Does Exercise Help You Lose Weight?

[LageNomAi]

Time magazine just had a cover story about this very issue, which you can find here. The gist was that exercise can actually cause you to gain weight because people tend to overestimate the number of calories they burn and compensate by eating more. People also tend to "reward" themselves for working out by eating something sugary or full of carbs.

The article did NOT say that exercise is bad for you by any stretch, and pointed out its many health benefits. Personally, I'm a huge fan of exercise and think that almost anyone is better off in terms of overall health if they are regularly active. However, the article's point was in line with what Dr. Atkins and many other nutritionists regularly say, which is that what you consume is the single most significant factor that determines your weight.

[Lollypop-]

Thank you all for taking the time to respond to my questions. I really appreciate everyone's advice and experience. I will follow up on all your suggestions and document the results.

I do like to exercise but to it is good to know I shouldn't be expecting a lot of weight loss from it. That is fine with me. It makes me feel good. And that's great too!

I will check out interval training and the web sites and surverys too.

Thank you for all your support.

Sincerely,

Lollypop-

[EmDee]

I love ya Elizellen, but that is one disgusting photo! LOL

so I guess this is how you can lose inches but remain the same weight?

[ziggy]

awhile back i never whent to the gym so for 3 years i just did atkins + lots of cardio delivering new papers lol

i lost 100 pounds 330-230 and well i still looked crappy

then i started going to the gym and have been going almost daily for over 2 years and about an avrage of 1 hour and 45 mins each time

i did some gym cardio for about 12 mins once a week and set on the max resistance and the rest of the time other things like working all my muscles

well 2 years of going to the gym i have stayed the same weight 230 pounds but i must say i look a HECK of a lot better i think i must have lost another 50 pounds of fat and gained 50 pounds of muscle

so imo if you want to look good you gotta work out

think of the atkins diet as provideing your body the ultimate health and giveing it the building blocks it needs to make it great then you just need to use your muscles so they build up

we are always useing are heart and lungs etc so they build up but if you dont work out much then are other muscles like are shoulders or abbs are not being used enough to build up

[traceyf]

The body is amazing and will adapt to everything we do to "survive". I am a true believer of zig zagging calories and zig zagging exercise. Change it up every three weeks should help you trick your body into giving up the fat. If you are eating 1000-1500 calories a day, insert 2-3 days of 1500-1800 calories. Your body will set point to 1000-1500 calories if you don't change up once in a while.

Exercise: you have to change up your routine every three weeks too. I kick my butt doing exercises I like best such as 45 minutes of INTENSE interval training between the bike/treadmill/elliptical. I do two minutes of moderate movement (heart rate 135-140) then speed it up or increase resistance to get my heart rate to 150-160 for 45 seconds.
My body got use to it. So, I recently changed up my exercise to VERY HEAVY weight lifting, kickboxing and callastenics. The scale moved 5 pounds. I'm now going back to interval training.

Everyone's body is different. I am very insulin resistant and low carb is the only way for me to lose but I still have to watch the calories and keep them no lower than 1200 and no higher than 1800. You'll have to figure out what moves the scale for you. Just know you have to zig zag to keep the body guessing.

AND YES - measuring is good. Many times I wasn't losing weight on the scale, but I had to take all my clothes in or they would look stupidly big and baggy. I don't measure with a tape measure. I measure by the way my clothes fit. Even if I am on a plateau and am working my butt off, my clothes fit different.

Good Luck!!

[Lollypop-]

Originally Posted by ziggy

awhile back i never whent to the gym so for 3 years i just did atkins + lots of cardio delivering new papers lol

i lost 100 pounds 330-230 and well i still looked crappy

then i started going to the gym and have been going almost daily for over 2 years and about an avrage of 1 hour and 45 mins each time

i did some gym cardio for about 12 mins once a week and set on the max resistance and the rest of the time other things like working all my muscles

well 2 years of going to the gym i have stayed the same weight 230 pounds but i must say i look a HECK of a lot better i think i must have lost another 50 pounds of fat and gained 50 pounds of muscle

so imo if you want to look good you gotta work out

think of the atkins diet as provideing your body the ultimate health and giveing it the building blocks it needs to make it great then you just need to use your muscles so they build up

we are always useing are heart and lungs etc so they build up but if you dont work out much then are other muscles like are shoulders or abbs are not being used enough to build up

Good advice. I don't know much about strength training. I will look into it.

[Lollypop-]

Originally Posted by traceyf

The body is amazing and will adapt to everything we do to "survive". I am a true believer of zig zagging calories and zig zagging exercise. Change it up every three weeks should help you trick your body into giving up the fat. If you are eating 1000-1500 calories a day, insert 2-3 days of 1500-1800 calories. Your body will set point to 1000-1500 calories if you don't change up once in a while.

Exercise: you have to change up your routine every three weeks too. I kick my butt doing exercises I like best such as 45 minutes of INTENSE interval training between the bike/treadmill/elliptical. I do two minutes of moderate movement (heart rate 135-140) then speed it up or increase resistance to get my heart rate to 150-160 for 45 seconds.
My body got use to it. So, I recently changed up my exercise to VERY HEAVY weight lifting, kickboxing and callastenics. The scale moved 5 pounds. I'm now going back to interval training.

Everyone's body is different. I am very insulin resistant and low carb is the only way for me to lose but I still have to watch the calories and keep them no lower than 1200 and no higher than 1800. You'll have to figure out what moves the scale for you. Just know you have to zig zag to keep the body guessing.

AND YES - measuring is good. Many times I wasn't losing weight on the scale, but I had to take all my clothes in or they would look stupidly big and baggy. I don't measure with a tape measure. I measure by the way my clothes fit. Even if I am on a plateau and am working my butt off, my clothes fit different.

Good Luck!!

Zigzag! I like the sound of that!

When I was on a low calorie diet, I did not vary the calories very much. Primarily, because I ate a lot the same frozen meals. Eating the same things day after day made it easier and safer (but I still didn't lose weight).

I noticed that low carbing lends itself to incrreasing the spectrum a bit more. That is good news!

Your post has given me a lot to think about. Thank you for the advice.

Everyone on this board has been very helpful to this newbie. I really appreciate it. I hope this way of life works for me.

Sincerely,

Lollypop-

[jake1970]

yer i had exactly the same thing ive been training my a__ off at gym and karate for a year and a half with no weight loss at all and it is very frustrating you get people saying muscle is heavier than fat and all that but if you are like me you want to see the numbers on the scales go down ,well since starting atkins 13 days ago ive gone from 111.5kg to 105kg and the smile is back on my face it makes my training seem worth while ,hope you too have the same results with atkins