Is weight loss possible with just exercise and small diet changes?

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prestigerg7

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My basic question is can I loose weight with lots of exercise and a few small changes to my regular diet? Or would I have to totally stop eating any type of junk food? I don't even care if my weight loss is as slow as 1 pound per week or even slower, If there is weight loss at the end i'll take it.

I go to the gym 5 times a week and I do 1 hour of cardio. Usually 1 hour on the elliptical or 30 minutes on the elliptical and 30 on the treadmill. Usually after my cardio I play basketball for another hour. I also weight lift for about 40 minutes 3 or 4 times a weeks.

For my diet I have done some changes. I have reduced my soda intake, I probably only drink 2-3 cans a week. And fast food I try not to do more than once a weeks, sometimes 2 times a week on a rare occasion. I also try to eat apples and bananas daily, eat salads and other fruits and vegetables.

I just hate looking constantly at what I eat and try to plan out healthy meals. Its not like I love to eat junk food and thats all that I want, but sometimes when I'm in the mood for it i'd rather be able to eat it than say 'no that has to many calories or fat'

I'm male
5'10''
198 lbs (goal is 170 or so but I'd be perfectly happy with 180)
 
I started with a single step... I have lost over 100 lbs and become in better shape at 39 ( almost 40) then ever in my life. I cut out extra helpings, I then added exercise, I cut down on sugar, etc. I have made so many changes but if I had done it cold turkey and said " hmmmm I am tired of being a size 16, I think I will just become a size 2 figure competitor today." Well, I wouldn't be here. It would have made it seem SO FAR AWAY. :) You are choosing the path that can lead as far as you want and doing it sensibly. Maybe your goal is to get in your smallest jeans, wear a bathing suit, dance all night with your honey and have lots of energy. YOU decide! Taking the small steps and adding on to that success is what a winner does. I hope you feel good about making the right choices when you do and ready to add on more when it feels right. Let your body and mind be your guide.

I am cheering for you!!!!!
 
In a nutshell I would say the answer to your question is yes.

Now a couple of observations/advice. First, you're doing a LOT of cardio, between the one hour 5 days a week plus basketball. If you've recently started then it should have a big impact on your weight. If you get tired of doing that much cardio over time, you might consider looking at high intensity interval training as a substitute, if you're not already incorporating it. You can get the same or better weight loss results in less overall time.

Second, for your diet, I read some great advice in the paper the other day from Bob Greene who is Oprah's trainer. He basically said he advises his clients to be active and cut out 6 foods: he takes them off alcohol for at least 4 weeks, and then eliminates pop, fried food, anything with trans fats, white bread which should be replaced with whole grain breads, and high fat milk and yogurt which get replaced with 1% or skim milk and low fat yogurt. I like the simplicity of that.
 
Mel Def said:
I started with a single step... I have lost over 100 lbs and become in better shape at 39 ( almost 40) then ever in my life. I cut out extra helpings, I then added exercise, I cut down on sugar, etc. I have made so many changes but if I had done it cold turkey and said " hmmmm I am tired of being a size 16, I think I will just become a size 2 figure competitor today." Well, I wouldn't be here. It would have made it seem SO FAR AWAY. :) You are choosing the path that can lead as far as you want and doing it sensibly. Maybe your goal is to get in your smallest jeans, wear a bathing suit, dance all night with your honey and have lots of energy. YOU decide! Taking the small steps and adding on to that success is what a winner does. I hope you feel good about making the right choices when you do and ready to add on more when it feels right. Let your body and mind be your guide.

I am cheering for you!!!!!
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Mel, I am more impressed with you every day. I had no idea what your starting point was, and to see where you are today is simply amazing. 39?? Good Lord, you look better than most 20 year olds on the planet. I need to read your journal.

Sorry for the threadjack.
 
Thanks for the advice guys,

Taking a few small steps at a time with small changes definitly seems like a good idea.

I always had the mind frame that to loose weight you needed to completely change your diet and eat healthy only.

I guess I'll take it slow and work my way to a healthier diet and cut things out slowly.
 
Yeah, if you cut back a just a little you will still see weight loss, but if you cut out junk food completely and work out regularly you will see results even quicker.
 
The biggest keys to my weight loss were cutting out sugar, cutting out alcohol, trading bad carbs for good carbs, drinking lots of water, and weight training. I'll admit it, I do no cardio.
 
Of course, the answer is yes, if calories in < calories out, you are going to lose weight.

