Diets and Weight Loss

Has anyone read this article titled 'Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin" in Time?

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html

Exercise makes you hungry, but if you're exercising to lose weight you should also be eating a healthy diet, not using it as an excuse to eat junk food. That's what I got out of the article. It's pretty much common sense, but that doesn't mean it makes me any happier!  

I think that's part of what they're saying, yes, but I think it's also that diet is more of a factor in weight loss than exercise is.  For me, it's very difficult mentally to both exercise hard and tell myself I'm not allowed to treat myself to something nice to eat after working out so hard.  I wish I had that kind of willpower, but I don't! 

All that being said, exercise clearly has many benefits, both physical and mental. 

I know I need to exercise in order to get my heart in better condition, but just to state a fact:  I lost 45lbs with 0% exercise.  I just started exercising last week but I lost 45lbs (in about 3 months) from diet alone.

I know I need to exercise in order to get my heart in better condition, but just to state a fact:  I lost 45lbs with 0% exercise.  I just started exercising last week but I lost 45lbs (in about 3 months) from diet alone.

Same here.  I lost 58 pounds with 0% exercise, other than to merely walk from point A to point B (as I don't drive and have to rely on public transport and getting to/from stations, etc.)

Same here.  I lost 58 pounds with 0% exercise, other than to merely walk from point A to point B (as I don't drive and have to rely on public transport and getting to/from stations, etc.)

Yep, this is what I mean (Navie sorry, I meant TarnLover as well).  I think exercise is good for heart health and mental health, but I don't feel it's the best for weight loss for me.

Has anyone read this article titled 'Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin" in Time?

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html

Meh, the article would've done better to have been called "Why phoning it in at the gym wont make you thin."  I think that all the studies in the world can show gym membership is at an all time high, and I am sure if you asked those people most would at least try to claim they go regularly but lets face it... It's as Geeta said, people use it as an excuse to eat worse.

TBPH, even when I had my gym membership I made it maybe once a week, ate more, and got fed up that I didnt see any results.

Then I stopped lying to myself.

That is why I haven't joined a gym again...it would be a waste of money for me because I'd never go and would make me feel guilty because of wasting money and never going!  My friend says 'well, why don't you just GO?'  But I know myself, and I just wouldn't do it. 

That is why I haven't joined a gym again...it would be a waste of money for me because I'd never go and would make me feel guilty because of wasting money and never going!  My friend says 'well, why don't you just GO?'  But I know myself, and I just wouldn't do it. 

This is why the exercise dvd is working so much better for me... its a better workout than I would give myself and it removes all the bits I hate about going to the gym.

This is what I also like about the tiny little gym I've found not too far from me - it's mostly about toning, strength training and a few exercise machines like treadmill, stationary bike and cross-trainer.  I refuse to kill myself, but do want to keep my bones strong.  Plus, I go there after work on my way home and have a meal waiting when I get home!

But, the rest of my exercise is walking and my Pilates DVD.

I also think 'dieting' shouldn't be about total restriction.  But, I don't have a problem with overeating and eating too much junk food - I've obviously gained weight because I eat more calories than I burn off, but I still don't believe sitting behind a desk all day hasn't added to that...

Anyone into Paul Mckenna and 'I Can Make you Thin'?  I think a lot of what he says makes a lot of sense, although I've modified some of what he's said so it works for me as part of an 'eating plan', but he does make you think and he also focuses more on diet than exercise (although I don't think he discourages it).

This is why the exercise dvd is working so much better for me... its a better workout than I would give myself and it removes all the bits I hate about going to the gym.

I like working out at home more, too. I would like to go to the gym sometimes, but as I am sort of an off and on exerciser, I think a gym membership might be wasted on me. I have a few different dvds, a set of handweights, a stability ball, and an exercise mat, so it's really like having my own gym and I can change up my workouts depending on what I am in the mood for. I do sometimes like to ride my bike on nice days for a change of pace and some fresh air, though. I seem to like that better than walking most of the time.

