in losing weight.
I'm with Daisy and Idealmuse. Even before I started working out I exercised a lot - I walked our biked everywhere, I was at the gym 4-5 times a week, I went for runs... and still managed to gain 50 pounds because of what I was eating. As soon as I started watching mhat I put in my mouth, though, the weight came off no problem.
And Daisy's right, don't think of it as a diet, just think of it as making healthier choices for your body.
Good luck!
Usually when I first start out. I just exercise and then slowly add the changes to my eating. This time I did both at the same time and I am seeing more results and I am sticking with it longer.
Location: Mississippi--the fattest state in the nation!
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Exercise is Vital to permanent weight loss, but the key ingredient for getting to your goal weight is re-training your mind and body to make better, healthier food choices...re-thinking the term "diet" and making it a way of life, a habit. As you make slow changes to your "diet", you'll see weight drop by about 1-2 pounds per week...begin adding exercise in small, but steadily increasing amounts, up to 30 to 45 mins of intense cardio, while sticking with the food choices--try this: make one change at a time until you've mastered it...then add another...until you slowly but permanently lose the weight.
I think this boils down to the basic equation: calories in vs. calories burned. If you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. Whether you will lose weight really depends on what you're eating. If the amount you are eating is very close to the calories you require to live life without exercise, then you will lose weight slowly with just exercise. However, if you are eating 500 (or however many) calories more than your body needs, you'll have a bit to overcome before you start losing weight. Are you gaining now, or are you stable? If you're gaining, some diet modification will likely be necessary. If you are very stable, you may be able to lose weight slowly without diet change, but it still boils down to the equation above.
Remember that it takes a lot more effort to burn 300 calories than to eat a couple 150 calorie cookies.
You know I am awful at dieting as well...I offset what I eat when I workout heavily but I mean reaaaalllly heavily. When you think that an hour on the eliptical can sometimes eqaul only one candy bars worth of calories burned you gotta put eating right in the equation somewhere!
I'll add to the broken record--diet is important! And by "diet," I don't mean a strict or fad weight loss regimen...I just mean "diet" as in what you consume. You can really only do so much with exercise. I have heard and read (on more occasions than I can count) that doing too much cardio can make your body start to burn muscle instead of just fat (I think that happens when you do more then 30 or 45 minutes at a time--would have to look it up to be certain of the amount), so you need to find a balance of cardio and strength training (in order to keep the muscle you have and not lower your metabolism, since burning muscle will slow your metabolism down).
I, too, have heard that diet is most of the battle--that weight loss is about 80% diet and 20% exercise. So, I guess if you're okay with only losing about 20% of what you could be losing, then have fun! If you'd rather lose at a better rate, just examine your diet. You don't have to cut out anything--just watch portion sizes and drink lots of water, and sometimes that in itself is enough to turn the tables. Make small changes--cut out soda, add more fruits and veggies, choose leaner cuts of meat and lower-fat dairy, cut out some sugary snacks, switch to whole grains instead of "white" processed carbs, etc. It doesn't have to FEEL like a diet in order to lose weight. Check out some people's menus around the forum...you'd be surprised at the fabulous foods you could eat and still lose weight
When I moved to a different city, I kept up the work out but let the eating fall the wayside. I packed on the pounds. For me, I definetly have to watch what goes into my mouth.
Exercise without "dieting"?. Yep. I tried it. And saw my thights grow wider and wider every day till I started to suspect something wasn't right ( I couldn't be a growing muscle machine afterall ). When I started to use Fitday I almost fell of my chair. WTF! I had to make tons of exercise to burn all I was puting in my mouth!. And it was healthy food but too much food anyway . So "dieting" or controling the intake is a must. Only lucky people like my boyfriend can mantain or lose weight only with exercise ( and without exercise, sometimes I really hate him ... but is not his fault ).
In my experience it is much more of a struggle to just concentrate on the exercise! Most of the time I concentrate more on my nutritional intake, what food I am eating, how many times I am eating etc. I have gone through spurts where I am really into the workouts in combination with the nutritional aspect and of course I lose more weight and am happier with the visual results. But most of the time I do more of the nutritional stuff and I still lose weigh that way as apposed to not worrying about the food and just working out.
In short as most everyone has said, a combo is better, just the nutritional will work but just the exercise can result in either no results or even weight gain when the nutritional aspect is left out. Not that I'm saying it's impossible, but much more difficult.
I'm actually the opposite to you I cant STAND exercising 20 mins on the treadmil is like **** to me coz i get bored soooo easily. Eathing healthy is def a must. I eat near to nothing but what i DO eat is mostly junk.. cookies, chocolate ect but now im slowly eating more nutritious stuff and less junk. You could try grazing on healthy things through out the day rather than 3 big meals and snacks? Thats what I do and it's working for me so far.
Exercise?
). When I started to use Fitday I almost fell of my chair. WTF! I had to make tons of exercise to burn all I was puting in my mouth!. And it was healthy food but too much food anyway 
. So "dieting" or controling the intake is a must. Only lucky people like my boyfriend can mantain or lose weight only with exercise ( and without exercise, sometimes I really hate him 
... but is not his fault 
).
