I am 62, and have been exercising pretty regularly for 18 years. I hate it. At its worst, it is painful and unpleasant. At its best, it is boring. I am fortunate to be able to eat anything I want and not gain weight (even when I don't exercise). It seems to be the case that I can eat any amount of carbs and not gain weight. But I don't eat crap, and I gave up soft drinks completely a long time ago (before I started exercising).
The secret for me was to recognize a few things:
- I do hate exercise. I don't have the willpower to exercise hard for an hour a day. It works best for me if I have someone telling me what to do. So over the years, I have tried various forms of group exercise. I am currently doing crossfit, (minus the cult aspects, thanks but no thanks) 3 days a week, and working with a personal trainer 2 days a week (basically an exhausting form of physical therapy to address problems with the ways that I move, and my lack of mobility).
- Making exercise a priority doesn't work for someone like me, because I hate it so much. No, I made it a habit, which is different. It's a regular thing on my schedule.
- It does make me feel better. Not when I do it. Immediately after exercising, all I feel is relief that it's over for the day. But if I stick to my 5x/week schedule, 1 hour/day, then my aches and pains -- charateristic for my age -- disappear. No more aching knees or frequent upper back pain. If I stop for a couple of weeks, these problems return and I generally feel less energetic.
- The battle is psychological. The worst thing is getting myself to the gym. I wait until the very last minute, and dread it for the whole short drive. The anticipation before the workout sucks. The warmup is the absolute worst, because I am transitioning from my normal lazy, comfortable mode, to a far more active mode, doing completely unnatural (for me) things. Doing the workout is mostly boring, often exhausting, but mentally easier that the buildup.
Figure out what works for you and make it a habit.
I used to not enjoy it too until I found something I genuinely was good at and was competitive: an indoor rowing studio. I now enthusiastically workout 5 days a week. And rowing is a very efficient use of my time, I burn roughly a calorie per row stroke. A 20 minute rowing session means very little dietary restrictions.
The big thing that worked for me was data. I weighed myself every day no matter what and even if I knew I was going over the calorie count for the day I logged it anyway.
For me that was when this vast mystery of diet was cleared. Once I saw how directly linked they were it became very easy to say no to things and it continues to do so.
I find that the hardest thing about logging what I eat is knowing what I eat, and what calories those things contain. Often I eat lunch at work where they serve a ton of different dishes, and I dont have the opportunity to weigh what I eat, and I have no idea what exactly they put in that said that day. If I try to err on the side of caution, I'll be super hungry because the number of calories I ate does not add up to the number logged. Unless I have the time to make all my food and measure it or only eat processed/pre-made food that is labeled it's hard to keep accurate track.
Do any of you feel the same way? I have used Myfitnesspal and similar before, but have never stuck with it. Before I have stayed reasonably fit because I usually ride mountain bikes a lot,but the past few years there has been less riding and I'm now +10kg my normal weight at least.
After doing it for a while, you get a rough feeling for the calories involved - you can tell just by looking at your dish if it's 500 or 1,000 calories.
That means you don't get high precision data, and the nutrients may be off, but it's more than enough to keep yourself in a caloric deficit/surplus as you choose.
(Also, don't eat lunch at work if you can avoid it. It's greasy, over-salted, and not the best food for you. No matter what corporate propaganda tells you)
Honestly, as someone who values efficiency, I found MyFitnessPal way too slow and clunky. A food tracker should get out of the way. Otherwise you'll - in the heat of the moment - decide not to log things. It also lacked flexibility for those times you dine out, skip meals, or skip logging.
Which leads nicely to the shameless plug for https://www.joyapp.com . Built it for myself, then it spread through forums and has quite a few users.
Benefits:
- Once you learn the ropes, it's an order of magnitude faster to add entries. It was designed to be opened for as little as possible each day.
- If you make it hard to log your food, you won't do it. This makes it trivial.
- Also, there are no community-entered foods. This is a feature in most cases. All the food is either from a professionally curated database (Nutritionix) or custom foods you enter.
- No ads whatsoever. And we don't sell your data. Privacy is very important to us.
I used lose it. I will go back to it but I haven't used it for a few months. What worked for me was logging on the table, as soon as I got the food. Once I started deferring it, ok I will log it later at end of day, I started slipping. The reason for deferral was similar to yours: I want to go more fine grained and be accurate, but no: you are deferring it and eventually I will get into a state where I miss a day or 3 and now no way to go back and fix. So the next time I start (touch wood), enter as you grab the food.
