Losing weight without a 'diet"
 

This is the fourth time for a 25+ lb. weight loss goal. Weighed 199 lbs. at the doctors office on Friday. Yikes! That makes this a 60+ weight loss effort.

Have done WW, South Beach, Atkins. They work. And then I stop following the program and gain it all back plus 10-20 lbs.

Has anyone focused on the exercise (as opposed to food) to kick off their weight loss?

This is the stupidest thing - the reason I registered on 3FC was the fun name and the weight bar showing people's start/current/goal weights. How do you get one of those?

Hello and welcome.

Can you think of even one "easier" excess calorie source that you can cut? Like soda for example?

I can understand why you are resistant to dieting. I suppose it would depend how much you are going over calorie each day, but I would guess that exercise alone for most people simply isn't enough to create the necessary calorie deficient for weight loss.

Have you considered calorie counting instead of any type of restriction diet? I guess WW is sort of the same as calorie counting however.

Exercise alone won't help you lose weight. Your food intake is overwhelmingly responsible for your weight.

Trust me, I exercised for years without focusing on food and while I was fitter I didn't lose any weight ;)

Focusing on just exercising may be a good way for you to start off and slowly work on your diet later on.

you need both to lose weight! you don't need to go on those 'diets' like atkins. Just don't overindulge, cut out the majority of the sweets and fast foods in your life, and replace them with healthy foods you like. For example, fruits, salads, fiber1, low-cal oatmeal and yogurt are all good healthy ideas that aren't completely repulsive. Good luck!

I also vote for needing both diet and exercise, although I am not on the exercise bandwagon yet. I am not on a specific diet plan. I tried WW, Atkins, high healthy carb.... The weight always came back after I went off the diet. Like the folks above me, I advocate slowly replacing unhealthy food and drink choices with healthy ones. I have been doing this one by one.....not all at once. Believe me, it does make a difference! Portion control/calorie counting is also beneficial. I have just begun to get into this a bit using FitDay.com.

I worked with a nutritionist who gave me serving sizes to follow vs calorie counting. That was pretty easy and I was successful. After kids, I did LA Weightloss which had the same concept.... servings and serving sizes, no calorie counting. I was successful then too. Then I gained and gained..... I'm now counting calories and going at it on my own. I know how to make healthy choices and I'm pretty good about serving sizes and what not. My problem is a starving student mentality (if ti's there and it's free, I'm gonna' eat it) and other bad habits that I tend to fall back on after the dieting is done.

This time I'm using Bodybugg, and I hope that with it, I can get the weight off, and manage to maintain and stay where I am forever. Bodybugg is the tool I've needed to begin to incorporate exercise too. I exercise regularly, and even though my weight loss is slow, I love the shape of my body. I hope that by dieting differently (like now I let myself eat cake and other goodies but make up for it elsewhere) that maybe I can feel like it's less work and more of a lifestyle change. In the past, when I started gaining again, the thought of dieting again was daunting because it was so much work!

I don't think you can really lose weight without dieting. I think you have to have some kind of plan, something to follow. It doesn't mean you have to count calories, but you should have basic steps like following serving sizes, and cutting out junk. I think fitday, Livestrong, Bodybugg and others are great ways to help with this.

I too believe its a combiniation of both.

However, I really love Denise Austin. She is beautiful and not one oz. of fat on her and she is over 50 years young!!!! She is a huge advocate of eating. Not being on restrictive diets.
That's why we always gain weight back after getting off a diet such as Atkins or South Beach, because we were starving our bodies, not feeding our bodies. Thus, our bodies are in starvation mode, causes weight gain.

I too, however, need to eat a little better. I take one day at a time. It's hard once I reached my 40's! LOL.

Moreover, Denise Austin says she only works out 30 minutes a day, but her workouts include warm up, cardio, strength training, cool down. Then does something active on the weekends. :D

OP, there is another poster here that has made small changes rather than do a diet. In any case, her weightloss has been very slow but she has lost over 100 pounds. Theoretically, if you are exercising off 200 calories a day (that is walking about 3 miles or running a little over 2 miles for most people) you will slowly begin to lose weight. Just be sure you are NOT upping your calories. With said plan you would probably drop 2 pounds a month.

You aren't starving yourself with South Beach...I don't know much about Atkins. I've been doing SB since early October and have lost 13lbs and I am ALWAYS eating it seems! And I'm hypothyroid to boot.

The key for me was to simply be aware of the hidden sugar in things you don't expect...and I don't feel like I'm on a diet anymore, I have made a commitment to take better care of myself and eat better and regularly. While weight loss was the initial goal I've come to realize that is really only one happy result of my new focus on myself and my health.

So you can approach it differently mentally...eating healthier and paying attention to labels is not hard...but meal planning I find is key for me so I don't get lazy and grab something bad because it's easy. Counting calories and measuring portion sizes just didn't work for me...eliminating sugar was what worked. I eat as much as I want, it's just better things I'm shoving in my (former) pie hole!

The only part of SB I refuse to follow is using low fat cheese....BLECH. I love cheese...so I just use regular cheese and enjoy my food and I'm still coming out ahead!

Exercise doesn't have to be a chore either...for me it had to be something I could do in my living room before work in the morning...I have been doing Just Dance for the Wii and its so much fun...although I cringe to think what I must look like since I really can't dance! I love it and actually look forward to it in the morning.

Just start somewhere!

First, regarding the weight tracker, go to 'quick links', then 'signature weight tracker' and follow the steps.

I agree, exercise alone is probably not going to kick you off too quickly. It will make you feel better, it will make you healthier and fitter.. but it won't do a heck of a lot for your weight loss. You really have to focus on your diet if you want to lose weight.

GL!

Trust me, I've tried exercise alone and dieting alone and neither have gained awesome results. Diet + exercise always works. Have you tried calorie counting or something? And either way you go, it'd still be good to track what you are eating.

You need to choose something that can be a lifestyle change for you. if you were able to keep it off on WW its because when it was over you went back to your old eating habits and then some. Weight loss is 60% diet 20% exercise. So just eat healthier ( limit calories) and make better food choices. No sugar, no white carbs and no food after 8 and you should be able to lose weight.

I agree with most of the others: It is very hard to exercise away a bad diet. A couple of years ago, for several months I was attending fitness classes at my gym 4-5 times a week. I looked fitter, but I didn't lose any significant amount of weight (I never went down a size & my clothes never got looser).

This time around (since June), I combined calorie counting and exercise (mainly incorporating more activity into every day) & I've lost about 40 lbs. since then (didn't weigh myself when I started, but I'm estimating that I was about 180).

I love calorie counting because it allows me to eat any food I want---in moderation. I also calorie cycle, and doing that allows me to eat heavier on some days (e.g., weekends, special occasions, etc.).

I do the same as Lin43.
I count calories and exercize. I don't think of calorie counting as a "diet." But I call it that anyway. I eat what I want.

I plan my daily meals every morning, try to balance my diet, and keep a daily log of my food and exercize.
I keep the log on LoseIt.com
The site draws up all the charts I need and keeps my records from the start of my dieting.

It is a free website and without it, I could not continue my weight loss.
I eat about 1600 to 1700 calories a day. With that many calories I can lose 1 pound per week. About 50 pounds a year.

I have lost a lot of weight. Some days I feel like Porky Pigs girlfriend, but my family and friends say that I look good.
:smug:

Best of luck on your weight loss journey!
:hug:

I have lost weight without really "dieting". I do portion control and I exercise. If you will eat sensibly and exercise, you should lose weight.