meltaway I think it works for exactly that reason. Yes, I am focussing on exercise and fitness. Yes, I have chosen not to diet/follow a plan/restrict. But, I am also very thoughtful about what I eat, I am retraining myself on what eating 'normally'/'well' is like. I'm determined this be a forever thing, and it's about education and brain retraining for me. The fact I am not on a diet, does not mean I am not making good food choices, just as may be the case with you. I do hear many people saying exercise just doesn't have an effect for them, so I'm very glad that it does for me
Okay, why is everyone assuming I don't count calories?? I do. I'm not a complete novice when it comes to weightloss. I was just wondering people's opinion on the subject, not necessarily relating to me. I know the difference between eating healthy and eating lower calories.
I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but most of the comments here seem rather condescending. :-/
Anyway, that's really interesting takingcontrol, I wonder how come this works for you, and not everyone else. Maybe even after all that you're still within a good calorie limit for your body.
Well, to be fair you didn't really give us much to go on. Asking, "Is it possible to lose weight through exercise alone?" is not the same thing as asking, "Is it possible to lose weight through exercise and counting calories?"
I came to post the same thing everybody else said. It's really hard to out-exercise a bad diet. Best to combine exercise and a controlled-calorie diet.
Is it possible? Thoughts, articles, ideas, experiences? I'd really like to hear your feelings on this, guys.
Look how little information you gave about what you are really asking? And everyone can see you've only made 39 posts up to that point and you are fairly new to this weight loss journey as we see your ticker has moved 6 pounds - which is great, but it's the beginning. So, they were trying to give you complete information, assuming you needed complete information.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meltaway
Okay, why is everyone assuming I don't count calories?? I do. I'm not a complete novice when it comes to weightloss. I was just wondering people's opinion on the subject, not necessarily relating to me. I know the difference between eating healthy and eating lower calories.
I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but most of the comments here seem rather condescending. :-/
Anyway, that's really interesting takingcontrol, I wonder how come this works for you, and not everyone else. Maybe even after all that you're still within a good calorie limit for your body.
I didn't find anyone comments condescending except your own. As stated, from what people can see of you is that you are a novice - new poster, just starting with losing weight.
And not everyone knows about calorie counting, as shocking as that might seem to you. And, since you, like the rest of us here, are overweight (or were overweight) we obviously didn't follow the best eating habits, did we? We got fat somehow and that somehow was by eating too much food - healthy or not. And possibly by moving too little, but not necessarily as some people get heavy while exercising too.
that's why i said "as long as you do not change your diet and your weight was stable to begin with, absolutely".
if the OP keeps her diet as it is now and her weight has been stable, then it stands to reason that intake was maintenance level.
it also stands to reason that if she keeps her intake at maintenance level but then adds exercise, she will lose weight.
the reason such a strategy often fails is bec the individual cannot or will not keep the diet at the same level - they end up snacking a little more here, a little more there, and they get no weight loss because they've taken their diet up to the new maintenance level.
I think people added in the calorie counting bit because there are a lot of individuals who assume that they can eat anything they want, just because they are exercising. By that I mean in unlimited quantities too. You'd be surprised by how many times someone has asked why they are not losing weight if they are exercising every single day. Then they admit to not counting calories and assuming that since they ran on the treadmill that day, eating a whole pizza and 2 slices of cake were okay.
meltaway, you never made it clear what your plan was. You just said you were "eating healthy" and failed to elaborate on what your definition of healthy was. I've seen many people who claim to eat healthy yet really don't. Or they DO eat healthy but way too much.
If you told us you calorie counted from the start and told us how many calories you're eating in a day we could have had a better picture of what's going on and how many calories you can eat, etc. There are many different members on many different plans. Calorie counting isn't the only way to lose weight.
If you want some solid advice that applies to YOU then you need to give everyone a picture of what you're eating and how you're exercising rather than asking a generic question. Sooooo many people ask if you can just exercise and lose weight because most fail to realize that 80% of your success is diet related. It sucks, but that's the way it is
Quote:
Originally Posted by threenorns
that's why i said "as long as you do not change your diet and your weight was stable to begin with, absolutely".
if the OP keeps her diet as it is now and her weight has been stable, then it stands to reason that intake was maintenance level.
it also stands to reason that if she keeps her intake at maintenance level but then adds exercise, she will lose weight.
the reason such a strategy often fails is bec the individual cannot or will not keep the diet at the same level - they end up snacking a little more here, a little more there, and they get no weight loss because they've taken their diet up to the new maintenance level.
Yeah this happened to me back when I was 16. While I lost the majority of my weight last year, I started exercising when I was 16 but I didn't increase what I ate. I lost around 20lbs to get down to 200ish, just because of the caloric deficit that I created from starting to exercise.
