Weight loss

[david k]

i was told when considering weight loss diet affects it by 80% and exercise by 20%

so if weight loss only is the target then concentrate on what you eat

I recall a doctor on a weight loss tv programme some years ago saying about someone who was training hard but not necessarily eating much less "there are plenty fat fit people out there"

 

[Nebulous]

i was told when considering weight loss diet affects it by 80% and exercise by 20%

so if weight loss only is the target then concentrate on what you eat

I recall a doctor on a weight loss tv programme some years ago saying about someone who was training hard but not necessarily eating much less "there are plenty fat fit people out there"

It depends on how much you are doing. That programme on sports drinks recently was talking about 30 minutes exercise 3 times a week. Now with all due respect, that may be better than nothing, but I cannot see it shifting a lot of weight on its own. I'm doing about 9 hours hard exercise a week and reckon I need about 800 calories a day to compensate for it. That's getting to a level where the exercise makes a substantial difference. A younger 'serious' competitive cyclist may well be doing twice the time/ miles that I am, and might be struggling to eat enough without some good dietetic help. Then goodness knows what the pros are doing- they're on a different planet altogether.

I remember reading that despite the obesity crisis we are actually eating about 400 calories a day less than we did in the 50's. The snag is we are burning 5-600 calories a day less. Central heating, motor cars and less manual jobs are all part of that, but that leads me to the view that sedentary lifestyles are at least as much of the problem as the rubbish we shovel down our throats.

 

[david k]

It depends on how much you are doing. That programme on sports drinks recently was talking about 30 minutes exercise 3 times a week. Now with all due respect, that may be better than nothing, but I cannot see it shifting a lot of weight on its own. I'm doing about 9 hours hard exercise a week and reckon I need about 800 calories a day to compensate for it. That's getting to a level where the exercise makes a substantial difference. A younger 'serious' competitive cyclist may well be doing twice the time/ miles that I am, and might be struggling to eat enough without some good dietetic help. Then goodness knows what the pros are doing- they're on a different planet altogether.

I remember reading that despite the obesity crisis we are actually eating about 400 calories a day less than we did in the 50's. The snag is we are burning 5-600 calories a day less. Central heating, motor cars and less manual jobs are all part of that, but that leads me to the view that sedentary lifestyles are at least as much of the problem as the rubbish we shovel down our throats.

never thought of it that way, thats a great insight

i think on an individual basis, most very obese people are so due to poor diet and exercise. therefore in this case exercise alone wont get the desirered results

the idea of long slow exercise is to burn fat not calories as such
when i started walking 10 years ago it was because i couldnt run (not due to weight but ilness) when i tried to run it hurt so much i didnt do it. so i started walking and it was fantastic for me. not just the exercise and calories burnt as these could be negligible on short/medium walks but the fresh air, sense of achievement, walking not eating all makes you happier

my advice is try to do as much as possible but not so much you dont enjoy it as then you will stop

 

[Nebulous]

never thought of it that way, thats a great insight

i think on an individual basis, most very obese people are so due to poor diet and exercise. therefore in this case exercise alone wont get the desirered results

the idea of long slow exercise is to burn fat not calories as such
when i started walking 10 years ago it was because i couldnt run (not due to weight but ilness) when i tried to run it hurt so much i didnt do it. so i started walking and it was fantastic for me. not just the exercise and calories burnt as these could be negligible on short/medium walks but the fresh air, sense of achievement, walking not eating all makes you happier

my advice is try to do as much as possible but not so much you dont enjoy it as then you will stop

Anything people can do is better than nothing, and I didn't mean to disparage that. It feeds into the whole virtuous cycle, self-esteem, increased well-being, and simply not eating when you are out walking. So diet will play the biggest part for a start, but if you keep at it the balance does shift in favour of exercise rather than reducing intake.

I was heading for 50, 5'9" and the wrong side of 18 stone. From what I could do I think I was fitter than many of the beginners on here, who describe a great deal of distress cycling a mile. I could run up stairs, I could climb a large hill with a picnic, I could cycle 10-15 miles with my children with no ill effects, possibly a bit of breathlessnes, but I rarely did any of these things. I was however at risk of health problems, and decided to do something about it. I focused almost entirely on diet, with small exercise changes, walking to the shops at lunchtime instead of taking the car, for instance. I was 8 months in, and down to 15 stone 10 before I started cycling. 14 months from starting dieting I was down to 13 stone, and had become very serious about my cycling, which had taken over from any idea of weight loss. By then I was getting a lot of pressure from people around me to stop losing weight. It's funny how colleagues, family and casual acquantances suddenly had a view that I had a problem, when none of them had ever said 'You're getting very porky, aren't you?'

So I'm now fitter, probably than I have ever been, certainly since my teens, and lots of people are surprised at how much food I can put away. I'm at a level, as I said earlier, where my exercise has a major impact on the calories I need.

 

[stephen.rooke]

i was told when considering weight loss diet affects it by 80% and exercise by 20%

so if weight loss only is the target then concentrate on what you eat

I recall a doctor on a weight loss tv programme some years ago saying about someone who was training hard but not necessarily eating much less "there are plenty fat fit people out there"

way i look at it is if you eat a mars bar thats 250kcal so your going to have to put in a 15/20min ride to burn it off, so cut out the mars bar and that 20 mins of riding is a bonus.

cut out the junk, ride and have fun and the weight will come off

 

[MrJamie]

It depends on how much you are doing. That programme on sports drinks recently was talking about 30 minutes exercise 3 times a week. Now with all due respect, that may be better than nothing, but I cannot see it shifting a lot of weight on its own. I'm doing about 9 hours hard exercise a week and reckon I need about 800 calories a day to compensate for it. That's getting to a level where the exercise makes a substantial difference. A younger 'serious' competitive cyclist may well be doing twice the time/ miles that I am, and might be struggling to eat enough without some good dietetic help. Then goodness knows what the pros are doing- they're on a different planet altogether.
<snip>

I find it very easy to "compensate", especially as more exercise makes me more hungry and my "full" mechanism appears to be broken. I eat pretty healthy home cooked meals, low fat, lean stuff, porridge breakfast etc, vitamin supplements but portion size is always a problem and i only drink at weekends and socially. Its got me in the weird situation where i usually cycle about 80-100 miles a week purely for leisure and run 5-10k two or three times, but im still able to easily maintain or gain at 19 stone. It definitely affects my speed a lot running, but i dont think much when cycling - I tried a 10 mile TT course recently on my 20kg hardtail and averaged over 18mph which im more than happy with, but i struggle way more than i would like to up hills. Im trying to lose weight partly because next year id like to run a marathon and in a reasonable time, I did a half in 2 hours so far and partly because my hill speed cycling is disgraceful. I do think its very possible to be fat and fit, although no doubt its not as healthy as being fit and slim.

Gonna go and try to cycle away some more belly!