I always found that calorie counting is much easier if you primarily eat packaged and/or prepared foods. Popular apps and websites already know the nutritional info for what you're eating, so it can be as easy as searching by brand name or UPC.
If you do a lot of cooking and baking yourself, counting calories is a painful process. You have to weigh everything going into the recipe, understand how cooking processes alter the nutritional makeup of your ingredients, calculate the probable calorie count of the finished product, and then weigh each portion while it's being served. If you like to use specialty ingredients (e.g., different kinds of grain flours in a single recipe or fermented vegetables in Sichuanese cuisine), even figuring out the calorie values of your inputs can be challenging.
What works for me is continuous tracking. As long as you continuously track weight, body weight, activity (fitness monitors or the pedometer on your phone), and calories you will be able to make corrections based on the output (basically body weight with some corrections based on what you see in the mirror if you lift weights or exercise regularly). Even if your calorie estimations are off eventually for the day, it will show up in your body weight so you just adjust your estimates based on that to develop your "feel". Buying a food scale and cooking your own food really gives you a good feel for the calories involved with various ingredients. After a few cycles of calibration you will get a better at it and it will be less of a burden.
My trick is to look carefully at the food I'm about to eat, and consider how good/filling/satisfying/etc it looks compared to a known benchmark (e.g., a McDonalds cheeseburger). Estimating that way, I'm usually within 20%, which is plenty close (esp given that unbiased errors cancel out).
Beyond that, weigh every day, track values in a decaying average app to cancel out noise, and greatly reduce or fast completely on days where I'm over my line.
Easier said than done, of course, but I'm halfway successful.
I tried a few ways and eventually giving up. I just have to live with not having accurate counts.
1. I try to make my own food using common ingredients. It failed in a couple of weeks because I do prefer to not spend that much time on making food.
2. Eating at restaurants is especially difficult. Even if you bring a scale with you. Like if you are given some Chinese dish where all the things are mixed together. I give up and go with "Chinese buffet" option in myfitnesspal.
3. Ironically, fast food places do have calories listed, and that justifies some of my visits...
You MUST use a food scale and weigh ALL of your food.
Don't use measuring cups, and don't eyeball it. Also, don't trust any calorie counts from a restaurant.
After a while you get better at not needing a food scale for absolutely everything, but I've been controlling my weight (both gaining and losing) via CICO for nearly two decades and I still weigh most of my food.
I guess I'll post this here, on the off chance that someone shares my plight and has found success.
I, like the author, have found that most traditional excercise is just... boring. And exhausting. And not enjoyable. I did biking for awhile, and it was fine until life happened and I fell off the wagon. Same with lifting. Same with running. The only thing I've truly enjoyed was rock climbing, but the nearest gym is 45mim away in low traffic - it's a 3 hour commitment to get a good session.
I've seen the advice from this thread before, to find excercise you enjoy or excercise you can integrate into your life (ie: run to work). I work from home. Everything out of the house is inconvenient, and everything in the house is boring.
I make plenty of money and would be exceptionally happy if I could just throw money at this problem. There's not really a price I wouldn't pay for a more durable and comfortable body.
Mostly in the past Ive been told I need to... just do it. Have the willpower to do it. But that's crappy advice and doesn't work. Has anyone had success with particular workouts or strategies to keep motivated?
I like the general thrust of this article that some calorie deficit is the key to weight loss. Alas, he is still suffering under the misconception that cardio works for weight loss/fat loss. All the published research shows this never happens. Here is a summary of that research[0]. The research always shows that humans who expend extra calories during one activity will, over the course of the rest of the day, expend fewer calories to, on average, expend essentially the same amount of energy as those who did not engage in the strenuous activity. Women who train for their first marathon gain, on average, 2-3 lbs of fat, even though they have expended tens of thousands of extra calories during their marathon training. Cardio has its uses in fitness, just not for losing fat.
Being fat is hard; being fit is hard too. You get your abs in the kitchen, not on a treadmill. Also, exercising so one can get away with indulging a higher caloric count sounds dangerous and reads like "exercise bulimia." Sweating so you can cheat and eat some cake or candy is still going to tax your pancreas, gallbladder, and liver. YMMV
Walking outside in colder weather will make you lose more weight than sweating on a treadmill with no breeze. Running, cycling, and swimming are great too, for you can do races which are more communal and a future goal keeps you at it.
You're going too far here. "Never happens" is wrong. If anything, perhaps cardio doesn't help on average. But I know individuals who have lost huge amounts of weight through serious cardio activity and no special diet work. I mean 'serious' cardio though: 2-3 hours/day on a treadmill. I've personally leaned out a lot through cycling.
