Poll of the Day > How on earth does weight loss work?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Ive been training for about a month and eating slightly better - trying to lose weight.

The first 3 weeks were 4-5 days per week in the gym and eating well. But my weight stayed more or less static.

The past week or so Ive only been once and my diet has been trash, but Ive lost 1kg in the seven days. How is that possible?

Im guessing theres just a lag in results from when it is you put in the work to exercise? But even that doesnt really explain it fully

It's literally only the calories

If you take in less calories than you use each day, you lose weight. Dieting reduces the amount you take in, exercise increases the amount you use.

In addition to what was already said, you weight is not a static number. It's normal for it to fluctuate by 5ish pounds throughout the day, so small differences over short periods of time mean nothing.

You need to weigh yourself at the same time, same day each week under the same circumstances. As someone said weight can massively fluctuate over a day. I weigh myself Monday morning, after toilet and before eating. That way you get a consistent data point

Lokarin posted...

It's literally only the calories

This.

Personally, when I was focused on weight only, I found exercise only made me gain weight because I wanted to eat more.

I've actually lost the most weight in the fastest time when I was just eating candy bars and coke. If you count the calories, you'll lose the weight. However - you are more likely to gain it back and you won't necessarily be healthy.

Ideally, you want to count the calories until you understand what foods you can / can't have at what portions. Then, you need to find a balance of healthy calories and exercise that works for you - it's the only way you will keep the weight off.

Weightloss is very simple on paper, burn more calories than you take in.

The hard part is doing it. More so since your body is often working against you. If you burn through your fat stores, your body will often times make you hungrier and more often to try to regain what it feels is the correct levels. A good trick is a high protein and fiber diet so your body takes longer to process food.

I have no idea how I lost a bunch of weight and got ripped as hell without changing my routine. I think I went through a 2nd puberty or something

Cardio

It's best to weigh yourself the same time each week. I found I lost 3 pounds after having a massive poo. But that was a rare if special moment.

If you are exercising more and eating the same but you're not losing weight you may be losing fat but gaining muscle mass. "Weight" and especially "BMI" are really useless because they don't factor in muscle vs fat. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was at the prime of his bodybuilding career, he weighed 235 pounds and had a BMI of 31, which is considered obese!

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If you're exercising and not losing weight you're prob replacing fat with muscle. Working out can cause higher weight because muscle is more dense than fat.

there's a caloric "sliding window" (making numbers up as an example):

gain weight
--------- 1900
maintain weight
--------- 1700
lose weight
--------- 1400
starvation

as you lose weight, this window slides down and shrinks a bit, so it becomes trickier to stay in the "lose weight" part. also, the window is invisible. exercise moves the window up and enlarges it.

exercise also makes it so that when you lose weight, you lose more fat, and when you gain weight, you gain more muscle. (dieting without exercise you can end up obese after losing muscle and gaining fat over and over and over).

Jen0125 posted...

If you're exercising and not losing weight you're prob replacing fat with muscle.

supposedly that can't happen. you either gain or lose, you can't "transfer"; except by losing and then gaining.

FatalAccident posted...

1kg

W000t

I went from actively trying to lose weight, not getting results fast enough, and giving up to passively trying to lose weight and not caring about the weight loss, just setting up easy, healthy habits. I have exercised in that time but not consistently, I have fasted, again, not consistently and pretty much cut out pop and energy drinks (still have them as a treat now and again but not multiple times every day like before).

I have lost 45ish lbs over the last 3 years so I think it's been successful. I would suggest stop looking for results because that'll just make you quit

Sahuagin posted...

supposedly that can't happen. you either gain or lose, you can't "transfer"; except by losing and then gaining.

It's not like a transfer of fat. If you lose the same amount weight wise of fat that you gain in muscle in the same week you'll have what looks like a plateau. I always say to judge your body by how it looks and if you're satisfied because if you are muscular you will prob be a higher weight than you planned but you'll look great.

Lokarin posted...

It's literally only the calories

^This. But still keep exercising.

(not going to lie the P90X works but I feel like dying :P)

Do cardio and drink a lot of water

Jen0125 posted...

If you lose the same amount weight wise of fat that you gain in muscle in the same week you'll have what looks like a plateau.

I'm not sure if it's possible, but if you did do that, you should notice a drop in body fat %.

11110111011 posted...

This.

Personally, when I was focused on weight only, I found exercise only made me gain weight because I wanted to eat more.

I've actually lost the most weight in the fastest time when I was just eating candy bars and coke. If you count the calories, you'll lose the weight. However - you are more likely to gain it back and you won't necessarily be healthy.

Ideally, you want to count the calories until you understand what foods you can / can't have at what portions. Then, you need to find a balance of healthy calories and exercise that works for you - it's the only way you will keep the weight off.

Preach

It's about limiting calorie intake while not hurting yourself with malnutrition or dehydration.

Sahuagin posted...

I'm not sure if it's possible, but if you did do that, you should notice a drop in body fat %.

Yes that's what you should pay attention to instead of your numbered weight imo

Lokarin posted...

It's literally only the calories

Pretty much this. There has to be a calorie deficit.

Here's a pseudo problem; if you drink more water to be healthy, you'll carry more water weight, and if your metabolism becomes more efficient from eating healthier, you're going to extract more calories from the same amount of food.

Your weight is also subject to fairly substantial fluctuations throughout the week, it's normal for it to move around without any change in activity or diet. You're also going to gain weight from doing exercise, by not eating properly and not exercising, you can lose lean mass.

Honestly, 15k-25k steps a day should cause weight-loss even if youre eating enough calories for maintenance.

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Here's a pseudo problem; if you drink more water to be healthy, you'll carry more water weight, and if your metabolism becomes more efficient from eating healthier, you're going to extract more calories from the same amount of food.

A lot of people are dehydrated more often than not without realizing