I'm even more depressed now.  I upped my goal weight loss from 20 lbs to only 15, which brought my daily calories up.  BUT.  I realized that it had me down for activities of 'sitting, moderate walking about' for the whole day, instead of sleeping for 8 hours.  I changed that and now I'm back to only being able to eat 900 calories a day to make my goal by December 1.  That seems crazy.  This is only attempting to lose 1.5 lbs a week - nothing dramatic! 

I'm even more depressed now.  I upped my goal weight loss from 20 lbs to only 15, which brought my daily calories up.  BUT.  I realized that it had me down for activities of 'sitting, moderate walking about' for the whole day, instead of sleeping for 8 hours.  I changed that and now I'm back to only being able to eat 900 calories a day to make my goal by December 1.  That seems crazy.  This is only attempting to lose 1.5 lbs a week - nothing dramatic! 

Give it a go on Spark People and see what it says your calorie range should be. Since you are short like me, probably around 1200-1500. www.sparkpeople.com

I'm even more depressed now.  I upped my goal weight loss from 20 lbs to only 15, which brought my daily calories up.  BUT.  I realized that it had me down for activities of 'sitting, moderate walking about' for the whole day, instead of sleeping for 8 hours.  I changed that and now I'm back to only being able to eat 900 calories a day to make my goal by December 1.  That seems crazy.  This is only attempting to lose 1.5 lbs a week - nothing dramatic!  

I think that application is actually quite irresponsible.  It should not enable people to jig their goals of a certain amount of weight lost to a timetable.  There should be a floor of say 1200 calories that it doesn't go below, and it should actually feed back to the user they need to change the expectations on their timetable rather than intimating that it's a good idea to lose weight more rapidly.  The application should encourage people to eat a healthy amount of calories and a variety of food so you get all your nutrients each day.  Jewlz's subsequent point about focusing on eating 1200-1500 calories per day is spot on, IMO.

It took practically no time for me to put on 40 pounds when I moved to the UK, and it took years to lose 58 pounds.  I did this by not putting pressure on myself to achieve a particular amount of weight lost within a particular timeframe.  Rather I focused on healthy eating and had a target weight in mind so that I would know when I reached my goal.  But healthy eating is a lifelong commitment and even though I'm at my final goal weight now, I still eat the same as I did when I was trying to lose weight.  It turned out that previous target weights were still too high, as I have a small frame and accumulate weight in different areas than most women do (I'm an apple shape).

To give you another example, a colleague of mine has cosmetic surgery booked for 18 December to fix her loose skin from having lost 10 stone after being fitted with a gastric band 3 years ago.  She began binge eating after she set herself a strict goal to lose another 1.5 stone prior to her surgery date.  I've tried to encourage her to focus on eating healthily and not to put a target on her weight loss, as she seems to be rebelling against this by bingeing.

I work for an IT consultancy, and am very well used to working in a project driven environment.  But healthy eating is an ongoing process, not something to be managed like an IT project, as the project management approach to it can be detrimental.

It definitely does give a warning when you go below a certain level of calories - my sister had one pop out at her.   But I do think it's a bit crazy to think eating only 900 calories a day is healthy for anyone.  Madness!

I am definitely one who needs a timetable.  I need to be able to have a definite goal that I can work towards.  Otherwise I always put it off...oh, I can just do it tomorrow, no rush.  So for me, the timetable is actually a good way to track my progress.  I do agree that healthy eating is a change you make for good, not for a certain period of time.  But for me, if I have a weight loss goal, then setting a realistic time in which to achieve my goal is a good motivator.

To give you another example, a colleague of mine has cosmetic surgery booked for 18 December to fix her loose skin from having lost 10 stone after being fitted with a gastric band 3 years ago.  She began binge eating after she set herself a strict goal to lose another 1.5 stone prior to her surgery date.  I've tried to encourage her to focus on eating healthily and not to put a target on her weight loss, as she seems to be rebelling against this by bingeing.

This is why the gastric band option has such a low long term success rate.  Unless one makes the effort to change the habits that led to the gastric band in the first place, it's a completely useless proceedure.