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Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

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Re: Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

#61

Post by mholmes680 »

yuzi wrote: post #58
specialp wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very true. Exercise has more of an effect than the calories burned. It improves your health and you feel much better than when you had a sedentary life. As always the answer is that decreasing calorie consumption with moderate exercise is key to maintaining weight loss. Just as exercising cannot offset massive overconsumption of food, massive underconsumption of food will make one that is dieting feel terribl…

From my experience: I didn't have a sedentary life, well at least lets just say I wasn't sitting at a computer all day. I was always out and about. My extra weight was from a mix of overconsumption and poor food choices. I noticed there were unforseen changes in behaviour due to diet that I still find strange. Things like quitting pop. I used to grab McDonald's food more often, but since quitting pop I avoid the plac…

I have also decided this past Jan 1 to stop Soda. And I've phased out sugar in my morning coffee. Not being a big juice drinker in the first place, I think I'm better off as a long term goal to limit the amount of sugar i "drink". I'll stick to just "eating" it, focus on cutting out more processed sugar and being smart about balanced diet in general.

I do crave it still tho, I have not found myself avoiding fast food either. With two kids under 2, it just kind of makes life easier when I make them good meals and can pick up something quick.

Re: Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

#62

Post by yuzi »

mholmes680 wrote: post #61
yuzi wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience: I didn't have a sedentary life, well at least lets just say I wasn't sitting at a computer all day. I was always out and about. My extra weight was from a mix of overconsumption and poor food choices. I noticed there were unforseen changes in behaviour due to diet that I still find strange. Things like quitting pop. I used to grab McDonald's food more often, but since quitting pop I avoid the plac…

I have also decided this past Jan 1 to stop Soda. And I've phased out sugar in my morning coffee. Not being a big juice drinker in the first place, I think I'm better off as a long term goal to limit the amount of sugar i "drink". I'll stick to just "eating" it, focus on cutting out more processed sugar and being smart about balanced diet in general. I do crave it still tho, I have not found myself avoiding fast food…

One trick I've learned is to not have pop in the house. My girlfriend hates me for it :). Honestly I couldn't have quit pop if I did have it there. At one point she would buy it for her, but somehow I found myself drinking it so we had to have a discussion; thankfully she accommodated me.

Ideally you and your family can get on the same page in terms of diet, but I imagine with kids that can be extremely challenging. It's worth it if you can do it.

Re: Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

#63

Post by falcolas »

falcolas wrote: post #8
mholmes680 wrote: post #2

But, wait.... #10 - eat less fat? That runs counter to science too... http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/apr/07/the-sugar-con...

Fat is very dense in calories, so if your goal is to reduce caloric intake, reducing the fat will go a long ways towards that goal.

I'm regretting commenting now. Like a bikeshed next to a nuclear plant, anybody who has ever lost any amount of weight has an opinion on how it's done.

Reducing fat reduces caloric intake. Note the word reduce (I even emphasized it), instead of remove, or replace. Yes, fats are a healthy part of a good diet. No, you should not omit them.

Of course, don't take my word for it. RTFOP, which made the recommendation in the first place.

Re: Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

#64

Post by e40 »

falcolas wrote: post #63
falcolas wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fat is very dense in calories, so if your goal is to reduce caloric intake, reducing the fat will go a long ways towards that goal.

I'm regretting commenting now. Like a bikeshed next to a nuclear plant, anybody who has ever lost any amount of weight has an opinion on how it's done. Reducing fat reduces caloric intake. Note the word reduce (I even emphasized it), instead of remove, or replace. Yes, fats are a healthy part of a good diet. No, you should not omit them. Of course, don't take my word for it. RTFOP, which made the recommendation in th…

Reducing fat reduces caloric intake.

Looks like you're doubling down. Your statement is 100% correct. The problem is, fat calories are more satisfying than non-fat calories, so you are more likely to eat less if you eat protein + fat instead of protein + carbs + less fat. That's just the wait it works.

Re: Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

#65

Post by vannevar »

This article, including the title, is a bit of a mess. Nothing in it refutes the commonly accepted principle that if you burn as many daily calories in exercise as you consume in food, you will not get fatter. The point of the article seems to be simply that the modern Western diet is so high in calories that it's difficult to do enough exercise to make up the difference. The survey study they cite talks about exercise in the range of only a couple of hundred calories a day, and even then, contrary to what the article implies, the study's conclusion clearly states that weight loss was proportional to the amount of exercise. So, sure, if you're eating 1000 calories/day more than you're burning, throwing in an extra 30-minute walk on the treadmill isn't going to do much. But try a real exercise regimen like P90X where you are burning an extra 800 calories or so a day, and you absolutely will see results even if your diet remains unchanged.

Re: Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

#67

Post by paulsutter »

ChemicalWarfare wrote: post #46

Anecdotal evidence from being a gym rat for 20 years, although I'm sure there are studies out there to prove this. Maybe :) No doubt that diet+exercise is the way to go when it comes to long-term weight management. The thing is, "weight loss" in and of itself is a misleading metric. You're losing weight! Great! But hold on a minute - your gut is the same size but your biceps is smaller and your strength is way down.…

Exactly - percent bodyfat is a much better target metric than weight.

Re: Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

#68

Post by rm_-rf_slash »

e40 wrote: post #64
falcolas wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm regretting commenting now. Like a bikeshed next to a nuclear plant, anybody who has ever lost any amount of weight has an opinion on how it's done. Reducing fat reduces caloric intake. Note the word reduce (I even emphasized it), instead of remove, or replace. Yes, fats are a healthy part of a good diet. No, you should not omit them. Of course, don't take my word for it. RTFOP, which made the recommendation in th…

Reducing fat reduces caloric intake. Looks like you're doubling down. Your statement is 100% correct. The problem is, fat calories are more satisfying than non-fat calories, so you are more likely to eat less if you eat protein + fat instead of protein + carbs + less fat. That's just the wait it works.

One should eat less fat and carbs, but in doing so one will be less satisfied and be more likely to snack or eat larger portions later, negating the effect.

The problem is that while I am a good and level-headed person, my future self is a hungry bastard.

Re: Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

#69

Post by jeffwass »

vanderZwan wrote: post #24
thesis wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if you burn those same 4000 calories a day.

Unless you're Micheal Jai White[0] or Dwayne Johnson[1], you won't burn 4000 extra (kilo)calories a day. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fylDp1VtZbA&t=2m30s [1] http://www.muscleandfitness.com/nutrition/meal-plans/smell-w...

My running app estimates I burned a bit over 4000 calories in the marathon I ran last weekend!

Though clearly this is an exceptional event, not something I could do even semi-regularly.

Re: Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

#70

Post by vinceguidry »

Retric wrote: post #54
revelation wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans are about 25% efficient, so feel free to multiply any number with 4 to get actual expended energy. That doesn't change the calculus, obviously. I can easily sustain 150W for an hour on a bike, I can't lift 225kg half a metre against gravity 500 times (the equivalent). (The idea here is that you try to back up lofty claims with some science numbers.)

Don't forget to add your body weight. Lifting ~110kg 6 feet (4 times 1/2 meter) 25 times in about 3 minutes ~= 6 mintues @ 150W on a bike. Plus whatever lifting your body weight from a squat adds up to. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_and_jerk Start playing with the numbers and Weight lifters can get into crazy high energy diets. PS: Works out to around 110kg / ~.82 ~= 135kg max lift. At 230 lb the record is 246…

Serious bodybuilders have to eat like it's their job. At a certain point, regular food fails to provide enough calories so they have to reach for liquid diets.
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