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It's easier to eat less calories than exercise.

• eeks 9y ago
  I don't know about easier, but it's certainly more efficient.
  • bunderbunder 9y ago
    How easy it is probably depends on your circumstances. There are infographics and whatnot out there detailing the caloric density of different kinds of food, that make it clear that, depending on the diet you already eat, you can reduce your calorie intake by vast amounts just by switching up what kinds of food you eat. But it's potentially a more expensive way to eat, and probably a more time-consuming one if you don't already enjoy cooking.
    • pascalxus 9y ago
      I used to believe that too. Just eat low caloric density foods, right? It makes a lot of sense. So, I calculated the precise caloric density of Everything and ate nothing but <0.8 calories/gram foods with increased emphesis on 0.2 I had to eat truely vast amounts of food to get anywhere near full. We're talking many many pounds of spinach and 8 zero calorie jellos, pound after pound of vegetables and high fiber fruits: like berries. It does NOT work well at all. Don't get me wrong, it helps a little, but your stomach is extremely smart and it knows alot more about calorie counting than we do. Like it or not, it keeps it's own account of your calorie intake and adjusts your hunger and appetite accordingly. If you're like me and you're already eating a very healthy diet and you exercise regularly and your still gaining weight, you only have one option: go hungry. Very hungry. Right now, it's the only way. You could exercise a lot more, but either way, you're going to suffer.
      • eeks 9y ago
        That’s also my experience. I do a lot of Thai boxing and I need to control my weight to maintain my weight class. I switched from a balanced diet to a keto diet hoping for change but at the end both averaged the same. The only difference was that with the balanced diet I had to eat twice as much food to actually feel full and work out without being dizzy. Now I am walking down the path of strict calorie intake control, trying to better understand my metabolism tipping point. Working out more has no effect if it does not come with some form of caloric restriction.
    • arkh 9y ago
      Personal experience: I've lost 4lb per months for the last 6 months with no cooking. I'm lazy so I just use microwavable food: 3mn to prepare, I know the number of calories so I can easily stay under my target. Even with not microwaved but easily made, pre-made soups or veggies are easy to heat and more filing. Even eating only snacks I can stay under 1.5k per day by just not eating anything on the side. The trick for most people starting is to not drink your calories: switch to 0% calorie sodas and replace sugar in coffee and tea with aspartame. No fruit juice and check calories as "0% added sugar" usually mean there are a lot of calories.
• yetihehe 9y ago
  Have you tried it? I did, it's easier only for some time. After you lose about 6-7% of your body weight it's very hard to eat less, your whole behaviour changes.
  • beardbandit 9y ago
    Being 100% sedentary + eating less calories is pretty difficult. For some reason unbeknownst to me, exercise makes eating less a lot easier.
  • SketchySeaBeast 9y ago
    Is there statistics for this? I recently dropped 20% of my bodyweight, but didn't find that my behaviour changed at all. If anything as the routines set in it became easier.
    • yetihehe 9y ago
      Statistics no, but I heard this many times, not believed it and then confirmed this with my body.
    • JshWright 9y ago
      Generally a sustained weight loss of 10% is considered to be a good target. It's the around the balance point of "real, tangible benefits" and "can actually be accomplished and maintained". There are absolutely people who are successful at losing (and maintaining) more than that, but they are a pretty small minority. I don't have sources in front of me, but this is based on many conversations with my sister-in-law, who is just wrapping up her dietetics internship (after completing her undergrad in nutrition). I'm sure I can get some sources from her later in the day if you would be interested.
      • SketchySeaBeast 9y ago
        I would be interested in reading on this phenomena. I've heard this 10% before, but didn't find there to be much of a bump myself. The diet at no point was particularly difficult to stick to once I'd developed the initial discipline. I did find my strength performance to decrease after about 3 or 4 months, but I don't know if that's due to a particular hormonal shift, or being on a caloric deficit for an extended length of time, and a general decrease in mass making lifts harder.
• jaredsohn 9y ago
  The insight that I found to be more helpful is that if you want to count calorie losses from exercise as weight loss, you at least need to make sure that you aren't consuming more extra calories than what you burned from exercise. It can be hard to do this if you don't have awareness over what you typically eat.
• darioush 9y ago
  It's easier to eat less caloric dense foods than both. I love stuffing myself full of food, and I suspect others enjoy this too. Knock yourself out with as many carrots as you can have. Eat a full pound or two of cauliflower.