Want to lose weight? Stop exercising

I find that the important part about exercise isn’t that you lose weight, but that you redistribute the weight you’ve got.

  • Alan

The fastest way to lose weight is to exercise all day long and eat nothing.

Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? I’ll call it the “plantation” diet!

I think the amount of exercise is a factor. Long distance runners, competitive swimmers and other endurance athletes often have metabolisms that just burn up what they eat even when sitting still. This, despite lower heart rates.

Someone that exercises about a 1/2 hour a day, 4-5 days a week won’t substantially alter their metabolism. Someone that runs 6-10 miles a day, 6-7 days a week, will.

Is this true? You can’t eliminate hunger and reduce calories by eating foods that make you feel full or whatever?

You’re going to come up with a citation for that, because if you’re building muscle through effective consistent half-hour exercise sessions, you’re going to change your metabolic rate. If anything what I’ve read suggested the contrary is true - that running (aerobic exercise) isn’t as effective a basal rate factor as changing your muscle mass.

“Swimming sensation Michael Phelps has an Olympic recipe for success - and it involves eating a staggering 12,000 calories a day.”

That said, does the 30 min/500 calorie burn I get on the elliptical 5 days a week have very little effect on my weight/metabolism then? Because right now I can barely move and my shirt is quite liberally sweat covered.

Well of course it has an effect. But, to maximize your workouts you should change up what do you. Like, don’t do the elliptical every day, use the bike, jog, rowing machine, stair master, whatever. Don’t get comfortable in a routine, because then the benefits start to wane. Make your body constantly have to adapt to new things.

Oh, and don’t “congratulate” yourself for working out by eating a pie 6 hours later.

1/2 a pie…oh and a beer :)

But yeah that is a definite no no.

If the purpose of the fight against obesity isn’t to make people healthier, it’s not a fight worth having. A lazy-ass 150 pound couch potato with a weak heart is not better for society than a 250 pound “obese” person who exercises five times a week.

I have to get a kick out of people who say that the muscle will turn to fat. NOOOOOOO!!! It can’t! Muscle and fat are different tissue types! Fat doesn’t turn into muscle nor does muscle turn into fat.

Basic weight loss/weight gain have to do with calories in/calories out. That said, if you have greater muscle mass, you will tend to have a higher metabolism, which means you need to eat more to maintain what you have. Even so, having a higher metabolism doesn’t mean that you can eat absolutely anything. It just means that you may need to eat more. And, of course, if you trained like Michael Phelps, you could eat like Michael Phelps.

At my most fit, I was running a long run of over 10 miles once per week and lifting 3 times per week. I had a good weight, but even so, to get down any further, I’d have needed to diet. Now, several pounds heavier, I am watching what I eat. As for exercise, we now have a Border Collie. 'nuff said.

So, I didn’t want to start a brand new thread, but I want to lose a few pounds. Like 15, maybe. I don’t have illusions of getting six pack abs or huge guns, I just want to slim down a bit so the ol’ pants aren’t so tight.

Working out, I lift, I’m going on hikes, and a bit of running. Working out is not the problem.

The problem is, bad habits. I tend to drink to much when I’m out … I don’t mean get hammered, I mean 3 beers when one with dinner would be ok. Or pop open a beer while watching TV or a movie, then heck, why not another?

Add to this I have this terrible habit of snacking late at night. I’ll eat dinner around 7 then stay up till midnight, 1 maybe. In that time I get hungry again and start foraging for food.

I seem to lack the willpower to just cut this kind of stuff out cold turkey, but I know in order to make progress I have to start cutting my caloric intake. Really this means beer and snacks. I know they are killing me. Did you know 6 tortilla chips are 150 calories? I can snarf down a half a bag without blinking. That shit needs to stop.

So does anyone else face this? What solution did you come up with? I’ve been reduced to not keeping those kinds of snacks around, or even beer in the fridge, to avoid temptation. Seems weak willed and idiotic, but I’m finding this “snack while on the couch” habit is maddeningly set in my mind.

Funnily enough, I barely drink anything and never eat while I’m playing videogames. Idle hands, and all that.

I’ll tell you some things I’ve thought of after I’ve heard some ideas. Some are pretty Pavlovian.

Sounds very familiar. So far, my solution has been “buy bigger pants.” Obviously suboptimal.

I was actually puttering around the Nutrisystem site yesterday (and reading some reviews, too).

Here’s my worry - I go on Nutrisystem and drop 40 pounds. Then I go off of Nutrisystem, and over the course of a few years, gain it back. I can live with this in general (i.e. weight fluctuation), but does the fact that I’ve gone down 40 pounds then gained it back over the course of the next few years do something significantly worse to my metabolism or health than if I’d never lost the weight in the first place?

I think, hopefully, I’m going to maintain once I lose. I’ve been this weight for oh, 2-3 years now. Just want to maintain at a lower weight (I’m willing to cut back a bit, obviously, out of my routine).

Habits are hard to break!

Most sources I’ve seen maintain that see-sawing your weight around like that is pretty unhealthy, yeah. The best way to lose weight is to think of the process as more of a lifestyle change, and not so much like a temporary thing that you’re going to do until you’ve lost the weight. It needs to be something that you think you can maintain indefinitely. This is one of the reasons why fad diets, even if they are effective at helping you drop pounds quickly, are generally a bad idea.

Try snacking on vegetables when you get the munchies – good for you, and you get full before you get too many calories. It’s also much easier than giving up snacking altogether, plus it works if you’ve got heart burn and so need to snack on something.

Also, switch out beer and soda for juice, and then later on ice water while snacking. I’ve found a good rule of thumb is to only drink socially, although since you don’t have kids that might not put enough of a dent in your beer drinking. Another thing that works for me is to drink hard liquor instead of beer, or maybe red wine for it’s health benefits.

Alternately, drink beers that are more diet friendly. I’m not talking lite beers, which I generally hate, but I’ve found that Guinness is a surprisingly great diet beer. A pub draught bottle is just 125 calories (and even the big pub draught cans are only 150), and is filling enough that you will happier having just one.

The Qt3-ers on here who know me IRL can attest to this, I lost 50lbs on Nutrisystem. I purposely re-gained about 15 of those back… My goal weight ended up feeling far too skinny. I’m doing well at maintaining my current weight.

Being on that plan forced me to actually practice the eating habits that I knew I should be doing anyways. Maintaining your weight is also supported on their website, and is an integral part of the plan.

Siren - tell me a little more, please…

So I see you can sign up for 7 day or 5 day plans to start. Is there a further reduced plan (2-3 days, maybe?) to use for maintenance?

How long have you been at your goal weight?

Did being on a significantly reduced calorie diet when you were in the loss stage reduce your energy or have other negative effects?