> The research always shows that humans who expend extra calories during one activity will, over the course of the rest of the day, expend fewer calories to, on average, expend essentially the same amount of energy as those who did not engage in the strenuous activity.
It's quite possible to adopt an exercise regime where one, on average (even taking into account rest days), expends more in strenuous activity per day than one would expend in total per day without strenuous activity, in which case it is physically impossible to offset the additional calorie expenditure in activity with reduced calorie expenditure at rest (and since the body does actually have irreducible needs at rest—and since exercise, by creating microinjuries that require repair, increases that minimum, even if it also increases resting efficiency) the actual limit where this becomes impossible is a much lower active expenditure.
It's possible that there is a range in which additional strenuous activity is offset, and it's possible most practical attempts to boost strenuous activity for weight loss end up within that range. But it's also certainly possible to get outside of the range where that effect can operate.
You’re not going to get an endorphin rush from walking for 20 minutes. Endorphins are essentially painkillers produced in response to physical discomfort. You’re going to have to run, and probably for more than 2O minutes, if you want to get a runner’s high.
Yeah this is the bare minimum for what qualifies as exercise. I’m really surprised the author took the liberty to opine on all of exercise based on this...
I can't imagine not being grumpy walking on a treadmill in the basement and thinking about an extra slice of pizza. I go to gym sometimes to lift weights, and I have never seen a happy face on a person walking on a treadmill. I don't understand why not to go for a walk and enjoy the nature, people, birds, ... whatever you have in your neighborhood.
So many points. The major ones for me, in order of importance:
1) Running on a treadmill is much friendlier to my joints than concrete or asphalt. For us city dwellers, that adds up over time.
2) I can quit the treadmill at any time. If you're outside on a 6 mile run and you have a muscle cramp up at mile 3, limping back 3 miles is the result. That's surprisingly little fun ;)
3) Can't speak for other people, but usually the treadmill is a warm-up, that's it.
4) It's cold and rainy outside. I'm soft and coddled and like being in a warm place :)
(OK, realistically, the first two are the ones that really matter, the rest you can get over)
I've found that calories-in/calories-out logic only gets you so far. It's foundationally true, of course, because energy is conserved, and we use all of the calories that we eat, with few exceptions, either for energy or for fat storage.
But exercise really helps. It changes what you want to eat first of all. Fat loss can be grueling or easy, depending on where your body wants to be, and exercise pushes it to the easier side.
Some of the non-calorie burning exercises have the biggest effects here. Weightlifting is almost pointless from a calorie perspective, but it really energizes weight loss. I assume that the hormonal effects are king.
Biking colossal distances is another thing that seems to lead to leaning out. In theory it should be possible just to eat through the calories burned biking, but in practice, it seems to shift the bias towards losing.
Also, the biggest problem with calories-in calories-out is that weight regain after a calorie deficit period -- even a long one -- seems to be almost a law of nature. The body seems to push extremely hard for regaining everything that has been starved off.
> Weightlifting is almost pointless from a calorie perspective
Maybe in terms of the energy you burn directly by lifting weights, but it raises your base metabolic rate significantly for quite some time after a workout. The extra muscle mass you built also raises your BMR in a longer lasting way. Especially when combined with interval training, weights are very effective.
>I've found that calories-in/calories-out logic only gets you so far. It's foundationally true, of course, because energy is conserved, and we use all of the calories that we eat, with few exceptions, either for energy or for fat storage.
Unfortunately it is not true that we use all the calories that we eat in the same way, or that simple calories in/calories out is all that matters[0].
To me the main issue with the calories in/out way of thinking is that while generally correct your body deals with different types of calories very differently. Obviously high quality protein and processed sugar cause very different hormonal responses in the body. The calories in/out way of thinking sort of brushes this under the rug.
The weight regain phenomenon you mention can be explained in part by the hormone ghrelin. I’m no nutritional scientist but from my understanding ghrelin is involved in meal initiation and is a driving factor in the weight regain after a period of weight loss. Conversely the hormone leptin acts to suppress food intake and would cause someone to lose weight after a brief period of weight gain. Together when functioning correctly these work to “stabilize” ones weight. Obese individuas are thought to be leptin resistant.
As you mention, hormonal effects are king and you want to take great care to not overly stress or break your body’s systems, for example, by becoming insulin or leptin resistant.
I think people sometimes shy away from this because it's seen as a young, vain person's pursuit; something you do primarily to look good.
