Can you lose weight by just working out?

[kozachka]

At doctor's recommendation (my back and joints were cracking like crazy :( ) and with DH encouragement, I have finally joined a small gym just over a month ago. I lift weights and do ab exercises three times a week and am feeling much stronger, yeah :). The personal trainer that runs the place has designed my program and is keeping an eye on me to make sure I do exercises properly and increase weight/number of repetitions.

I enjoy going to this gym and people that work out there, my back and joints are not bothering me as much, I have more energy and my jeans fit better. So all in all I am pretty happy with the results, especially considering it's only been 5 weeks. My goal would be to have a nicely shaped stomach by the time I hit the beach in 2-2.5 months. Do you think it's realistic without changing my diet? My upper abs are pretty decent already but I have a pretty persistent pouch below the waist :(. My hips could use some shrinking as well, but I've never been happy with them even when I was dancing and doing sports, so not hoping for much there.

My biggest problem is sweets, particularly chocolate. I try to 'fight' it by sharing with other people in the office ;), thankfully there are a lot of takers.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Great work! :)


I read something on CNN health a few months ago about how it really doesn't matter if you just diet or just exercise. You need to find that target number of calories to sustain living but not be excessive. Once you find that you either need to exercise to burn off extra eaten calories or just eat fewer calories. And doing both diet and exercising should get the weight to come off faster.

But, so long as you aren't eating like 2000+ calories a day (guesstimate) and exercising enough to get you to the target calorie count a day that would be good.

Here's a calorie recommendation chart from CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/HQ/01625.html

But, it doesn't sound like you are doing any cardio? Weight lifting and ab work burn some calories but not a high number. You can tone and change your body but you may not lose wight, kwim?

That same CNN article said that weight lifting doesn't boost your metabolism like people have been claiming. (Which was a major bummer for me :() It's a Reuters' article from Feb. 2007. "Research adds to evidence that adding muscle mass does not boost metabolism"
http://training.fitness.com/articles...oss-22182.html

2 articles that light be interesting:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/WT/00006.html

"Diet or Exercise- Take your Pick":
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17278353/

I eat everything. Though, I did have my best weight loss success when I was able to avoid chocolate. :) Nowadays I just eat my cookie or other sweet but then try to elimiate those calories from somewhere else- like eating a really reduced calorie salad dressing.

I bet you can have a nice stomach by summer but you could still have some padding on top of it unless you bump up the cardio or change your diet. That's my take on it anyway.
Beth

[kozachka]

Wow, Beth. Thank you for taking time to write such a long and detailed answer to my post. I've read some of the articles you linked to and can see that I won't be able to get a sexy looking stomach without some sort of diet modification :(, which is too bad but not unexpected. Did you read responded to the Reuters' article? They seem to indicate that the study does not apply to people that are not obese. I like that message board, will try to read more fitness and diet related tips there.

You are right, I am not doing much cardio in the gym, just 5-10 mins to warm up. But I do walk a mile either to or from the gym, sometimes both. And since we don't own a car I probably get some benefits from walking everywhere. The truth be told, I hate cardio and you'd have to chain me to a trademill to get me to stay on it, no joke. Will see how it goes, I do not look to lose too much weight, maybe 5 pounds. Hopefully I can achieve my goals of shaping up and strengthening my core without cardio. Will keep you posted, and once again thank you.

[niccig]

My take on it, is that you need to do both. You can work out for an hour and then go have a grande frappucino with whip cream and it will equal out or it'll be a gain. But that doesn't mean you have to go crazy with either the diet or the exercise. Try to do a little of both.

You walk a lot, have you tried wearing a pedometer to count your steps. I think you need 10,000 a day to maintain your weight, I know there are some web sites about how much walking you need to do to maintain and lose.

