Yea, that is why (if you took off those numbers they wear) you wouldn't be able to tell marathon runners from random people at walmart...
Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
81–90 of 109 posts
Re: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
running an hour at a 10 minute mile (6 mph) is unlikely to lead to injury.
Over forty miles per week with no rest days == too much for most people, way too much if you're overweight. Sure, some people do a lot more, but there are always exceptions. Every running trail and running club is disproportionately populated by people who have better resistance to injury. Steady running is one of the most challenging things you can do to your joints. (I find doing fartlek over a given distance a lot…
Okay, so first, I'm certainly not saying every sedentary person should hop up and run for an hour tomorrow. I'm saying you can get there in a month or two of reasonable effort.
And, if you'd prefer, get on a bike for an hour instead. It's lower impact, and you'll burn at least as many calories as running.
Re: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
1,000 calories, considering the modern possibilities, isn't that much. I mean, that's a bit less than two slices of toast with Nutella. Weight loss programs have to focus on preempting and managing appetite. There's a wealth of studies connecting exercise to increased appetite (c.f. OP), especially focused, running-at-the-gym, doing-penance-for-those-donuts exercise. (Low-level activity—walking around, say—doesn't se…
If you think of exercise as 30 minutes a day 3 times a week then diet is by far more important. But, at extreme levels of exercise it's hard to eat enough calories to keep from losing weight. At the true elite level Michael Phelps is fueled by 12,000 calorie a day diet, eating that much food just hard. Think 60 Twinkies a day plus a 3000 calorie diet. But even 1/2 that and most people would still have problems keepin…
> At the true elite level Michael Phelps is fueled by 12,000 calorie a day diet, eating that much food just hard. Think 60 Twinkies a day plus a 3000 calorie diet.
Even at much less intense levels, it's challenging to eat as much as necessary to maintain weight if you have a healthy diet. When I was training 100 miles a week (not all that much for a serious cyclist) I ate around 3300 calories a day. If my diet included stuff like Big Macs and triple mochas with a muffin, that would be easy. But if you aren't in the habit of eating lots of processed and fast foods, it's actually quick a bit of work to eat that much.
Re: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
#84Hmm I exercise daily and have been more tempted to eat healthier foods, rather than undo all the work my body has put in exercising. I'm down 30LB in the past 45 days. Time can suck it.
30 lbs in 45 days. Impressive. I've dropped about 30 lbs in the last year and need to drop the last 10 lbs or so. I would love to know how your exercise and diet look like today.
Re: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
#85The article itself it insightful. But, brother hackers, can we allow an article whose title is a blatant lie to be voted to the top of Hacker News? Running is exercise. Running 1600 meters, on average, burns 124 calories for a man. ("Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running", Syracuse Uni study). This only takes a few minutes. Even if a person is taking in massively more calories than their body needs -- let's say,…
[deleted]
Re: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Over forty miles per week with no rest days == too much for most people, way too much if you're overweight. Sure, some people do a lot more, but there are always exceptions. Every running trail and running club is disproportionately populated by people who have better resistance to injury. Steady running is one of the most challenging things you can do to your joints. (I find doing fartlek over a given distance a lot…
Okay, so first, I'm certainly not saying every sedentary person should hop up and run for an hour tomorrow. I'm saying you can get there in a month or two of reasonable effort. And, if you'd prefer, get on a bike for an hour instead. It's lower impact, and you'll burn at least as many calories as running.
Okay, so first, I'm certainly not saying every sedentary person should hop up and run for an hour tomorrow. I'm saying you can get there in a month or two of reasonable effort.
I'm not an expert, but I read what they say. This is way, way out of line with what any experienced running trainer would tell a beginner. Not even a beginner who was, say, an extremely fit swimmer. Definitely not a sedentary beginner. You have to give your connective tissue time to adapt to the peculiar stresses of running. (Plus, beginners are going to have crappy form and inflict more punishment on themselves than necessary.) By the numbers most people use, it would be very aggressive, but possibly reasonable for some people, to ramp up to 42 miles per week in one month from a base of ~29 miles per week or in two months from a base of ~20 miles per week. And that's pretty aggressive. Trying to get to 42 miles per week in two months from a sedentary state would leave basically everybody injured except genetic freaks or people with a previous adaptation to high-mileage running.
If you're starting from a sedentary state with no weight problem or existing injuries, you might start with eight miles per week and ramp up to 42 miles per week over nine months. That's a 10% increase in mileage every other week, and it assumes you don't screw up and get hurt, which many beginners do.
And, if you'd prefer, get on a bike for an hour instead. It's lower impact, and you'll burn at least as many calories as running.
That might be more reasonable (if you can find someplace nearby where you can ride in a fast, sustained way without blowing through stoplights or terrorizing pedestrians.) I don't have personal experience with ramping up bike training (I just ride to work once in a while) but from what I hear it doesn't require as much care as running.
Re: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
#87Actually, intense thinking, as I recall, burns a lot of calories. The trick is diet, as mentioned on here (next to moderate levels of exercise). Eat mostly veggies, rice, pasta, avocados, fruit. Drink water and no pop. The other thing: look up glycemic index of foods. The easier it is for the body to turn something into sugar (processed foods, e.g. white bread), the more likely the body will create an insulin rush, w…
The fruit, rice and pasta are pretty high up on the glycemic index.
Re: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
#88The article itself it insightful. But, brother hackers, can we allow an article whose title is a blatant lie to be voted to the top of Hacker News? Running is exercise. Running 1600 meters, on average, burns 124 calories for a man. ("Energy Expenditure of Walking and Running", Syracuse Uni study). This only takes a few minutes. Even if a person is taking in massively more calories than their body needs -- let's say,…
1,000 calories, considering the modern possibilities, isn't that much. I mean, that's a bit less than two slices of toast with Nutella. Weight loss programs have to focus on preempting and managing appetite. There's a wealth of studies connecting exercise to increased appetite (c.f. OP), especially focused, running-at-the-gym, doing-penance-for-those-donuts exercise. (Low-level activity—walking around, say—doesn't se…
1000 calories for toast with Nutella!?
I assume by calories you mean kilocalories in which case you are probably looking around 1000 KJ (kilojoules) for two slices of toast with Nutella. That's around 239 (kilo)calories.
Re: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I downvoted you as your last meal of the day should be high protein, low GI. Fruit is the opposite.
You've been here long enough to know that this is not how HN does things. You do NOT express disagreement with downmods.
Re: Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
#90As someone who's been trying to lose weight for a while, I have to say that trying to control your diet without working out is hard. Ever since I started working out and playing squash (for the last 2 months) I have significantly reduced my daily calorie intake (from ~3500 calories to between 1200 - 1500 calories). I tried this in the past but could never keep it going beyond a couple of weeks.
I think the reason working out has helped me is 'cause in the back of my head, I'm thinking about all the work I'd have to put in at the gym to make up for those 1000 extra calories I had. So, while controlling your diet is essential, doing some physical exercise to support that is just as important IMHO.