[Cherryette]

Hi there

If one was to eat the normal daily calorie allowence (for me about 1650) and then do 500kcal of exercise a day, would one still lose 1 pound a week?

The maths works out but I wondered if it works in reality.

Thanks!
xx

[Lori259]

sounds great to me!! Try it & see how it works out for u & let us know~GOODLUCK!!

[grrrkgrrrl]

yes it should so long as you keep both those constant.

keep in mind many people some times overestimate the amount of exercise, so don't fall into the trap.

[littlemissbliss]

Because you are so close to your goal, you may find it harder to lose those last few lbs w/out exercise. Everyone's different, but for me, as I started circling the homestretch, I realized that my weight loss was slowing down, and that even though I'm not a fitness nut, I had to start pushing the exercise a bit more, particularly because I'm 40 now. Once I went from speedwalking to jogging a half hour a few days a week, that seemed to finally get the weigh loss moving again.

[Cherryette]

Thanks for your replys. Right I'll give it a go from tomorrow then.

I definately agree I need to start to exercise more now I am getting nearer to goal. From just doing reduced calories and walking I am staying still at this weight.
I hoped that if I ate a little more and did a proper workout daily I will lose the last few pounds and would find it easier to move into maintenance mode.

I shall be as accurate as I can be at totting up the exercise calories and shall report back with any progress!

[coxenc]

You know- if you work out in the morning you will amp your metabolism up for the rest of the day. Just an idea on how you can maximize all your hard work.

[littlemissbliss]

I wish I had the energy to work out in the morning - I know that's the best time to do it. I'm one of those that has to do it after work.

[glenlorie]

I would think so, the math is right anyways. You may hit plateau's though, which most ppl do no matter what they do, and you may have to change up a bit to work through them, but it is possible. You may even lose more than one lb for week for a while, depending on how much or little you already work out &/or eat properly. Good luck with it!!!!

[Califiona]

I read somewhere that to lose a pound a week you have to be in a 3,500 calorie deficit. You can reach that deficit by reducing calories or upping your excercise. Also, what kind of body do you want? A toned one? Then excercise is going to get you there.

[Kilketay]

It will definitely work - if you can keep your calories constant. You have to monitor them closely. The body tries to maintain set point weight, so it will make you hungrier overall when you exercise to try to get you to eat back those calories.

[Lola Dark]

I would think that would work but with being close to goal and using your actual calories and trying to lose by reaching a daily 500 calorie burn you are bound to be on/off a bit daily so you might not see as dramatic of results as if you are used to dieting and exercise combined. But I think it's a very healthy way to go! Also you might build muscle so don't let the number on the scale fool you! You could be down in clothing size while the number on the scale doesn't move as much! :-)

[ange82much]

ok, i'll be the awkward one and disagree! If i increase my exercise i tend to gain weight but lose size - by gaining muscle but losing fat i suppose. So i feel better and my clothes fit better and i have more energy and it's definitely the right thing to do, but i'm just not so sure you'll see it on the scales

[Belease]

Originally Posted by grrrkgrrrl

yes it should so long as you keep both those constant.

keep in mind many people some times overestimate the amount of exercise, so don't fall into the trap.

I'm really confused by what you mean here - do you mean overestimate the amount of exercise they do, or the amount needed to lose weight? Sorry if it's really obvious - I'm still learning!

[Belease]

I would also add about exercising alone, I don't know if this is incorrect, but someone mentioned the 3500 cals to shift a pound thing - I just checked out my exercise over two weeks, and I've hit 3580, but that's taken 627 mins in all. I do various things like exercise videos, walking and exercise biking. I don't know how intensive your workouts will be or what you plan on doing, but I know I've found it very tough to maintain this amount of exercise. It's doable but quite hard. If I was doing all this AND only on track to lose half a pound a week, I'd probably be discouraged. I also know that if I don't track what I eat, and I exercise, I'm quite prone to eating to compensate for my exercise as a reward! I'm not saying you're like me, but just mentioning these things I thought of in case they're helpful to you.

I also have some exercises here which will burn 500 cals for you - but I haven't adjusted it for your height and weight, so it's not text-book accurate.

Stationary cycling, moderate effort, 500 cals: 90 mins
General aerobics, 500 cals: 105 mins
Light calisthenics (sit ups, push ups etc), 500 cal: 142 mins
Cleaning, heavy, vigorous effort, 500 cal: 140 mins
Dancing, aerobic, 500 cals: 105 mins
General running, or running in place, 500 cals: 75 mins
Swimming laps, moderate effort, 500 cals: 75 mins
Walking, 3mph, 500 cals: 210 mins

I hope that helps! I bought myself an exercise bike from Tesco Value and it's great for burning loads of calories. If you aimed to burn them on the bike you could watch a movie while you're doing it!

[thesame7lbs]

Sorry to be so redundant -- this is probably the third time I've mentioned this article on this site! But it is so very relevant.

I don't think I can post links yet, so if there's no link below, try going to the New York Times website and search using the terms "exercise weight loss" but don't use the quotes. It will be the first article that comes up in the results.

[yep, I had to remove my link. 11 more posts 'til I'm allowed]

Basically, what they say is that even though the math says exercise alone should work for weight loss, in reality it usually doesn't (for various reasons they discuss). They say calorie restriction works better for losing weight.

I think Belease's post is very revealing, too. When I run for 50 minutes, my heart rate monitor will usually say I've burned more than 500 calories. I think it's lying! I think the machines at the gym also overestimate calories burned. I used to go to a spin class where the instructor said we could burn up to 1000 calories in an hour of class. Puh-lease! Not realistic. Add to this the fact that the calorie count for packaged goods can be off by up to 20% -- so if you use machines and nutrition labels to estimate calories out and calories in, you could be off by quite a bit.

The NY Times article does state that for reasons that are not entirely clear, exercise seems to play a very important role in weight maintenance -- something to keep in mind for when we all reach our goals!!!

(FWIW, my plan right now is exercise + watching what I eat -- not calorie counting, but just limiting my portions, eating 2 healthy snacks each day, and reserving treats for special occasions only. I'll let you know how it goes).