Why Exercise Won't Make You ThinFollow

Just a few inputs:
- 1900 kcal per day basic turnover is about right for a youngish, medium-large office worker male. Mine is around 1700, I'm male, athletic, 34.

- Burning 1000 kcal in 50min of hard cardio exercise is realistic. I do about 1200 kcal/hour on a crosstrainer/elliptical and I'm probably lighter than you, so you'll do a bit more.

- The amount of calories burnt does not correlate with how much you sweat.
Working out in a high temperature environment (hence sweating more) doesn't burn significantly more calories. Sitting in a sauna and sweating buckets hardly burns any calories.
There are many reasons why one could make you sweat much more than the other.

- Wow, 1330 kcal/day is pretty low, looks like you're a disciplined eater!

- Losing weight takes time. You probably didn't put it all on in 3 weeks either, did you? You put on 1kg of fat from an excess 7000 kcal, and you need to burn an extra 9000 kcal to lose 1kg of fat (because the proces will first burn up your CH deposits). So even with 1000kcal negative balance a day, you will lose less than 1kg fat per week.

- Cardio exercise won't build much muscle mass. It will tone the musles a bit, but for significant lean mass gain you will need to hit the weights. You can probably see your muscles better, because the fat layer above is being burnt off (more definition). But I don't think they'll be growing much, especially with such low caloric intake.

- Body weight is only one indicator of what's happening. And it can fluctuate quite a bit. Drink half a liter of water, add half a kg. If you want to keep closer track of what's going on (as you're already doing on the uptake side), you could measure your body every 3 weeks (belly, chest, arms or so) and take you weight at the same time of day always (like early morning after a pee but before breakfast).

Hope that helps a bit :)

That's a crock of ****. Let's say for example and yes I am going to extremes here to make a point.

PER DAY:
I eat one happy meal from McDonald's = 500 cals.
Nobby eats fruit, veggies, and salad and one meat serving = 2000 cals.
(I used Nobby because he's a rail and I am a chubster)

I eat less calories a day, and I am fat and he's not. FLAW!

Another great example, still using me since I am the chubby one and I won't offend anyone else this way. One of my best friends, approx 5'9 or so, skinny, looks great in a bikini. I am short and chubby and I eat daily. She's a MAJOR over exerciser, barely EVER eats, has heart problems and can never bear her own children. I may be fatter but I will most likely live longer as my organs aren't all fubared from lack of nutrients.

She's eats less than me, she's not healthier. She may "look" better, but her insides are crap. FLAW!

Your comment has nothing to to with my reply to Smash.

I do recall a study in which mice who were fed healthy restricted calorie diets lived longer.

In order for humans to get those results, we need to consume 500-700 calories in vegetables, fruits, and legumes. Its not as hard as you think, since many veggies burn off almost as many calories as they provide just to digest, so the total caloric value of a cup of fresh broccoli is net 0.

Smash was saying that restricting caloric intake can be beneficial to one's health. Your arguments restricted both calories and nutrients. Bard pointed out that all of the research done was with properly nutritional diets.

Seems pretty damn relevant to me.

Just to be sure, there is such a thing as water weight, right? Sweating a lot is good for getting rid of that then.

Also, when I see "restricting caloric intake" I don't think of myself eating the same amount of nutrition with less calories, I just think of myself eating less of what I normally would. I would assume that it's a common mistake to make, but maybe that's 'cause I'm still young enough to not have to give a **** about what I eat.

There was a similar study with humans I remember reading about. Basically you eat VERY little, but it's all good stuff. You lose a ton of weight, but your health increases dramatically. There were other complications, and you had to take a ton of vitamins and sleep a lot more, but it increased your life expectancy by a dramatic amount (I want to say 10+ years).

Ah, found an article related to it:


Still, that amount of cutting back freaks me out:


Huh. Kinda freaks me out that I might inadvertantly be on a similar diet... granted, not with the extremity of this one (and not with the healthy accounting skills either).

According to this site, the risks include
-Negative appearances
-Bone health
-Cold sensitivity
-Loss of "cushioning"
-Hunger (go figure)
-Reduced energy (It seems to not matter to them; the example they gave is "if you're lost in the wilderness you might be in trouble."
-Menstrual irregularity/pregnancy issues
-Loss of strength and stamina (their example was "You might not be able to prevent a heavy object from falling on you." WTF?)
-Decreased testosterone
-Rapid weight loss
-Slower wound healing

Yeah, ***** that diet.

I used that site to calculate my BMR and I'm at 1377 calories. If I break that up into 4 meals, I'm right at at about 300-375 calories per meal. Those are fairly small meals.

It has been stated many times that simply reducing weight as at all costs is not the goal and is not healthy. Most people should lose fat mass and gain lean (muscle) mass. This is healthy, looks better and increses your daily caloric turnover.

Drying yourself out to weigh a couple of kilos less is not the way to go. It's also not sustainable, because as soon as you drink water (which you should and will during a workout), the weight "lost" will be back. Daily fluctuations happen and are not a good indicator for progress.

You're trying to burn fat, not reduce weight in the short term at all costs. In any case, drinking too little is not healthy (kidneys etc.) and does not help you diet in the long run at all. Water has zero calories but is needed to build muscles, digest food and flush rubbish out of your system.

This.

I remember there was a discussion about something or other a while back and Varrus mentioned he would exercise with Saran-wrap around his middle to "sweat out the weight." I went online and pointed out that, not only is "spot" weight loss a myth, but dehydrating yourself results only in temporary weight loss due to water, and puts him at risk for overheating and dehydration, which can really mess up your system.

TL;DR: What Turicus said.

Due to my recent GI problems I had to change my diet to soft foods, while maintaining a low salt, low cholesterol due to high blood pressure and cholesterol.

Over the last month my daily intake of fruit and vegetables has sky rocketed, while I cut down my servings of meat to just around 4 oz. a day. So far I lost at least 2 pounds and feel healthier, though I need to build back up my strength from ending up close to death when my body went into shock.

The hard part has been trying to make sure I get enough fiber from grains and legumes as they're more likely to irritate my colon and cause the cramps that have put me into the hospital. So I been making sure my intake of vegetables are also high in fiber.Hopefully after further tests this month, my doctors and I will have a better handle on how I can prevent the attacks of cramps that has me suddenly dehydrated and in risk of going into shock.

The one thing I would like to be able to do is find an exercise program that my body can handle and not worry about flaring. Eating an healthy diet isn't going to do much for my health, if I don't have the strength to walk more then a few blocks and spend all my time sitting here or lying in bed.

Tai chi?