But I can also tell you no, if you really want a step in the direction of a healthy body and mind, you have to eat well, stop eating this processed garbage and start eating real food, which is tastier, healthier and it gives you results. If you are serious about losing the weight, and maintaining your ideal body type, eating the junk you are now won't get you there.
 
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Excercising without proper diet change is like a dog chasing his tail; you will run in circle. You do NOT have to constantly be aiming and looking at you food but try to at least eat tons of fiber. When you are that active, you body will want to replenish itself so it will tell you to drink more soda or eat more fatty food to get back calorie lost. Try to trick the body by eating fiber and food that fill you up with less calorie.

With that said, losing 1 lbs a week is difficult. That is a solid 3,500 calorie defecit a week and if you can sustain that; wow it's really good.
 
The last few weeks I've actually been taking it a bit more serious and have cleaned up my diet quite a bit. I only drink water and green tea /w honey now. I've been able to stick to about 1500 calories a day and I have completely stayed away from all unhealthy snacks and fast food.

I've started trying to loose weight last summer, when I weighted 225 pounds. I kept going on and off my diet and I only managed to get down to 210 pounds by december. After that I joined a gym and I've been working out, and as time went on I cleaned up my diet little by little. Right now I'm about 185, give or take a pound.

My goal was 180, but I think im going to go for 170 and then focus on building up a little muscle and toning up a bit.
 
prestigerg7 said:
The last few weeks I've actually been taking it a bit more serious and have cleaned up my diet quite a bit. I only drink water and green tea /w honey now. I've been able to stick to about 1500 calories a day and I have completely stayed away from all unhealthy snacks and fast food.

I've started trying to loose weight last summer, when I weighted 225 pounds. I kept going on and off my diet and I only managed to get down to 210 pounds by december. After that I joined a gym and I've been working out, and as time went on I cleaned up my diet little by little. Right now I'm about 185, give or take a pound.

My goal was 180, but I think im going to go for 170 and then focus on building up a little muscle and toning up a bit.
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Welldone :) Im currently trying to get my body fat % down and you should be proud to do so well :)

Best of luck for the future~
 
prestigerg7 said:
The last few weeks I've actually been taking it a bit more serious and have cleaned up my diet quite a bit. I only drink water and green tea /w honey now. I've been able to stick to about 1500 calories a day and I have completely stayed away from all unhealthy snacks and fast food.

I've started trying to loose weight last summer, when I weighted 225 pounds. I kept going on and off my diet and I only managed to get down to 210 pounds by december. After that I joined a gym and I've been working out, and as time went on I cleaned up my diet little by little. Right now I'm about 185, give or take a pound.

My goal was 180, but I think im going to go for 170 and then focus on building up a little muscle and toning up a bit.
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That's great!!!! Good job and keep it up. It's OK not to be perfect but the better you get at the diet and exercise the more pleasing the mirror will look. There is nothing in this world like feeling and looking strong and healthy and lean. The average person isn't willing to give what it takes. Celebrate NOT being average.
 
It's all about the equation

Just for the sake of analogy.....

Person A earns $225,000 per year, Person B earns $45,000 per year....which one is wealthier??

Well, $225k is more then $45k....but person A bought a huge home and has absurd payments, he also leased his and his wife's car, owes a great deal on his credit card and pretty much every dime coming in is spoken for in the way of bills. Person B bought a modest home, pre-paid into a 15-year fixed mortgage, bought a used car and maintains it himself and at the end of the month manages to squirrel away towards retirement.

So what's the lesson: that you can't see the whole picture unless you know how much is coming in AND how much is going out. Simple as that.

Our bodies run on calories, eat more then you need and you gain weight, eat less and you lose weight. Your body strives towards homeostasis...a balance. Some of us have genetics that prompt us towards being heavy, others are more fortunate towards being lean.

If you eat 1,500 calories per day of soda, potato chips, cookies and ice-cream....you'll probably remain lean. Of course, your skin and hair may not look great, you'll get sick more often and a host of other health related poor nutrition issues may plague you. At the same time, you can pound the granola bars, fruit and even meat to the tune of 5,000 calories....and you will gain weight.

In the end, it's all about the calorie balance.

Exercise....burns calories, BUT your body isn't stupid: it knows the calories have been depleted and it will inspire you (through hormones, hunger pangs and a host of other incentives & mechanisms) to replace those calories. In my kid's Karate class there's a tubby little boy who drags his butt around for 50 minutes...then mommy rewards him, probably with more calories then the class burned. In other words, exercise will do you no good if you replenish those lost calories. Sure, there's respiratory, circulatory and many other benefits...but be warned:

1) The body is much more efficeint then we realize...if we were cars, we'd get about 240 mpg. Don't trust those calorie-counters on the machines, more often then not they're like the speedometers in sports cars: set high to wow you will numbers!

