Does e exercise alone really result in weight loss?

This topic contains 12 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by Ginette K 9 years, 8 months ago.

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

seamoth

8:43 am
5 Feb 14
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Hi:)
I’ve been doing 5:2 for a month now and have lost 8 lbs, so thats very cool. Every day I have been doing a 45mt aerobic session. Yesterday was one of my non fast days, and it so happened that I was invited to walk in the country side with some friends. We walked for 10 miles, I was absolutely exhausted at the end, legs trembling and feet sore. But I was OK thinking of all the hundreds of calories I had burned. Although eating normally during the day, I had a large calorie deficit so was really shocked when I weighed myself this morning to find I had GAINED 2lbs since my weigh-in the day before my big walk! How is this possible? I’m thinking maybe I would have lost the 8 lbs purely by doing the 5:2 diet without sweating through daily aerobics?
Any advice will be gratefully received!

Angie090465

8:57 am
5 Feb 14
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in one word, NO you cant loose weight by exercise alone, if anything you may put on some because of the muscle damage/gain etc.. I am no expert but I found that since reducing my workouts and walking everyday and doing a 10 minutes abs workout the weight started to shift!

please don’t worry too much about the 2 lbs, am sure that will be muscle which is heavier than fat, maybe try reducing the amount of aerobics sessions and see what happens?

good luck and let us know how you get on! 🙂 x

ali43

8:57 am
5 Feb 14
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Hi Seamoth, I think the two really go hand in hand. To put it in perspective, for you to to lose just 1lb of fat you would need to burn 3,500 calories. The calories burned on a ten mile walk might be somewhere between 1,000 – 1,500 depending on the gradient. I doubt whether you would’ve really gained 2lbs. This could be water. Did you have a carb heavy meal last night or during the day? I don’t think you can attribute you entire weight loss to 5:2 although I think that diet plays a much bigger part in the overall picture.

simcoeluv

9:17 am
5 Feb 14
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Hi:

I don’t believe exercise is helpful for weight loss:

http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/exercise-is-dangerous-for-your-diet/

seamoth

9:53 am
5 Feb 14
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Thanks so much to above three responses…..extremely interesting to me! I am going to try only doing aerobics every other day for the next month, (hurrah!) and continue my 5:2 way of eating. Will see what occurs!

Angie090465

10:18 am
5 Feb 14
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Good for you Seamoth!

i’ll be looking out for your posts 🙂

alfie2blue

5:20 am
7 Feb 14
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Interesting to read your post. I have been doing fast diet for a month and lost 7 lbs (this is nothing short of a miracle got me). I started out doing 20 mins of Zumba wii most mornings and thought that had been a big contributing factor . But this week has been busy and not managed any exercise (other than a bit of dog walking but not walking far in this weather with a baby!) and I have still lost weight. I view the exercise as helpful as it boosts my TDEE to 2000. Otherwise it is 1800, which requires focus to stay within.

seamoth

8:22 am
7 Feb 14
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Alfie2blue: Interesting. Adds to my growing conviction that its probably more effective to lose excess fat by eating the 5:2 way, and keeping as a tive as is comfortable (with maybe a few low impact aerobics sessions during the week) and THEN, when most of the excess fat is gone, to start on regular HIT training and aeobics to tone muscle and lose the final inches.
I still have about 20 kilos to lose, so am in this for the long haul. So have to go about this with a calm and steady eye 🙂

Andy303

8:49 am
9 Feb 14
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Hi seamoth i would say it’s about 80% diet 20% exercise BUT! aerobic is good for heart health i would include a weight training element because for longer weight control you need some muscle. It has been proven a bit of muscle mass really boosts your resting metabolic rate compared to just aerobics which i would include for the heart strengthing benefits but aerobics alone won’t sustain a prolonged weight control because it only has a short term effect ie when your working out hope this helped GL.

seamoth

9:23 am
9 Feb 14
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Andy303, thanks for your thoughts, which I’ve taken onboard.

vicki

11:11 am
9 Feb 14
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Hi seamoth

I think it’s psychological, we think we need to exercise to lose weight. I started 5:2 in January 2013 at 90.8kg, and at that time was swimming every day, finally got to 4km 6 days a week until I did my shoulder in July. Then started the gym for cardio (sorry, I know I’m obsessive) at first could do 10 minutes, now 70min 5 days a week crosstraining and bike. Now 69.7kg which averages out at nearly a lb a week. But would I have lost that without the exercise?? According to all the science, probably.

BUT – I feel fantastic from the exercise (and of course losing 21kg). I think the real lesson from 5:2 is that it really works, I’m 63 and have dieted for 40 years, it’s never lasted and I always felt guilty when I failed so stopped. I think Andy is right, the diet is the dominant factor but the exercise will make you trim and (in my case) stop the flabbiness after weight loss. Also, initially, exercise will slow the weight loss as you gain muscle, but you will still lose centimetres (or inches)

Good luck, Vicki

annette52

6:48 pm
9 Feb 14
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And muscle burns calories for hours after exercise.

Exercise is a complete no-brainer and there is no need to join a gym or take up running. Walking at a brisk pace for 10,000 steps each and every day is a great exercise and whittles the waist too.

Ginette K

10:29 pm
28 Mar 15
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seamoth

I have got to disagree with Angie. About 3/4 years ago I lost 2 stone without dieting and the only exercise I did was using my Wii. I do however think that 5:2 is great and will provide me with many health benefits and Wight loss. I have just got my Wii out again during the last week as my weight loss slowed down.

The reason I stopped using the Wii is I starined my knee and STILL carried on exercising as I felt it was easy to make excuses. At the end of that week I arrived at accident at emergency. I got up at work at the end of the day and found I couldn’t put my foot to the floor, I called my son who wheeled me to the car ona computer chair.

Outcome was an acute sprain and I had to have 1 week full bed rest, second week I could get up but not weight bear. I was only allowed to stay up for about three hours a day. Week four I went back to work very part time on crutches it wasn’t until week seven that I could return to work full time on crutches.

Since that time my knee is very susceptible to injury and I am taking things really slowly. Tennis was the main problem.

The weight over my period of inactivity crept back on. When I was exercising it had the strangest side effects. I wasn’t interested in cakes, chocolates etc, I could really take them or leave them. I spent days with an open box of quality street open and didn’t have one. Beforecthe exercise I would have been drawn to them like a magnet.

These were my personal experiences and are not exaggerated in any way.

I know that the 5:2 and exercise will complement each other.

Exercise regularly if you are just starting start with 10 mins 4 times a week. This will get your body used to the muscles you are using. I then increased by about 5/10 minutes a go. Then I added a weekend day that I did more and got up yo about 45/60 mins on a weekend day. I kept it shorter during the week. The only time I got carried away (or wheeled away) was on the tennis and I really loved that and could play it for about 45mins. I was about 19 stone so this required a lot of stamina and I would be exhausted afterwards.

Good luck with your journey

Ginette