How Important Is Exercise For Weight Loss?

[Shotgun]

The worst problem people have with weight loss is that the goal is weight loss. Weird diets with an arbitrary deadline just don’t work. If your goal is to be healthy for life than the weight just comes off naturally. At least that’s been my experience.

Stop eating sugar and refined starches and you will lose weight with no real effort. This is what diets that work like the Keto diet, sicilian diet, Okinawan diet, vegetarian(if done right) etc all have in common. REAL food and not the crap from a box or can. People have to get off the insulin roller coaster and the best way to do that is to avoid processed foods and regard them as the addictive poison they are.

Get this;
Eat sugar get a sugar high. An hour later you’re hangry because you’ve sugar crashed. AKA withdrawals. So you have more sugar to stabilize your body and repeat every hour. Eventually you get fat and develop long term, potentially fatal diseases. The diseases are different but this is exactly what smokers go through. Addictive poison.

I’ve managed to work my way up to jogging(after 20 years of being a lazy bum) but it’s not about weight loss. The jogging is because it’s cheaper and has less side effects than antidepressants. That’s the real benefit to exercise for me. Mood regulation. And yeah, I’ll probably lose another 20 pounds doing it. Cool side bonus.

 

[Guy McVer]

Sorry for digging this one up out of the graveyard. I hit my weight loss goal this morning, which was just to take off all the extra stuff I've been packing on to my midsection over the holidays going as far back as the fourth of July. I really drink too much beer.

Exercise is not important for weight loss at all if you're just looking at weight. However, when you do lose weight, it comes from your fat reserves and from your muscles. You don't just lose fat. Your strength will decrease as a result. That's where exercise comes in. In addition to being healthy, exercise helps you maintain your strength so you don't get weaker. You don't want to end up like me: with poor upper body strength because all you do is ride your bike. You should probably throw in some strength training.

...Okay, I should probably throw in some strength training... I have weak cyclist arms... the other morning I picked up a 60 pound sand bag and moved it a few feet. My arms were already sore by the afternoon. I am a total wuss.

If you want to lose weight, diet is more important than exercise, but exercise is helpful to maintain your strength and I strongly advise doing it whether you are trying to lose weight or not.

 

[Locutus D'Borg]

I'm 74, thin and muscular, but have put on some pounds around the waist. In my experience diet is more important than exercise, but exercising is easier for me than changing diet.

So in addition to exercise, I'm eating way lighter meals but with Skinny Pop popcorn and Wintermint lifesavers (I suck on them when hungry) as snacks because I'm usually still hungry. I exercise a lot so I've reached the point where I'm always hungry because my body wants me to eat calories rather burning fat stores. It's a process.

 

[Guy McVer]

I'm 74, thin and muscular, but have put on some pounds around the waist.

Muscular is praiseworthy at 74. Pounds around the midsection are also excusable at your age. But I applaud your dedication.

Skinny Pop popcorn

Popcorn shreds your insides. It's the little brown flakes from the skin of the kernels. They don't digest and they tear up your intestinal walls. I love popcorn but it has a negative effect on me that I can feel right up until it goes in the porcelain bowl. It makes me feel tired, bloated, and it hurts on the way out.

I exercise a lot so I've reached the point where I'm always hungry because my body wants me to eat calories rather burning fat stores. It's a process.

Supposedly some apple cider vinegar with the Mother of Vinegar still it will help control your appetite by regulating your blood sugar. You might want to look into it. When drinking it, it's probably a good idea to dilute it with some water though.

 

[Sharp Steel]

Supposedly some apple cider vinegar with the Mother of Vinegar still it will help control your appetite by regulating your blood sugar. You might want to look into it. When drinking it, it's probably a good idea to dilute it with some water though.

I was watching the morning news/infotainment program from one of the local stations who had someone extoling the virtues of apple cider vinegar. They had shots for the hosts, but the one host must never have done it before. She almost vomited on live TV. The look on her face was priceless. Real trooper for holding it together at that moment.

 

[Guy McVer]

I was watching the morning news/infotainment program from one of the local stations who had someone extoling the virtues of apple cider vinegar. They had shots for the hosts, but the one host must never have done it before. She almost vomited on live TV. The look on her face was priceless. Real trooper for holding it together at that moment.

Yeah well vinegar is essentially acid, right? The first time I took a shot of it, I coughed. The vinegar you buy in stores is usually only around 5 or 6 percent, I think. People use it for cleaning, adding patinas to carbon steel, and killing mold. Vinegar softens hard water stains. I use a mixture of vinegar and dish soap to clean my toilet with.

 

[John_B]

You're going to get old and grow fat. Except it and move on down the buffet line.

 

[knarfeng]

Diet was much more important than exercise for weight loss for me.
Due to some medical issues I was forced to drastically change my diet to a "low lectin", low carbohydrate diet (among other things, that meant: no sugars, no grains, no legumes, no potatos). It greatly helped the issues. The side effect was that without any change in the amount of exercise I lost about 70 pounds.

 

[norcalAF]

You're going to get old and grow fat. Except it and move on down the buffet line.

True story, my grandfather a MD of all things (RIP) used to say loudly to 12 year old me while we were in the Golden Corral Buffet while pointing at the obese people "they're losing money on them folks!" God bless that man

 

[sgt1372]

I was on a very rigorous weight lifting and muscle gain program for many years and measured my weight daily & had my fat% & distribution measured @ 3 months for about 10 years.

People "poo-poo" (and give all kinds of excuses) why this doesn't work for them but "weight loss/maintenance really just comes down to "cals in vs cals out."

So, while exercising can help to increase cals out, you burn cals just sitting and doing normal stuff and, depending on how many cals you burn and how much you eat, exercise isn't as important for weight loss as it is for your general health, & physical well being.

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BTW & FWIW, my only form of exercise (other than normal activity) over the past 3 years has been rowing 10k meters/day 5 days/wk which takes me about 75 mins (in 2 sets of 5k m of 37.5 mins each) which only "burns" a total of about 500 cals/day which is equivalent to 4-5 glasses of wine that I drink per day.

LOL!

 

[eveled]

Dieting slows your metabolism. It’s your body’s defense mechanism. During times of famine.

Exercising boosts your metabolism all day. It’s not just about the calories burned while exercising.

So exercising is critical while dieting to keep your metabolism high.

Jim Fix was a fitness expert who believed you could eat whatever you want as long as you exercise enough. He was a very lean runner. He died of a massive heart attack. Cholesterol killed him.

The real secret is to make healthy diet choices. Stay active and not expect to lose weight rapidly. Slow and steady.

I’ve lost 40 lbs in 4 years. I don’t weigh myself. I just wait for doctors appointments.