But past middle age, it becomes critically important. Once your muscles, joints, and bones begin to weaken, keeping muscle mass can mean the difference between maintaining balance or not, breaking bones in a fall or not, and retaining motor function or not. It has all kinds of second order effects on general health and longevity.
Aye. My own goal in my late 40s, a bit overweight, is to get strong first, lose weight second.
I'd hardly ever get an endorphin rush/hit from cycling, but I get them regularly from weights. They certainly help the mind settle, even after a short stint.
My best tip would be to get your own equipment, if possible, to have the ability to do it frequently and without making it a mission to go to the gym.
It's amazing what you can do with a squat rack, bar bell, a bench, and a set of plates. (Starting strength / Rippetoe, Stronglifts 5x5, etc).
Weight is in fact regulating itself somewhat naturally as a consequence, but just being able to feel the body getting stronger is the real pleasure. I've been doing this for a good few months now and I know I'm adding years if not decades to my usable life span as well.
I think it's fun with a friend (did that years ago), but trying to get back into lifting by myself now... is boring. I quit each session sooner than I should, so I don't see the same gains. I'm not sure how to get excited about it when I am by myself, other than playing music to pump me up, which I'm not always in the mood for.
If I could do this at home, I would. Otherwise, I dont feel like losing an hour of my life a day, for something that's going to minorly improve my life a year+ out. It's a flaw, but I cannot get motivated for anything where the reward isnt short term.
But for some people it takes forever to actually see results. Even by following strict dietary plans and trainings regimes it is just super slowish to see the impact.
Just remember that the gains will stop after a while if you don’t start taking steroids or something. People seem to have difficulty finding a stable workout routine they enjoy without improvements. Otherwise lifting is good but watch for form and don’t ignore nagging injuries.
Personally I'd try two things to make the process easier:
1) Fit physical activity into your day to day life. I run to work but there are far less extreme ways to do this. Walk or cycle places, find a hobby that burns some calories etc. Leading a life that involves movement is far more sustainable than trying to start an exercise habit.
2) Try lots of different exercise routines. After a lot of trial and effort I've found running and swimming work best for me, with maybe 5/10 min weights after a swim. I've previously tried cycling, dumbbells, thai boxing and many many body weight/calisthenic/ natural movement type systems. Everyone's different so it's worth trying out a load of things to find which you'll actually enjoy.
I wholeheartedly support (1). Earlier this year I lived closer to work and biking to work every day is extremely natural, and I easily close every ring on my Apple Watch with basically no effort. Now that I live farther away from work and my commute involves a car, it is a struggle everyday to close the rings.
> at no point in my year of exercising has it been much other than an annoying thing that I’ve had to do
I was jogging for well over a year before I started to enjoy it and look forward to my runs. Before then it took a fair amount of willpower to do it, afterwards I wanted to run and it was no effort.
It took me about 3 months (two different times a bit over a year apart). Each instance only lasted for about 4 months when I'd just lose motivation. Maybe it was because I made an accomplishment each time (being able to jog half an hour without stopping for the first time in my life was the last one), and that feeling of satisfaction meant I no longer had a drive to accomplish something anymore.
I still have my goal of being able to run indefinitely, but I'm just not motivated to start back up again.
I found the article a little... well, I'm not sure what adjective to use, but a little "off".
>People told me that the first few weeks of exercising would be the hardest, and after that point all the endorphins would kick in (or whatever) and then I would really start to enjoy that.
Yes, it's the most difficult to start a new habit when you start it. It's certainly not a common claim that endorphins "kick in after a few weeks" though.
>It turns out that in actual practice, I don’t exercise to lose weight, I exercise so that I can eat more calories and still lose weight.
I'm the same way, but it has nothing to do with exercise, and it's certainly not "exercise's fault" (personifiying a bit) that I have poor willpower (or very good rationalization).
>It also meant that honestly speaking the real key to losing weight was the calorie counting, not the exercising.
This is not a revelation. Literally every gym, fitness club, personal trainer, pro or amateur athlete, etc... they will all say it's an 80/20 split between diet an exercise. "Abs are made in the kitchen" is a very common phrase amongst bodybuilders/those who want abs/athletes.
>Also key for me was understanding that the exercise and calorie counting was going to be a permanent thing now, and not just something I was going to do until I hit a goal.
I mean... if you diet and exercise and lose 10lbs, then stop dieting and exercising... you will gain the 10lbs back.
