Would you rather burn more or refrain from consuming extra calories?

What's easier for you ... limiting your calorie consumption or working out to burn the extra that you ate?

I can't decide ha

I have to be very careful because the way I got into trouble as a younger woman was doing both, way too much. I find it very easy to fall into the old habits and thusly about every 4-5 weeks, force myself to take a maintenance week. Right now, though, with some stress in my personal life I am hardly eating so I am forcing myself to NOT go to the gym and be sedentary. I don't want to ruin myself again.

In a perfect world, I'd rather do the exercise, though, and eat a little more. Or you know, drink more wine. Whatever. :)

Love this topic!  For me, it's definitely easier to add exercise.  I love food and I feel like I am missing something if I can't eat what I want (within reason, of course).  Plus, I just feel so accomplished after I exercise.

Original Post by cptbunny:

I used to like riding my bike, but I was like ~180lbs then. When I ride my exercise bike, about 5-8 mins in my legs get so tired and my knees ache. If I tough it out, sometimes my crotch gets hit funny and that hurts like hell (I have nerve damage). I'm afraid that will happen on a real bike except I can't just stop cause I'll be away from home. =/

 You might need a different kind of bike setup. If your seat is to low or high it will make biking a less enjoyable, and more painful experience. I would suggest geting on your real bike and just make sure you stay relatively close to home, ride around the block a few times, to see how things go for you. But I would recommend looking into how to properly set up your seat height before riding much more, it makes a big difference.

As far as your legs getting tired, try lowering the resistance and upping your cadence, pedal speed.

Both works well for me but my first preference is to just put in more sweat ...

perfect e.g. - i try to maintain a daily calorie limit of about 1400 (i've dropped about 30 lbs in the last 2 yrs but i still have about 20 to hit my target so i still need to be mindful of my calories) ... HOWEVER i do have my 'over my limit' days'

yesterday was such a day ... i had Burger King for dinner ... i eat very healthy all the time so i don't feel the need to deprive myself of some occasional junk food ... it put me at 1900 for the day ... i did my Insanity Workout that night and 90 mins of hard aerobics actually put me UNDER my limit by 280!!!  Thus i not only evened out (and worked off the BK) but went to bed with a small deficit ... yeah me!!

I do both a little bit more.  I limit my sugar and fat intake, eat more veggies, bike more and go to kickboxing every other dy to everyday instead of once a week.  It seems to work for me.  I have a wheat and soy  sensitivity and i am allergic to milk so limiting fast food is easy for me.  But when I get tired out I will eat flank steak because I am burning so many calories.  I used to eat 900 calories a day and burn over 1000 extra (THAT IS NOR HEALTHY)  I was (and am) a healthy weight and lost 20 pounds in two weeks and wound up in the hospital which is why I try to exercise more than limit my food. Before I found out about the food allergies and sensitivities I was healthy and exercising and never losing a pound, also always feeling bloated.  After that my thyroid started to settle down, my metabolism went up and combined with a good night sleep I have been feeling skinnier and more healthy since.  If you are having the same problem, visit a dietitian or your doctor you may have the same problem.

Original Post by boatbuilder1:

Horrible question.  Fasle dichotomy .

 

To me it's not either or.  Its Both.

 

I sinply can not diet without exercising.  It doesn't work for me at all.

 

Exercise boosts serotonin levels which helps control food cravings.

 

Trying to diet without exercising to me is like trying to pound a nail in the wall withthe palm of my hand.  I much prefere the hammer of exercise.

 

My exercise is a walk in the woods at a local wildlife sanctuary.  200 feet of elevation gain from entrance to peak.

 

45 minutes a day yields something like 300-400 calories burned.

 

Doing that daily is like increasing your metabolism 25% or more.  Why on earth would anyone want to diet without adding exercise??

 Because some people simply loathe exercise.  Or are unable to exercise.  Dieting is not pointless without exercise.  There are still lots of health benefits to be had from lowering your caloric intake, drinking more water, eating less fat and sugar and more whole foods and fruits and veggies.  Lots of people have been successful at losing weight without exercise.

Exercise is overwhelming and daunting and miserable for some people.  It's healthy and beneficial, but weight loss is possible without it.

Neither is easier for me.  I LOVE food and I get horribly distracted when I'm hungry and I need my concentration for work and school.  So I can only limit my calories so much.  I do love exercise too though, just not enough hours in the day to get it all in!  There are so many other benefits to it too, I feel better all over.  And it is simply WAY too easy to accumulate a TON of calories and not very easy to burn that many.  I find a happy medium works best!  I can't just go eat an entire batch of brownies and expect to burn it off!  I can limit myself to one brownie and then get in whatever exercise I can.   

Original Post by cptbunny:

I hate exercising. I don't know if it's because it's hard cause of my weight or if I'm just so out of shape. It's not fun, I don't like sweating and I don't like my heart racing (anxiety trigger, blah).

The only exercise I enjoy is swimming, but I don't have a pool and there is no way I am going to public one at this weight. :P

I used to like riding my bike, but I was like ~180lbs then. When I ride my exercise bike, about 5-8 mins in my legs get so tired and my knees ache. If I tough it out, sometimes my crotch gets hit funny and that hurts like hell (I have nerve damage). I'm afraid that will happen on a real bike except I can't just stop cause I'll be away from home. =/

I like to dance. I dislike racing heart, but I can tolerate it while dancing. Here's the fun, I have pretty severe plantar's faciitis in my left foot... because of my weight! So standing and moving on my feet hurts like hell. =/

It's like I have an excuse for everything, but I still try to do something everyday anyway. I usually use my exercise bike for 8-10 mins (my knees cannot take much more) twice a day (morning when I get up and near bed time so they get a rest in between).

