Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I used to think that exercise alone would help me lose weight but it really didn't. What it DID do was help my overall body composition and make me look smaller and better. So honestly--to lose weight you really do have to cut your calories back to a rate that you are creating a calorie deficit. Exercise will help with overall body composition and tone but not really all that much in weight loss. I think one of the best strategies I've seen is to drop your calories back and lose weight and then when you get close to your goal--perhaps add in some exercise to tone up and look better. Muscle mass does burn more calories than fat mass so there has to be some advantage in that. But you cannot rely on just exercise alone to lose weight.
This is a great strategy! As I have exercise over the years I look smaller than my weight. When I lost weight in college I did not start running until I lost over 40lb. So I have realize I have to lose less weight to achieve a look or a size. But you are right it is truly about cutting calories, but it is important to tone because I recently was much smaller earlier in the year and did not work out, but I have some flabby body parts I was not happy about. lol
I said short, intense cardio trumps traditional cardio every single time especially when it comes to trying to reshape your body and burn fat. Long, medium intensity cardio is a stressor on the body. When the body is stressed, it releases cortisol which can play a role in craving “comfort” foods, overeating, feeling fatigued, and storing excess body fat. Plus, cortisol is released by the adrenals which love to get people sick and fat when they're overworked.
Again, I'll point to the rows of treadmills, ellipticals and bikes and I'll point to you the people in the gym that are mostly unhappy with how they look. If all we needed to get in shape was cardio, wouldn't the gym be full of people with amazing bodies? Instead, traditional cardio breaks down muscle, which, especially when combined with a diet, slows down metabolism, meaning you have to spend more time doing cardio to make up for that, which means more muscle breakdown, meaning more cardio, etc.
I'll just point out those individuals that most people aspire to look like; football players, gymnasts, olympic weight lifters, sprinters, high jumpers, etc. All work out by way of short, intense bursts of action and then rest and repeat.
I failed to mention that you could also do long, slow cardio. If you walk briskly, slightly faster than your normal pace, every morning as soon as you wake up, you can burn a decent amount of fat from your body and since the intensity is so low, you can do this 7 days a week 30 minutes a day. However most people want to change their bodies, not just drop a few pounds of fat and they want to do it as soon as possible. Typically this is what bodybuilders use to put the icing on the cake to drop those last few pounds before a show.
I don't understand your second point. Are you saying because cardiovascular exercise derives it's name from the heart, it's more beneficial than weight training? If they rename it to heart training, will that be better? How is focusing on weight training less beneficial than cardio or somehow focusing on a small problem when there's a larger one? Are you suggesting weight training doesn't train the heart?
The article brings into good points about maintaining an overall more active lifestyle via walking and similar activities leads to great health benefits.
That being said, however, the article is very misleading at best and worded very poorly. They even said at one point, "exercise turns fat into muscle." Now I don't know if they meant that literally but the overall tone of the article seems to suggest so.
They don't go into what type of exercise the women do other than vigorous or not vigorous. Many people talk about how necessary weight training is in any exercise regimen and you will actually gain weight from weight training but you'll be skinnier. Also, no one changes their diet, so if you eat like crap, you're still going to look like crap. And walking is great for losing weight, but it doesn't do much for things like VO2max, resting heart rate and other generally accepted indicators of cardiovascular health.
Exercise is part of a lifestyle for reshaping your body. When you work out, you tend to to do things that support that; trying to opt for the healthier choices, drinking more water etc. This person who wrote the article is operating under the incorrect assumption that exercising is supposed to make up for their poor choices when, instead, they're supposed to making lifestyle changes that affect many decisions throughout their day
An example of weighing more but being skinnier. 131 pounds on the left, 142 on the right
Ok to me, I think the left looks skinner and better. I am not into more muscular bodies, but either way you look great! I personally just rather weight less
I'd be willing to bet if you stopped working out (say hypothetically I paid you $1M to not work out for one year), you wouldn't gain more than three pounds in that year. You'd simply not be as hungry and you'd eat less.
""In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless," says Eric Ravussin, chair in diabetes and metabolism at Louisiana State University and a prominent exercise researcher. "
Actually quite the opposite. I eat MORE when I don't workout (boredom and time). If I didn't workout I would gain weight relatively quickly. I am willing to bet that some others on here would say the same. Please don't quote one poorly done study and claim exercise has nothing to do with weight loss. It flies in the face of the vast majority of research and accepted science.
I eat MORE when I don't workout (boredom and time).
You would be the exception (and possibly you "think" you eat more). The overwhelming majority of people become hungrier if they had worked out. This is not debatable. It is backed up with peer reviewed data and it also is quite obvious.
