90% about food 10% about exercise

Hello all,  I'm JJ.  I just joined today.  I thought I'd bounce this thought off you.  I have had really bad luck with working out.  I can work out 5 days a week for 40 or more minutes and not loose a pound.  I've gone as long at 3 months doing this routine....and STILL don't loose anything.  My workout is typically weights and either running or biking.

However, I have found that if I modify my diet, eat less or, restrict things I do loose weight. 

Has anyone else experienced this?  I know all the fitness guru's say that you should exercise....but its hard to keep motivated when it yields nothing. 

Does anyone have a good food program that works for them?

JJ

I have much the same experience, but I do think that is because I tend to love my large portions and sweets.  If I just exercise and eat like normal, I don't lose weight.  I can and have lost weight just through diet alone, but of course, it is best and I get the best results when I combine diet with exercise. 

But I'm example A of it is totally possible to work out (even fairly hard) and still eat way too many calories (ice cream- yum!) and not lose weight. 

Use the tools on this site to figure out how many calories you should eat (I set my activity level at sedentary) and then log in your exercise as well to see how many calories you burn through exercise.   Aim to keep your calories at 500-1000 fewer than you burn through living and exercise each day and you should be good. 

A bit o' geekiness for you. Set point theory embodies the idea that once the body picks a weight (healthy or not), it will regulate it using feeling of hunger and satiety. So if you're just running, quite likely your body is making up for it and convincing you to slip in some extra calories.

Also, even if you ate the exact same diet, burning 3500 calories just through exercise is a rather large task.

As for exercise, in a recent study, 90% of people who lost weight and and kept it off incorporated exercise, so don't write it off. It keeps your metabolism going, may keep your from adjusting to lower caloric intake (haven't read a definitive answer on this, so don't quote me), helps maintain muscle so that you really are just losing fat and helps with sleep, mood, etc. So it is still a pretty vital part of weight loss, even if it doesn't work all by itself.

Diet is KEY in weight loss. I have absolutely experienced what you are experiencing. But once i control my caloric intake, the weight comes off. Walking and doing an occasional sweat-worthy workout is always beneficial, however.

I'm the exact opposite...I eat whatever I want whenever I want, but I exercise a ton and I keep on losing weight. However, the foods I do eat are mostly organic and quite healthy.

I think I posed this same question a while back, and I remember this as a response...diet is key when losing lots of weight, but if you're just like 5-15lbs away from your body's "natural" weight, then exercise is key. I dunno if this is true or not, that's just what someone else said on CC.

Calories in vs calories out.  If you are exercising but making up for that exercise with more calories eaten - you will not lose weight.  If you eat less than you burn you will lose weight.

Exercise is important because it helps you to create that calorie deficit so you will lose weight.  It will also help you maintain and in some cases increase muscle mass.  The more fit you are the higher your metabolism.  The more fit you are the healthier you are over all.

So yeah - exercise alone is usually not enough. 

So, if you eat 2,000 cals in a day and normal routine activity burns that 2,000 cals you will not lose weight.  Add 500 cals of exercise on top of that and you could lose 1 lbs a week.  But if you eat back those 500 cals then you have no calorie deficit so you will not lose weight.

But that level of activity is very hard for most people to maintain so they cut 250 cals out of the diet and exercise 250 cals burn. 

Yep in my case I lost 20 pounds with very little or no exercise. It had nothing to do with how much I moved but everything to do with eating the minimum amount of calories a woman my age could have. You can achieve your goal by just eating a whole lot less. But most people prefer eating more and then exercising. I have yet to find a good balance as far as that goes. I'd rather eat less than work out any day.

For me, exercise is key to feeling healthy.  Eating less is key to losing weight.  Doing both is key to achieving the "new" me.

Original Post by dkenworthy:

For me, exercise is key to feeling healthy.  Eating less is key to losing weight.  Doing both is key to achieving the "new" me.

 I completely agree

If like me you love food then exercise is great as it lets you eat more.

for me I allow 1500 calories of food in a day to loose weight. then if i do any exercise I eat about as much as I burn playing sport or at the gym.  So if I play badminton for 60 mins I can eat around 400 more calories in that day.

I spread my food out thought the day so im always eating, 3 main meals and 2 - 3 smaller snack meals inbetween. Drink lots of water and enjoy spicy food :) anything to help increase my metabolisum. 

I also like to do weights in the evening to help me tone up.

Before using calorie count I would eat what ever I felt like and my weight would stay pritty level (probelly because of the exercise), but holidays and special occations would increase my weight.

So now I'm limiting my calories and continue with my sport the weight should drop off. (Hopfully)

The key is a balance between restricting calories and excecising. 

seems like so many people get it wrong and restrict there calories too much, which has a negitive affect on their metabolisum and increases the chance of putting it all back on again as soon as you eat more.

imho,

 

• Diet is key to Losing
• Weights and some cardio are key to Maintaining

I have been 240 lbs for the last 3 years give or take 2 or 3 lbs. I have always done 4-5 hours a week in the gym and maybe 1 run a week for 40 minutes. severely pissed that I could not budge my spare tyre I started an eat less diet 5 weeks ago, focusing on balanced high-veg meals, no desserts and - the killer - no chocolate. I am down to 226 lbs in this short time and, listen, I stopped exercising about 4 weeks ago as my gym membership lapsed and I always give a month or so before I renew it.

This proves to me that it is definitely 90% diet. yes I will restart the runs and gym this week but mainly to keep in shape and speed up the fat loss. Last week I had to use the next notch on all my belts, boy that was truly satisfying. Lastly now that I seem to have got used to less sugar and practically no rice, bread or pasta it just seems natural what I am eating.

I find the same thing - I can exercise loads and still nothing will come off the scales! However, I do find that exercise makes me feel more positive in myself and therefore I am less likely to comfort eat. Also, if you spend an hour exercising, it's an hour less eating/debating with yourself whether to have that chocolate bar.

One thing I have learned is that I do not necessarily need to reward my exercise with food. I used to do that all the time! Although it doesn't make the exercise pointless, it takes a lot longer to loose weight.

Like most people are saying, it's about doing both and trying to become more healthy. For me, any distraction from food is a good one and so it may as well be exercise!

Not me. Exercising is the only way I can get the weight off. Restricting the calories is not enough for me. I think my personal ratio is 50/50. Because it won't happen without both, but if I exercise only I still have a better chance than diet only.

I know this because i cleaned houses for 3 months - 4 days a week, 8-12 hours a day. I ate whatever I wanted. All day. Lots of food and so much fast food I was thinking I was going to gain but I lost 20 pounds. I'd drink in the evenings (wouldn't you after 12 hours of cleaning houses?!) and eat whatever I wanted, desserts, piles of food. I was starving.

Well yeah, the diet worked itself out by how much I was burning but my point is that is the only way the deficit works for me, by burning the deficit and not eating under.

I would say my ratio is 50/50 as well...exercise motivates me to make good food choices (for me it is about portion control, my diet is very healthy but I used to eat enough healthy food for 3 people! LOL) and eating right makes me want to work out!  The exercising helped me resist eating out of boredom, too, because if I got the urge to eat (when I knew I wasn't really hungry) then I would just put on my walking shoes and go for a walk first, which usually helped me get over the craving.