If your weight  is causing your feet pain,  your best bet would be to eat as many low cal greens as possible every day to fill you up, along with the smaller portions of grains/starches and proteins.  Think kale, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, etc as the main portion of your meal, and the weight really starts to fall of and all the while, you feel full not to mention supplying your body with disease fighting power.

It's important to move for numerous reasons...your heart, your lymphatic system, your brain, your psyche.... Short walks around the block, at a comfortable pace, enjoying the outdoors.  Believe it or not, you do use up calories especially if you are carrying around extra weight.  Your muscles will strengthen and gradually you find you can move more quickly.  If you know you are moving very slowly and it's not taking much energy, then deduct the absolute lowest calories per minute, which for me is 4...but it adds up!  If I walk slowly for 20 minutes, that's 80 cals, which could make a nice little smart snack like 80 cals of peanut butter spread across a celery stick.  It's worth it to me!

I HATED having to move in the beginning.  Joints hurt, I wasn't as flexible so tendons were straining with every step and I felt it in my feet. I avoided hills, walking only on level streets.... Now, after 6 months of making myself do it GENTLY at first, I am walking an hour a day, puffing up the huge hills in my neighborhood, my legs are strong, and I earn that extra food if I'm hungry, otherwise I just chalk it up to weight lost that much faster.

Also, you said you like swimming.  Did you know that there are classes at many Y's for overweight women to exercise in pools?  You won't get any judgement there.  And really, any time in my life that I've ever seen a large person exercising I just think of them as brave, motivated and strong for not cowering away from the eyes of strangers.  I would be much more embarrassed being large and walking out of a McDonald's with a big white bag in full dress than all but naked swimming in a pool working on my health.

A bit of both is the easiest for me and makes me feel the best.

For a guy who is down to those last few pounds that are between him and a true six pack, It has got to be diet.  But it is not necessarily about eating less.. but making sure the calories consumed are smart energy consuming and fat burning protein rich calories.  For instance brown rice and black beans are a wonder combination of foods for protein dietary fiber and promotes the maintenance and repair of healthy tissue.

Do don't forget to make each mouth full count!

D

its always to burn the fat, not starve it. So ideally a caloric deficit created through exercise and not food reduction will yield far greater results and is far better than just not eating. Why is this? hormones, it's all about hormones.

Simply reducing calories will have it's toll after a while as your body will start to fight back. For example leptin levels start to fall and cortisol starts to rise, plus after a while you're body's metabolism will start to slow down and become less efficient in response out of a fear of starvation. Also just reducing calories and not exercising will do nothing for your body composition and might in fact make it worse. "use it,  or you lose it" that phrase is 100% accurate when it comes to your muscles.

A caloric exercise throught exercise is not just a caloric deficit. When working out your body releases valuable growth hormones which aids with tissue repair and assists with fat loss; also exercise improves one's insulin sensitivity and nutrient partioning, which basically means that more of the calories you eat will go towards your muscle cells as opposed to just being stored as fat, which in turn will lead to a leaner, stronger and healthier physique.

Now if this is not possible for your then at least try to get some activity and make only a modest caloric deficit, lets say 250 calories, and aim to burn another 250+, this way you are reaping some of the benefits that come from physical activity which are far more than just weight loss, such as better mood, improved bone density, improved immune system, stronger ligaments and tendons, etc....

But whenever possible eat more to burn more, energy flux.

I'd rather exercise more than eat less ..food is too good...

I would rather burn more calories than limiting consumption. The post-workout feeling is just too darn good!

Original Post by cptbunny:

I hate exercising. .... I usually use my exercise bike for 8-10 mins (my knees cannot take much more) twice a day (morning when I get up and near bed time so they get a rest in between).

 8 to 10 minutes in a bike is tough if you are making the transition from sedentary to mildly active.  Do not give up!  One day you will discover that you can do it for 12 minutes, then for 15, and before you know it, you will be pedaling for half an hour!

Good luck!

If I didn't have to go to my job, then I would work out more and thus burn off extra calories.  However, since I'm also a bit lazy, mostly I just try to limit my calories to start with, and substitute a lot of lower calorie options. 

It is a much longer way to go for those of us who simply love the taste of good food so I have been trying to convince myself that I will no longer be a slave to those little taste buds.  Why let a couple of inches of skin rule the rest of my body?

It is a slow process but today I put on some dress slacks I hadn't worn for a while and they were loose.  Not big but no longer tight, either.  A small victory but I'll take it!

When I was losing weight/exercising I liked being able to eat more by working out since I'm small framed so my min. calorie amount wasn't too high to start out with

but...

now that I'm maintaining and have gotten out of the habit of exercising, I don't mind eating less to stay at my current size.  Now, once I get back to exercising again (whenever that'll happen) I'd enjoy the extra treat now and then.

It's best for me to limit my calories consumption, or else I find that I go over too much.  I'd prefer, however, to be able to just work out to burn them off.  A good workout always feels so satisfying afterward!