>I felt better when I started exercising, and I feel better now than I did a year ago, both physically and mentally. But it’s important to note that exercising and bringing my body closer to something that corresponded to my own internal self-image of myself did not, in fact, solve all my problems.
This is a great point and really the only part of the article with any insight. I think it's very important to realize that going from unfit to fit actually doesn't solve a lot of the problems one may think it does.
One option: if you live near some mountain bike trails, get a mountain bike. All the nature of hiking with as much or as little roller coaster like excitement as you want.
There are so many options, even indoor ones, that there is no need for being active to be boring.
Surprised, nobody mentioned Bodyweight exercises. They build basic foundation on which you can add others like running, cycling, swimming, whatever etc.
When I tried 10 burpees first time heart rate shot to 170-180. Made me question my existence along with all poor life style choices.
Good thing is, you need not to waste to time traveling to gym, other places to pursue other activities. Can be done at home, hotel, park wherever you are.
it's my personal preference but bike-commuting seems like the optimum for people who are overweight, don't have time and lack motivation. you lose weight, learn more about your local area, learn more about human psychology, you can listen to your favourite podcast/audiobook, don't have to pay for gym membership/gas to drive to te gym, and it's better for your knees
I can very much relate to the author's thoughts about the whole exercise routine, including a lack of general enjoyment of it, and when I set out to improve my body in the gym, I lasted a few months or so and gave up: too much time and effort and motivation and money needed at the same time for something so dull - and that was e few years ago and I stopped doing much exercise except for some week end walks and the like.
Now for a few months I have been commuting to work by bike, driven by the time gain vs car or subway, and I have to say even though it's a bit of an effort on rainy days, it's really a very good combination of low cost, low friction, useful in its own right, means of doing exercise.
This is exactly the blog post I would have written this year. In April I got sick of being nearly 50 and 220 pounds; after 8 months of calorie counting and exercise I’m nearly 50 and 170ish pounds.
And while I’ve gotten at least a little enjoyment out of running, that’s as much as I can say about appreciating exercise. Such an incredibly tedious chore.
I highly recommend anyone who wants to learn more about exercising for aesthetic or performance goals to check out Eric Helms, he is a huge name in the science based fitness community along with Greg Nuckols, Brad Schoenfeld, and Bret Contreras to name a few (there are plenty and luckily all these guys mention each other so you can find great info all over). His Muscle and Strength Pyramid videos (and books that I have both bought) provide a great amount of detail into the fundamentals of nutrition and training as well as understanding the hierarchy of importance.
Exercise is the best! Physical and mental gains, guards your health, keeps you young.
I had a gym close to my office, and used to take the lunch hour to exercise. Really made the day go quickly! (Sadly, that gym moved and now I have to work out after work. But the upside is that I now go with my wife, son and daughter.)
The misery from the work expressed makes me think this will not be a very long-lived habit.
I think in order to get the endorphin rush (or, more accurately, a general increase in a well-being feeling over time), you need to have a level of intensity higher than just walking.
So if you run instead of walk your calorie burn is 4-5x more so you can play this calorie game with even less time investment and you'll get the endorphins that will help reinforce the behavior better.
I completely agree with point 1. Everyone said the first month would be the hardest, but halfway through my 9th month, I still think it's the hardest thing to do.
The thing is, now it's become such an integral part of my daily routine that I cannot move forward without it. That consistency has programmed my brain to cling on to it, and it being hard does not matter anymore.
Something no trainer/exercise junkie will tell you
[+] [-] geophile|6 years ago|reply
The secret for me was to recognize a few things:
- I do hate exercise. I don't have the willpower to exercise hard for an hour a day. It works best for me if I have someone telling me what to do. So over the years, I have tried various forms of group exercise. I am currently doing crossfit, (minus the cult aspects, thanks but no thanks) 3 days a week, and working with a personal trainer 2 days a week (basically an exhausting form of physical therapy to address problems with the ways that I move, and my lack of mobility).
- Making exercise a priority doesn't work for someone like me, because I hate it so much. No, I made it a habit, which is different. It's a regular thing on my schedule.
- It does make me feel better. Not when I do it. Immediately after exercising, all I feel is relief that it's over for the day. But if I stick to my 5x/week schedule, 1 hour/day, then my aches and pains -- charateristic for my age -- disappear. No more aching knees or frequent upper back pain. If I stop for a couple of weeks, these problems return and I generally feel less energetic.