I too have that pouch below the waist and I was seeing a personal trainer for the weights and I was to do the cardio on my own, which I didn't do. I didn't see the results I wanted and I'm sure it's because of not enough cardio. I see the weights as sculpting muscle and the cardio as burning off the fat. I can do all the abs I want, but if the top fat layer is still there you won't see my 4 pack, which I'm sure is underneath ;-)

As for diet, look at making small changes. I stopped having sugar in my tea or coffee, and I no longer eat from the bread basket at restaurants. Also look at your portion size. I just started weight watchers and I'm measuring what is a serving or rice/chicken/pasta etc. It's a lot less than I thought it was. I was making good food choices, but eating too much of it. I was also eating more frequently than I thought I was. By tracking what I eat, I feel I'm a more conscious eater rather than eating mindlessly, if that makes sense.

So for the first time, I'm trying a 3 prong approach - doing weight training and cardio 2-3 times a week, and watching what I eat. I'm much more confident that this will work and I'll get better results.

HTH

[Lynnie]

I can't.

Used to be able to. Not anymore.

Off to get my slice of pizza for lunch and wonder why I haven't lost anything lately.

When I cut out whites (flour, sugar, dairy) for two weeks, I did lose weight. Plus, I was running, so that helped a lot.

I do think if you could just cut your diet a little and stick with the program you are doing you'll see great results. I don't think a little chocolate would hurt, unless that makes you crave more.

[KBecks]

Well, as I understand it, weight gain or loss depends on calories eaten vs. calories burned. So in theory, yes.

The decent looking abs thing is a different goal than general weight loss, though. And working on eating healthier is good for you. :)

Good luck! I find it difficult to eat right and exercise at the same time. I'm either good at eating right or exercising.... still working on that!

[kozachka]

>Well, as I understand it, weight gain or loss depends on
>calories eaten vs. calories burned. So in theory, yes.
>
>The decent looking abs thing is a different goal than general
>weight loss, though. And working on eating healthier is good
>for you. :)

You are right, decent looking abs are not the same as general weight loss. I feel pretty comfortable with my current weight, which I don't know by the way ;). I just think that at 1 m 72 cm (or about 5' 7") it is normal for me to wear a size 6 or 4 top and a size 8 or 6 bottom. Would my life improve enough if I were to cut out all the bad stuff and fit into size 6 (or even 4) pants consistently to justify the sacrifice? I don't think so.

My meals are not perfect but pretty healthy IMHO already. I like and eat fair amount of veggies and fruits, avoid white bread and have soup at least 6 days a week. My drink of choice is black tea, closely followed by water, I do not drink soda, hardly ever have coffee. No chips or french fries although I like potatoes and have them 1-2 a week. I just like sweets, particularly chocolate...

[kozachka]

I should have said "lose fat" in my OP title because that's what I really care about. In case you have similar goals and are wondering about best ways of achieving them, here is a link to an interesting post on the subject at another (fitness) board:

http://training.fitness.com/articles...ale-11085.html

The author thinks that the popular belief that only cardio and aerobic exercise burn fat is wrong and the best way is combination of aerobic and resistance training. Gotta add aerobic training I guess. Wonder if tennis counts? And I don't even own a scale, yeah ;), so well on my way to lose fat.

[LarsMal]

Does your gym offer classes? I HATE doing cardio on my own, but love to take various classes- step, cycling (or I should said "loved" b/c I don't belong to a gym right now!). I've found that if I have other people to work out with I am more likely to go to the gym/class.

It sounds like we have a very similar build. I am just a tad bit taller than you, but wear the same sizes (not at the present moment as I am trying to shed the final baby weight x( ). I don't "diet". I really try to just be smart about what I eat. I truly believe in "everything in moderation". I tried no car/low carb once and I was a total monster! I love carbs and sugar too much to give it up completely. One of the new things I try to do regularly is buy all of the salad fixings I like. When I come home from the grocery store I make a big salad and keep it in the fridge. I find that if it is already in there, and ready for me to eat, I am more likely to reach for it over something unhealthy. I have also tried to switch to (mostly) baked chips- little things like that.

Stay active and good luck!

Julie

[KBecks]

<<I just think that at 1 m 72 cm (or about 5' 7") it is normal for me to wear a size 6 or 4 top and a size 8 or 6 bottom. Would my life improve enough if I were to cut out all the bad stuff and fit into size 6 (or even 4) pants consistently to justify the sacrifice? I don't think so.>>

That's right. You sound perfect as you are. If you seek change, how about a new lipstick? :)