2) There are more calories in food then you realize. It has been proven that most people, even when they keep some casual form of tracking, underestimate calorie consumption by as much as 30%. Calories add-up faster then you realize. How many of us have picked-up an item in the store, read the label, thought it was really high AND then realized the little package was TWO or even THREE servings??? Hello!!!!!

So I say, with a couple years of tormenting experience.....get your exercise, more then anything the endorphins and experience in and of itself will psychologically inspire you. Who does an hour of cardio and then pounds-down a greasy slice of pizza? That's like washing & waxing your car and then driving it through mud. So yeah, the calories burned are great and the health benefits are many but don't let yourself think you can indulge more then 30% of the total calories burned.

Keep a food journal. We HATE doing it. We tell ourselves it's a pain....but the reality is that we hate the accountibility, cause now we have to ask ourselves "do I really want to have to add this to my list today?". The accountibility factor alone can help people cut intake by as much as 25%...and I'll say it again: we just don't realize how many calories are in food AND the calories add-up faster then we realize.

Eat whole & healthy foods
Keep a journal, know how much you're eating
Exercise with both weights & cardio
Take a solid vitamin and maybe a few supplements
Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night
Do not take any fat-loss pills, it's all bunk & what works is dangerous!
Wear sunscreen
Brush and floss your teeth
Drink plenty of water
Spend less then you earn
Don't bang ho's
Once you start losing weight, become disgusted with fat people, mock them!

:costumed:
 
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That's a pretty vague article, but it pretty much says what I've stated: that when we exercise our bodies tend to make us hungry to replace those burned calories, we don't burn as much as we think and food has more calories and we eat more then we realize.
 
^ yea one of the biggest things I've learned in the past few months trying to build a healthier lifestyle is to eat less and eat slow. To give my body time to realize its full.

And I don't mean eat less as in starve myself or eat the bare minimum. I mean less as in high school I had a bad habit of putting too much on my dinner plate and I always had to finish everything on my plate or whenever I went out for dinner. Which was definitely not good.
 
Lost weight rappidly

Hey, i lost weight rapidly (33 pounds in 2 weeks) but i had serious health problems. Now, i have a beautiful anemia and i am on a diet with vitamins and proteins. I got sick and my organism is so weak that it couldn't stand it, so i spent one whole week in a hospital for investigations.

So, my suggestion, if i may, try to do it as natural as u possibly can. Vegetables, fruits, sport and NO junk food.

Good luck!
 
All too often people can't discern between losing WEIGHT and losing FAT. Nobody aims to lose lean muscle, bone-density or merely dehydrate themselves. In almost all instances our motivation is entirely to reduce our fat in an effort to look better and be healthier. It's about fat loss.

Fat is fat...it's roughly 3,500 calories of stored energy. There is no escaping that reality.

Most people don't realize that for each gram of glycogen the body requires 3 grams of water. When we cut carbs, our body responds in reducing glycogen storage, which in turn leads to less water: this is the "water weight" that is so often referred to. This is why Atkin dieters drop a lot of weight and then gain it back readily once they return to an even modest intake of food other then greasy cheeseburgers. They also lose lean muscle, in fact most dieters will lose as much as 30% of their lost-weight in lean muscle. Are we trying to lose water & muscle? I think not.....although it isn't hard to see those Atkin and other dieters with their emaciated chest and that classic scrawny look to them. It's not fat, it's not healthy, it's not right.....

The stat's show that 85% of dieters gain their weight back, and consequently 85% of diets fail. Hey, most the things worth having in life don't come easy...so don't expect diet pills or some funky combination of food to magically make you thin.

And let me throw this in. My nutritionist is working with a gal in New York who, after THREE months has only lost ONE pound on the scale.....yet, her before & after pictures are ENTIRELY different. Her stomach & butt is dramatically shrunk and she looks much beter, and I hear she even bench presses 55-pound dumbbells! Fat left, muscle developed. Proof that the scale is but a blind instrument in evaluating the whole picture.
 
a little effort, and a lot of commitment.

I've lost about 10 pounds just adjusting my diet to more reasonable portions and upping the amount I exercise a bit. I'm starting to plateau, but it was a good easy start in my road to even more weight loss I'm building a habit out of eating right and staying active. so my answer is yes it is possible.
 
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