- The battle is psychological. The worst thing is getting myself to the gym. I wait until the very last minute, and dread it for the whole short drive. The anticipation before the workout sucks. The warmup is the absolute worst, because I am transitioning from my normal lazy, comfortable mode, to a far more active mode, doing completely unnatural (for me) things. Doing the workout is mostly boring, often exhausting, but mentally easier that the buildup.
Figure out what works for you and make it a habit.
[+] [-] exabrial|6 years ago|reply
The big thing that worked for me was data. I weighed myself every day no matter what and even if I knew I was going over the calorie count for the day I logged it anyway.
For me that was when this vast mystery of diet was cleared. Once I saw how directly linked they were it became very easy to say no to things and it continues to do so.
[+] [-] flexd|6 years ago|reply
Do any of you feel the same way? I have used Myfitnesspal and similar before, but have never stuck with it. Before I have stayed reasonably fit because I usually ride mountain bikes a lot,but the past few years there has been less riding and I'm now +10kg my normal weight at least.
[+] [-] groby_b|6 years ago|reply
That means you don't get high precision data, and the nutrients may be off, but it's more than enough to keep yourself in a caloric deficit/surplus as you choose.
(Also, don't eat lunch at work if you can avoid it. It's greasy, over-salted, and not the best food for you. No matter what corporate propaganda tells you)
[+] [-] silviogutierrez|6 years ago|reply
Which leads nicely to the shameless plug for https://www.joyapp.com . Built it for myself, then it spread through forums and has quite a few users.
Benefits:
- Once you learn the ropes, it's an order of magnitude faster to add entries. It was designed to be opened for as little as possible each day.
- If you make it hard to log your food, you won't do it. This makes it trivial.
- Also, there are no community-entered foods. This is a feature in most cases. All the food is either from a professionally curated database (Nutritionix) or custom foods you enter.
- No ads whatsoever. And we don't sell your data. Privacy is very important to us.
[+] [-] kshacker|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] giaour|6 years ago|reply
If you do a lot of cooking and baking yourself, counting calories is a painful process. You have to weigh everything going into the recipe, understand how cooking processes alter the nutritional makeup of your ingredients, calculate the probable calorie count of the finished product, and then weigh each portion while it's being served. If you like to use specialty ingredients (e.g., different kinds of grain flours in a single recipe or fermented vegetables in Sichuanese cuisine), even figuring out the calorie values of your inputs can be challenging.
[+] [-] flocial|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] downerending|6 years ago|reply
Beyond that, weigh every day, track values in a decaying average app to cancel out noise, and greatly reduce or fast completely on days where I'm over my line.
Easier said than done, of course, but I'm halfway successful.
[+] [-] chaoxu|6 years ago|reply
I tried a few ways and eventually giving up. I just have to live with not having accurate counts.
1. I try to make my own food using common ingredients. It failed in a couple of weeks because I do prefer to not spend that much time on making food.
2. Eating at restaurants is especially difficult. Even if you bring a scale with you. Like if you are given some Chinese dish where all the things are mixed together. I give up and go with "Chinese buffet" option in myfitnesspal.
3. Ironically, fast food places do have calories listed, and that justifies some of my visits...
[+] [-] brandonmenc|6 years ago|reply
Don't use measuring cups, and don't eyeball it. Also, don't trust any calorie counts from a restaurant.
After a while you get better at not needing a food scale for absolutely everything, but I've been controlling my weight (both gaining and losing) via CICO for nearly two decades and I still weigh most of my food.
[+] [-] josephwegner|6 years ago|reply
I, like the author, have found that most traditional excercise is just... boring. And exhausting. And not enjoyable. I did biking for awhile, and it was fine until life happened and I fell off the wagon. Same with lifting. Same with running. The only thing I've truly enjoyed was rock climbing, but the nearest gym is 45mim away in low traffic - it's a 3 hour commitment to get a good session.
I've seen the advice from this thread before, to find excercise you enjoy or excercise you can integrate into your life (ie: run to work). I work from home. Everything out of the house is inconvenient, and everything in the house is boring.
I make plenty of money and would be exceptionally happy if I could just throw money at this problem. There's not really a price I wouldn't pay for a more durable and comfortable body.
Mostly in the past Ive been told I need to... just do it. Have the willpower to do it. But that's crappy advice and doesn't work. Has anyone had success with particular workouts or strategies to keep motivated?
