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Don't Try to Lose Weight by Exercising

It's interesting to note that the people posting on this thread who have acheived significant weight-loss have increased exercise and changed diet but choose, based on nothing other than their own arbitary decision, to allocate the weight loss at least in part to the exercise, and yet I suspect that none have any idea how many claories less they ate/eat.
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Not in my case. I know very well that I was consuming about 3000 cals a day in the latter part of last year, that figure is now about 2000. My weight loss since January is consistent with a daily deficit of about 750 cal, when you do the arithmetic that 1g of fatty tissue contains about 6 cal. I'm not exercising for long enough for this to make a huge difference. However I do know that if I increase this to several hours a day the weight falls off me and I cannot eat enough to maintain my weight. As I said earlier, nobody sensible imagines that half an hour on a treadmill equals a mars bar. By the same token, someone on a cycling holiday doing 6-7 hours out every day for a week will lose weight regardless of how much beer they put away in the evening s. This last I can prove at first hand.
 
For anyone who starts exercising after doing none there is the catch up which I assume is fat turning to muscle
A while after starting cycling to work my weight stayed at 14.5 stone
However the other half said I was getting thinner

Exercise is good for so many reasons and, as they say
"Can help weight loss as part of a programme" yada yada
 
Is it worth broadening the discussion slightly to cover different forms of exercise?

When I took up long distance running to get in shape, I initially lost weight, but then I think my body adapted to the steady state of a long jog.

I switched to weight based cardio, and then increased the weight training component. I'm following those people on YouTube who talk about how the exercise needs for men over 40/50s is very different to the young 20 somethings.

The typical peloton ad targets this younger lifestyle audience, but it doesn't mean it is right for all.
 
As I said earlier, nobody sensible imagines that half an hour on a treadmill equals a mars bar. By the same token, someone on a cycling holiday doing 6-7 hours out every day for a week will lose weight regardless of how much beer they put away in the evening s. This last I can prove at first hand.
Many years ago when I lived in Chelmsford, one of my neighbours suggested I join the local keep-fit club. I discovered the group met up in Hyland's Park, ran around for a couple of miles, then they all went straight to the pub & sank 8 or 9 pints of beer. I only went once.
 
Many years ago when I lived in Chelmsford, one of my neighbours suggested I join the local keep-fit club. I discovered the group met up in Hyland's Park, ran around for a couple of miles, then they all went straight to the pub & sank 8 or 9 pints of beer. I only went once.
Sounds like that club was more about the pub than the track suits. 8 or 9 miles, then a couple of pints of beer, that might have been a different affair.
 
IME you need to do circa 100 miles per week to have a positive effect on weight. Your body then adapts to this & you still need to watch what you eat.
 
IME you need to do circa 100 miles per week to have a positive effect on weight. Your body then adapts to this & you still need to watch what you eat.

Could it depend on the topography also ?
Sure. It's about workrate and time spent. An average runner does 10 minute miles at steadt pace. That's 6mph. 100 miles in a week is 17 hours a week. If you take a day off, that's just under 3 hours pd the for the other 6 days. Who do you know who exercises for over 2.5 hours a day, 6 days a week? Nobody I know. So I don't think that you need worry about topology, 2.5 hours of hard exercise a day, be it in Utrecht or Zermatt, will make you thin. You might be going a bit slower in Zermatt. I don't think it matters.
 
Many years ago when I lived in Chelmsford, one of my neighbours suggested I join the local keep-fit club. I discovered the group met up in Hyland's Park, ran around for a couple of miles, then they all went straight to the pub & sank 8 or 9 pints of beer. I only went once.
Yes, much more civilised going straight to the pub?
 
You expend 600 or so (k) calories cabbaging on the sofa in front of the tv for a Saturday morning just breathing and digesting your breakfast. It's quite hard to exercise 600 (k) calories worth of effort. When I became ill I had to learn to readjust my calorie intake to a much pedestrian way of life...
 
Sure. It's about workrate and time spent. An average runner does 10 minute miles at steadt pace. That's 6mph. 100 miles in a week is 17 hours a week. If you take a day off, that's just under 3 hours pd the for the other 6 days. Who do you know who exercises for over 2.5 hours a day, 6 days a week? Nobody I know. So I don't think that you need worry about topology, 2.5 hours of hard exercise a day, be it in Utrecht or Zermatt, will make you thin. You might be going a bit slower in Zermatt. I don't think it matters.
The hundred miles was related to cycling not running. I do about 11-12 hours exercise per week in normal times. Have done about 5 hours this week & will probably do 6-7 hours over the weekend. I am a member of a cycling club so this does seem reasonably normal;)
 
The hundred miles was related to cycling not running. I do about 11-12 hours exercise per week in normal times. Have done about 5 hours this week & will probably do 6-7 hours over the weekend. I am a member of a cycling club so this does seem reasonably normal;)
100 miles on a bike is a bit more reasonable. I used to have a 6 mile bike commute, 60 miles a week straight away. It kept me thin, French cuisine, plenty of wine and about 10.5 stone. BMI about 23-24.
 
About 15 years ago I was well out of shape at nearly 15 stone on a 6 foot frame. I devised a body weight regime for building muscle and a cardio routine which was running. I alternated days. Neither regime was more than 20 mins. The goal was to make physical activity a permanent part of my life. So it was simple. As many pressups as I could do for 3 sets. As many pullups as I could do for 3 sets (in the beginning that literally was 0-1). On the other day I would run 10mins from home and return making about 20 mins. Eventaually I added to both such that today it's 25-30 mins or cardio, most of the time running and I can now do 10-12 on the bar over 3 sets and 20+ pressups. I now am around 13 stone and pretty much eat/drink what I want within reaon and have no trouble keeping that weight. None of this is to impress. The point is that consistency is the key. So many I''ve known along the way start fantastically but never keep going. So choose something that doesn't take a lot of time and gives you the max benefit. The habit for me is now ingrained such that it is not a chore to get it done.
 
Sorry for the post-weekend revival of this thread.

Rather than depending on one anthropological study, let's instead look at a robust meta-analysis of several different studies on weight-loss due to exercise alone, diet alone, or combined strategies (which they call "behavioral weight management programs" (BWMPs)). Here is the conclusion:

"Weight loss is similar in the short-term for diet-only and combined BWMPs but in the longer-term weight loss is increased when diet and physical activity are combined. Programs based on physical activity alone are less effective than combined BWMPs in both the short and long term."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25257365/

I place far more weight on those conclusions, supported by the scientific method, than the study in the original post. The original post is interesting and certainly must be factored into our understanding, but actual experiments can be carried out to test hypotheses. And, at least based on the experiments considered in the above meta-analysis, combining diet and exercise is still the most effective long-term route to weight loss.
 
"Weight loss is similar in the short-term for diet-only and combined BWMPs but in the longer-term weight loss is increased when diet and physical activity are combined. Programs based on physical activity alone are less effective than combined BWMPs in both the short and long term."
Okay, so if you choose this method, give it more time. What always goes wrong is young girls taking up weight in December, and trying desperately to lose more than they gained so they look cracking on the beach in Summer.
 


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