I kind of wish I knew what my real starting weight was. All I know was that I was a size 18, pushing size 20. I left high school at around a size 16, and when I took up weight training I lost around 10 more pounds and wound up a size 12/14 by the end of grad school. It's around that time I started watching what I ate and got to where I am now.
Whoa, I'm really confused here. But first, if I came off sounding condescending, that wasn't my intention. And yes, my question was vague, because I'm asking about ya'lls experiences. But if you read most of the comments, almost everyone answered the question as though directing it towards ME. And I'm sorry, but that made me feel attacked. Also, I'm re-losing, so I do know a bit about weightloss, but I don't think it's fair to answer people's questions with the assumption that they know nothing. Perhaps, ask a few questions first.
I think if you read my question you'll find that I didn't ask 'do you guys think *I* can lose with exercise alone', I asked, is it possible. That's all. I just wanted some general opinions, that's all. I wasn't really asking for my diet to be analysed. Phew.
I don't see how my comment was condescending. Really I don't. I wasn't trying to put anyone down, was just expressing how I felt.
What fascinates me is that I gained most of my weight when my activity level went down, and I lost weight when I was fairly active ( living in nyc, taking the train, walking everywhere and those darn subway steps!!) but back then when I lost weight I had a regular diet of mc donalds, processed food and other umentionables,
and now I'm eating healthy, exercising like a mad woman, yet all I can do is maintain. :-/
I am not trying to attack you with anything I am about to say but the bold and italic lettering almost seems as if you are baiting an argument about eating crap and being active v/s eating healthy and exercising.
If that is not what you are doing then I apologize but everyone here has always been so helpful to me and I think they just wanted to answer you with their honest opinions and thoughts on the original question you asked and then you wrote the above statement and they may have taken it the same way I did? I am not speaking for everyone though.
There are also some other things to consider besides calories in and calories out. For example, metabolism and medical conditions. My metabolism is crap. First time I understood this was when I went on Weight Watchers after my first child was born. I gained weight and no, I WAS NOT cheating!! I was eating a lowfat, low calorie diet. But, because of my health issues it was too high in sugars (even healthy sugars can be bad when you have insulin issues.) Sometimes a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. And, sometimes your body can play tricks on you.
After I learned more about my own body, my health conditions and the types of diets it required, I was able to lose weight more successfully. My real struggle is with maintaining a loss and with just plain getting tired of fighting it.
Calories are key when it comes to weight loss, and exercise is one of the ways you can increase the number of calories you burn. You may be tempted to lose weight with exercise alone, so that you can continue eating your favorite foods. While it is possible to lose weight without changing your diet, you may not get the results you want.
You get most of your calories from the food you eat. If you eat exactly the number of calories you need to survive, your weight will stay the same. If you eat more than you need, you will store the excess as fat and if you eat too much more, your fat stores will grow faster than you can use them. If you eat less than you need, your body will tap into those fat stores to make up for what is lacking in your diet. If you eat much less, your body will also tap into muscle and other lean tissue to get the energy it needs.
Although your body uses energy at all times, exercise changes the amount of energy you use in a given day. However, these changes may not generate weight loss. If you consume just enough calories to survive and begin an exercise program, you will lose weight because you are not eating enough to support the increased energy demand. If you eat more calories than you need, you may lose weight if the amount of exercise you do is more than the amount by which you are overeating. If the amount of exercise is less than the number of excess calories, you will not lose.
The best way to lose weight is with a combination of diet and exercise. While exercise alone will burn calories, without changing your diet, you may not burn enough calories for efficient weight loss. Additionally, if you exercise without dietary changes, you may overeat to compensate for the increased energy demands.
This is what's happening to me too. I also have PCOS, which makes losing weight difficult. I did lose an additional 2lbs, but according to my calorie counting and the calories I'm burning off, I should be losing a LOT more than that. I suspect it's due to insulin resistance.
You can still theoretically lose weight by eating McDonalds, by the way. Just because it's unhealthy, it doesn't mean they are high in calories. If you burn off enough calories, you still lose weight regardless of your diet.
In my opinion, dieting is a lot more effective in losing weight since I was able to lose 60+lbs on dieting alone. I just started exercising again and I lost another 4lbs from exercising.
Or maybe you need to wait out a little bit and keep on trying. You should probably measure yourself to see if you lost any inches.
Thanks all. And Tonyia, no I wasn't trying to start that debate. I I wasn't even exercising then, so all I was saying is that when I wasn't really TRYING I lost, but now that it consumes all my thoughts I'm not. I wasn't trying to say, 'eat crap and lose weight!'
I'm still waiting it out, but I realised too that maybe my eye is too close to the prize?? I weighed myself and realised I've lost 10 pounds since March first, but I just kept focusing too closely on 'two pounds a weeK!!' So It felt like I was going nowhere!