[+] [-] tacon|6 years ago|reply
[0] https://youtu.be/jHOeoGMiFz8?t=270
[+] [-] SCAQTony|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] romaaeterna|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] dragonwriter|6 years ago|reply
It's quite possible to adopt an exercise regime where one, on average (even taking into account rest days), expends more in strenuous activity per day than one would expend in total per day without strenuous activity, in which case it is physically impossible to offset the additional calorie expenditure in activity with reduced calorie expenditure at rest (and since the body does actually have irreducible needs at rest—and since exercise, by creating microinjuries that require repair, increases that minimum, even if it also increases resting efficiency) the actual limit where this becomes impossible is a much lower active expenditure.
It's possible that there is a range in which additional strenuous activity is offset, and it's possible most practical attempts to boost strenuous activity for weight loss end up within that range. But it's also certainly possible to get outside of the range where that effect can operate.
[+] [-] brandonmenc|6 years ago|reply
Um, no. This goes against all mainstream, tried and true research and practice.
> Women who train for their first marathon gain, on average, 2-3 lbs of fat
Marathons are an extreme activity. If this is true it doesn't disprove that cardio causes the average person to lose fat.
[+] [-] dehrmann|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tmarsden|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] askafriend|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] molodec|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] groby_b|6 years ago|reply
1) Running on a treadmill is much friendlier to my joints than concrete or asphalt. For us city dwellers, that adds up over time.
2) I can quit the treadmill at any time. If you're outside on a 6 mile run and you have a muscle cramp up at mile 3, limping back 3 miles is the result. That's surprisingly little fun ;)
3) Can't speak for other people, but usually the treadmill is a warm-up, that's it.
4) It's cold and rainy outside. I'm soft and coddled and like being in a warm place :)
(OK, realistically, the first two are the ones that really matter, the rest you can get over)
[+] [-] romaaeterna|6 years ago|reply
But exercise really helps. It changes what you want to eat first of all. Fat loss can be grueling or easy, depending on where your body wants to be, and exercise pushes it to the easier side.
Some of the non-calorie burning exercises have the biggest effects here. Weightlifting is almost pointless from a calorie perspective, but it really energizes weight loss. I assume that the hormonal effects are king.
Biking colossal distances is another thing that seems to lead to leaning out. In theory it should be possible just to eat through the calories burned biking, but in practice, it seems to shift the bias towards losing.
Also, the biggest problem with calories-in calories-out is that weight regain after a calorie deficit period -- even a long one -- seems to be almost a law of nature. The body seems to push extremely hard for regaining everything that has been starved off.
[+] [-] taneq|6 years ago|reply
Maybe in terms of the energy you burn directly by lifting weights, but it raises your base metabolic rate significantly for quite some time after a workout. The extra muscle mass you built also raises your BMR in a longer lasting way. Especially when combined with interval training, weights are very effective.
[+] [-] tacon|6 years ago|reply
Unfortunately it is not true that we use all the calories that we eat in the same way, or that simple calories in/calories out is all that matters[0].
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhzV-J1h0do
[+] [-] tmarsden|6 years ago|reply
The weight regain phenomenon you mention can be explained in part by the hormone ghrelin. I’m no nutritional scientist but from my understanding ghrelin is involved in meal initiation and is a driving factor in the weight regain after a period of weight loss. Conversely the hormone leptin acts to suppress food intake and would cause someone to lose weight after a brief period of weight gain. Together when functioning correctly these work to “stabilize” ones weight. Obese individuas are thought to be leptin resistant.
As you mention, hormonal effects are king and you want to take great care to not overly stress or break your body’s systems, for example, by becoming insulin or leptin resistant.
[+] [-] bot1|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] koboll|6 years ago|reply
But past middle age, it becomes critically important. Once your muscles, joints, and bones begin to weaken, keeping muscle mass can mean the difference between maintaining balance or not, breaking bones in a fall or not, and retaining motor function or not. It has all kinds of second order effects on general health and longevity.
[+] [-] sundvor|6 years ago|reply
I'd hardly ever get an endorphin rush/hit from cycling, but I get them regularly from weights. They certainly help the mind settle, even after a short stint.
My best tip would be to get your own equipment, if possible, to have the ability to do it frequently and without making it a mission to go to the gym.
It's amazing what you can do with a squat rack, bar bell, a bench, and a set of plates. (Starting strength / Rippetoe, Stronglifts 5x5, etc).
Weight is in fact regulating itself somewhat naturally as a consequence, but just being able to feel the body getting stronger is the real pleasure. I've been doing this for a good few months now and I know I'm adding years if not decades to my usable life span as well.
