How Important Is Exercise For Weight Loss?

[Will Brink]

If you’d asked me a decade ago what was the best method of weight loss, if I choose only exercise or diet, but not both, I would have said exercise all day. That is, increase exercise, lean body mass, and so forth, to create a caloric deficit vs reducing calories if I could only choose one. That conclusion appears to have been wrong, and I’m here to explain why. On the surface, that appears to turn a sacred cow of the fitness world on its head, but in retrospect, I think we knew it all along. Hey, someone said “you can’t out exercise a bad diet” and that’s essentially true. Who ever said it, just didn’t realize just how true it is.

Cont:

Exercise And Weight Loss: How Important Is It?

 

[DragonBits]

If you’d asked me a decade ago what was the best method of weight loss, if I choose only exercise or diet, but not both, I would have said exercise all day. That is, increase exercise, lean body mass, and so forth, to create a caloric deficit vs reducing calories if I could only choose one. That conclusion appears to have been wrong, and I’m here to explain why. On the surface, that appears to turn a sacred cow of the fitness world on its head, but in retrospect, I think we knew it all along. Hey, someone said “you can’t out exercise a bad diet” and that’s essentially true. Who ever said it, just didn’t realize just how true it is.

Cont:

Exercise And Weight Loss: How Important Is It?

Very interesting, thanks for posting that.

I had always thought that lean muscle burning a few more calories than fat was kind of a trivial contribution to fat loss, and often suspected that the calories burned calculator on gym equipment over estimated the calories burned as a kind of marketing tool. I thought maybe the calories burned were including the basal metabolism rate in addition to the added effort. It just didn't feel like because I "burned" 500 calories on a treadmill I could eat that much more without gaining weight.

But I would have never guessed that total energy expenditure between very active people and moderately active people is not that great.

For me exercise seemed to help me reset my set point of when I get hungry. Meaning if don't exercise and I lose weight I tend to get hungry easier than if I lose weight and exercise. I reduce my food intake either way, but it seems easier when exercising a significant amount. But I seldom exercise for longer than 2 hours.

So doesn't that mean all the charts one sees that estimate how many calories we should consume that are based on current weight and how active we are, that most of those are wrong?

 

[Nashtide]

I think it depends. If your diet is on point and you are leanish, then there’s no doubt in my mind that exercise programs like HIIT can help you go from leanish to lean. Also, if your goal is not just weight loss but body recomp as well, again, no doubt in my mind that resistance training is necessary.

 

[Will Brink]

Very interesting, thanks for posting that.

I had always thought that lean muscle burning a few more calories than fat was kind of a trivial contribution to fat loss, and often suspected that the calories burned calculator on gym equipment over estimated the calories burned as a kind of marketing tool. I thought maybe the calories burned were including the basal metabolism rate in addition to the added effort. It just didn't feel like because I "burned" 500 calories on a treadmill I could eat that much more without gaining weight.

But I would have never guessed that total energy expenditure between very active people and moderately active people is not that great.

For me exercise seemed to help me reset my set point of when I get hungry. Meaning if don't exercise and I lose weight I tend to get hungry easier than if I lose weight and exercise. I reduce my food intake either way, but it seems easier when exercising a significant amount. But I seldom exercise for longer than 2 hours.

So doesn't that mean all the charts one sees that estimate how many calories we should consume that are based on current weight and how active we are, that most of those are wrong?

As general guidlines, they should hold up fie for most people, with some indvidual tweaking dependent on results. It does not change the calorie recs per se, it just changes what the contribution of exrcises is to creating a deficit. People tend to vastly overrestimate how much exercise contributes to their caloric deficit when trying to lose weight, ofen due to the ridiculous treadmil telling them they just used 500 cals for their 15 minutes of casual walking

I think it depends. If your diet is on point and you are leanish, then there’s no doubt in my mind that exercise programs like HIIT can help you go from leanish to lean. Also, if your goal is not just weight loss but body recomp as well, again, no doubt in my mind that resistance training is necessary.

RT is always nessarty of course for various reasons, and I'd agree that those going from leanish to lean see a greater contribition to their calotic deificits when focused on losing BF, but that's mostly due to even the small contrubtion of exercise is magnified when you're talking about a few % of BF. 10% contrinbution is still 10% and every bit helps.

 

[Nashtide]

As general guidlines, they should hold up fie for most people, with some indvidual tweaking dependent on results. It does not change the calorie recs per se, it just changes what the contribution of exrcises is to creating a deficit. People tend to vastly overrestimate how much exercise contributes to their caloric deficit when trying to lose weight, ofen due to the ridiculous treadmil telling them they just used 500 cals for their 15 minutes of casual walking





RT is always nessarty of course for various reasons, and I'd agree that those going from leanish to lean see a greater contribition to their calotic deificits when focused on losing BF, but that's mostly due to even the small contrubtion of exercise is magnified when you're talking about a few % of BF. 10% contrinbution is still 10% and every bit helps.

Of course it’s a moot point since most folks trying to lose weight aren’t trying to go from leanish to lean. Most folks are trying to go from fat to not quite so fat. In those cases, diet is king.

 

[Will Brink]

Of course it’s a moot point since most folks trying to lose weight aren’t trying to go from leanish to lean. Most folks are trying to go from fat to not quite so fat. In those cases, diet is king.

Every little thing becomes more important the leaner you get and margin for errors is reduced, etc.