You would be the exception (and possibly you "think" you eat more). The overwhelming majority of people become hungrier if they had worked out. This is not debatable. It is backed up with peer reviewed data and it also is quite obvious.
I don't think this is the exception at all. Are you really saying it's better to go home and sit on the couch than to work out, because if you work out you'll be hungrier? You're also assuming that hunger is the only reason people eat. People go home and eat because they're bored, because it tastes good, out of habit, whatever.
Actually quite the opposite. I eat MORE when I don't workout (boredom and time). If I didn't workout I would gain weight relatively quickly. I am willing to bet that some others on here would say the same. Please don't quote one poorly done study and claim exercise has nothing to do with weight loss. It flies in the face of the vast majority of research and accepted science.
Well you better have a back up plan if you get injured. Just saying.
I used to be like that and then I stopped letting myself get bored. There is always something out there to do, clean or make. Its good you identified your gain habits but you should now work on handling the bored thing. Plus you get more stuff done. Losing weight made my house so darn clean!
What exercise does is help pull your blood sugar down to a level where your body starts to run of fat stores instead of your food intake. When your blood sugar gets low for ANY reason you are going to get hungry. Extreme spikes and dips in blood sugar make it even worse. So a fast pull down from exercise can trigger that. (certain dietary practices can as well)
Working out lets you squeeze in maybe an extra 200-500 calories of food if you are going for loss and doing a workout that burns that amount. That can be a good comfort level for a lot of people who just way too laggy on diet only food restriction.
If you are deep in fat burning due to diet or diet and exercise it can actually help your appetite shut off because of the ketones in your blood. But thats usually because you are nauseated. LOL
It does make you feel a little queasy. If you refeed after that with too much sugar..boom...hunger monster. Its why those who work out do better with food control when the diet is low in sugar.
I don't think people should not exercise but its not the largest component of weight loss.
Not overeating is the biggest thing. And since your workout to avoid boredom eating you are not overeating so thats why it works for you. You get the added health bonus for working out.
Let me give you an example of my burn though:
Say today I ate up to my weight limit and then ate some more.
I overate by having...hmm...
Cheesecake slice and a small hot chocolate from starbucks
Grand calorie total = 257 +330 = 587
I did that because I worked out yesterday and was starving late at night.
So to burn it off that is a lot of cals for my weight (115)
I would have to ride a bike for a little over an hour at 14-16 mph consistently to erase the mistake.
That is just under racing speed.
What I am saying is that it can make you hungry so watch out for it just in case.
Its a lot easier to put it on than take it off.
I could finish that overeat treat in about 15 minutes...no sweating. LOL
Whether you create a calorie deficit by taking in less calories from food, or expending more calories through exercise, it's a deficit, though I'd wager that exercising is superior. Not only can it help create a calorie deficit but if done at the right time, can actually use body fat as a source of energy provided you haven't eaten recently.
Whether you create a calorie deficit by taking in less calories from food, or expending more calories through exercise, it's a deficit, though I'd wager that exercising is superior. Not only can it help create a calorie deficit but if done at the right time, can actually use body fat as a source of energy provided you haven't eaten recently.
Dietary restriction does the same. We are constantly burning calories. The diet level of calories always has your body running on low.
The diet cut is usually in the middle of those two numbers.
Dietary calorie cuts are as follows:
200 - fat burning
(low loss but helps retain muscle through nutritional support)
500 - regular diet cut, minimum rules of staying at 1200 for women and 1500 for men.
(loss is about 80% fat and 20% muscle. You can fight muscle loss with nutrition and strength training)
1000 - max healthy cut as long as you follow the minimum rules of staying at 1200 for women and 1500 for men. The cut can be with diet and exercise (usually has to be) and anything over that can make you body freak out and go slow on loss. Anything under the minimum falls into doctor assisted VLC diets to ensure you get what you need and don't experience health problems.
I look view it as a bank. If you take in more calories you gain weight if you lose calories then you lose weight. Now if someone does that only by reducing what they eat then they will lose weight and if someone does that by both exercising and watching what they eat again they will lose weight. If, however, they exercise but take in more calories then they burn then they will gain weight.
However on the positive side people who exercise are more healthy then people who do not even if the people who exercise are over weight.
This is a study I found:
Nearly half of fat people are just as healthy as slim people - and at no more risk of developing heart problems or cancer, researchers claim. Doing exercise can offset the dangers of being obese, the researchers found. The study - which is the largest of its kind - abolishes the notion that obesity automatically leads to ill-health.
Personally I exercise every day, mostly the elliptical runner, and I watch what I eat but I am not as thin as I would like. However my doctor is pleased so I am pleased.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