[+] [-] degenerate|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] non-entity|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 1337biz|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ErikAugust|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Ididntdothis|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ck425|6 years ago|reply
1) Fit physical activity into your day to day life. I run to work but there are far less extreme ways to do this. Walk or cycle places, find a hobby that burns some calories etc. Leading a life that involves movement is far more sustainable than trying to start an exercise habit.
2) Try lots of different exercise routines. After a lot of trial and effort I've found running and swimming work best for me, with maybe 5/10 min weights after a swim. I've previously tried cycling, dumbbells, thai boxing and many many body weight/calisthenic/ natural movement type systems. Everyone's different so it's worth trying out a load of things to find which you'll actually enjoy.
[+] [-] kccqzy|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WalterBright|6 years ago|reply
I was jogging for well over a year before I started to enjoy it and look forward to my runs. Before then it took a fair amount of willpower to do it, afterwards I wanted to run and it was no effort.
[+] [-] RandomBacon|6 years ago|reply
I still have my goal of being able to run indefinitely, but I'm just not motivated to start back up again.
[+] [-] oarabbus_|6 years ago|reply
>People told me that the first few weeks of exercising would be the hardest, and after that point all the endorphins would kick in (or whatever) and then I would really start to enjoy that.
Yes, it's the most difficult to start a new habit when you start it. It's certainly not a common claim that endorphins "kick in after a few weeks" though.
>It turns out that in actual practice, I don’t exercise to lose weight, I exercise so that I can eat more calories and still lose weight.
I'm the same way, but it has nothing to do with exercise, and it's certainly not "exercise's fault" (personifiying a bit) that I have poor willpower (or very good rationalization).
>It also meant that honestly speaking the real key to losing weight was the calorie counting, not the exercising.
This is not a revelation. Literally every gym, fitness club, personal trainer, pro or amateur athlete, etc... they will all say it's an 80/20 split between diet an exercise. "Abs are made in the kitchen" is a very common phrase amongst bodybuilders/those who want abs/athletes.
>Also key for me was understanding that the exercise and calorie counting was going to be a permanent thing now, and not just something I was going to do until I hit a goal.
I mean... if you diet and exercise and lose 10lbs, then stop dieting and exercising... you will gain the 10lbs back.
>I felt better when I started exercising, and I feel better now than I did a year ago, both physically and mentally. But it’s important to note that exercising and bringing my body closer to something that corresponded to my own internal self-image of myself did not, in fact, solve all my problems.
This is a great point and really the only part of the article with any insight. I think it's very important to realize that going from unfit to fit actually doesn't solve a lot of the problems one may think it does.
[+] [-] ehnto|6 years ago|reply
There are so many options, even indoor ones, that there is no need for being active to be boring.
[+] [-] bobsil1|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ph2082|6 years ago|reply
When I tried 10 burpees first time heart rate shot to 170-180. Made me question my existence along with all poor life style choices.
Good thing is, you need not to waste to time traveling to gym, other places to pursue other activities. Can be done at home, hotel, park wherever you are.
[+] [-] xallace|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rapht|6 years ago|reply
I can very much relate to the author's thoughts about the whole exercise routine, including a lack of general enjoyment of it, and when I set out to improve my body in the gym, I lasted a few months or so and gave up: too much time and effort and motivation and money needed at the same time for something so dull - and that was e few years ago and I stopped doing much exercise except for some week end walks and the like.
Now for a few months I have been commuting to work by bike, driven by the time gain vs car or subway, and I have to say even though it's a bit of an effort on rainy days, it's really a very good combination of low cost, low friction, useful in its own right, means of doing exercise.
[+] [-] macintux|6 years ago|reply
And while I’ve gotten at least a little enjoyment out of running, that’s as much as I can say about appreciating exercise. Such an incredibly tedious chore.
[+] [-] tlbsofware|6 years ago|reply
Muscle and Strength Pyramid series: Training: https://youtu.be/OWmchPCyDvw Nutrition: https://youtu.be/GAvW6xBZjSk
[+] [-] RickJWagner|6 years ago|reply
I had a gym close to my office, and used to take the lunch hour to exercise. Really made the day go quickly! (Sadly, that gym moved and now I have to work out after work. But the upside is that I now go with my wife, son and daughter.)
[+] [-] nickbauman|6 years ago|reply
I think in order to get the endorphin rush (or, more accurately, a general increase in a well-being feeling over time), you need to have a level of intensity higher than just walking.
So if you run instead of walk your calorie burn is 4-5x more so you can play this calorie game with even less time investment and you'll get the endorphins that will help reinforce the behavior better.
[+] [-] kalyantm|6 years ago|reply