Why you shouldn't exercise to lose weight

[Aromig]

I agree with what everyone has said here :-) I only lose weight when I watch my diet AND I exercise. I have a sedentary job - so my daily caloric needs without exercise are just so restrictive that I find I can't mentally do it. Just can't. I like to have a glass of wine at the end of the day.

The other bad news is that my unchecked eating habits are terrible, so I can't out-exercise them even if I worked out 24 hours a day. Good news is that if I work hard exercising in the morning, I hate to undo all of that hard work so I'll be better at portion control, etc. on days when I exercise! So I agree whole-heartedly. Exercise isn't the only key to weight loss -- but weight loss for me is truly is a holistic approach.

[Crankin]

It's sad, that even with really good eating habits for my entire adult life, I still have to be vigilant. I cannot deny myself everything, and having that glass of wine or a square of dark chocolate helps!

[Blueberry]

*sigh*

There's so much more to it than simple math. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/he...loss.html?_r=0

[Aromig]

*sigh*

There's so much more to it than simple math. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/he...loss.html?_r=0

Great article. Every body seems to have a "natural set point" which isn't always what we picture as thin and healthy (or where we'd like it to be). The older I get the harder I seem to have to work each year to lose weight (but it's easy maintaining my weight where it wants to be -- which is higher than I want - when I'm there I can eat whatever and it doesn't seem to matter. I don't gain). I wish everyone realized that it's not easy and it's not as simple as easy caloric math.

[OakLeaf]

*sigh*

There's so much more to it than simple math.

Yep. High on the list of health-related urban legends that make me crazy. Even if the metabolic end of the equation were true, calories in food are calculated by simple combustion without regard to bioavailability. According to those charts, you could gain a lot of weight by drinking a gallon of gasoline.

It's also pretty clear though that physical activity is a pre-condition for maintenance. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27128671

[zoom-zoom]

I've always found that being active...particularly being COMPETITIVE, makes it harder for me to lose. Exercise makes me hungry, especially if I'm training hard for a race. I have never been able to lose weight when competition or many hours/week of activity are my focus. I have always lost weight when I'm exercising little, but really focusing on food/calories.

BUT -- keeping weight off. For me that's very much related to activity. Because I can't eat like a bird forever. I'm good eating at a deficit or low calories for only a month or two before I want to hurt somebody.