Dieting or Exercise for weight loss?

Q: Which is better for weight loss:
dieting or exercise?

Tuesday February 10, 2009

A: This is absolutely no doubt that dieting is the best thing for weight loss. Many people fall into an exercise0based weight loss plan. The math on exercise and weight loss just doesn't work. Weight loss is all about reducing the number of calories you consume. If you are trying to lose weight, eating fewer calories is the fastest (and possibly only) way to weight loss. Here's why: to lose a pound, you need to burn 3500 calories. Intense exercise for one hour burns, say, 400 calories. That means that it takes almost 9 intense exercise sessions to burn one pound (or three weeks, if you exercise three times a week). If you can cut 1000 calories from your daily diet, you'll "burn" a pound every 3 and a half days.

That said, exercise has a role in weight loss, just maybe not the one you think.

Exercise to Feel Good:
Exercise improves your mood. If you exercise, your body releases chemicals that make you feel good. This is great. Let's face it, dieting is no fun, so work some exercise in to lift up your mood.

Exercise for Energy:
  Exercise improves sleep. If you can sleep better each night, you'll feel great throughout the day.

Exercise for Muscle:
  It is true that muscles burn morecalories. If you can increase the amount of muscle on your body, you burn more calories everyday just sitting still. The bad news is that, for weight loss, it takes pretty significant muscle growth to shed some pounds. Building muscle is a good weight maintenance strategy and can be a focus when those last few pounds are in site.

Avoid "Exercise Math":
When you are dieting, don't get trapped by "exercise math." Many people think "Oh, I can have this cookie because I exercised today."  Banish that thought from your mind. Exercise never justifies food. If you let it, you'll slow your weight loss down to a creep. Stick to your diet and don't reward yourself with food.



The above article was copied from the Longevity website at about.com.

Wow

Time gets away quickly...

It's hard to believe I've let another whole week slip by and I have not added to my "shaping up" commitment. Not only have I not added, I've neglected to keep track of what I've eaten for a whole week. (Part of the reason for that is because of WHAT I was eating. Lasagna. Birthday Cake. Hotdogs and potato chips.)

The other part owas because I got so busy getting ready for the weekend. All my spare time was taken making sure the guest room was ready for sleepers, the dining table and kitchen were cleared for a "party" and then the rest of my time was taken with the work I laid out for us all to do.

Monday I should have jumped back into the saddle. (I don't even remember Monday. I can't bring back what I did on Monday after I got home from work.)

Tuesday I went into Huntsville to watch kids while Jeni went to the dentist and then went by Walmart to pick up some much needed items.

At home, where I fully intended to jump into "doing something constructive", I turned instead to a book. Books and "doing something constructive" don't fit together with me. Once I started the book, it was all over. I read it all the way through, finishing around 10pm and thus ended my only day off for the week.

At Jeni's I did get on her WiiFit and checked out my physical condition and it IS as I supposed it was in need of being shaped up. This is the eleventh day of February and I have NOT yet begun that five day a week walking routine that I had pre-determined I was going to begin in February.

When I went to bed last night, I also remembered that I had done nothing about contacting my doctor to set up an appointment for a physical.

Sigh.

Tuesday

This morning I had the girls come and help me do some cleaning and it threw me all out of whack. That plus going into work at 11:15

I ate a bologna and cheese sandwich for breakfast while we were working.
I had a breakfast bar as I drove to work.
I think I may have eaten an apple later.
I had soup for lunch. And a Diet Mtn Dew. And a couple of bite size Snickers.
Then around 7 I ate a banana and some saltines and a Bite Size Snickers.

Now I'm home, hungry and wondering....

Fiber One Cereal with pecans... that sounds good.

On line walking

Clicking around from my own links on this site, I found another Leslie Sansone walking video. To get to Leslie Sansone, you'll have to click on her workout just to the right of the video that begins when you load the page. (The one that starts automatically is a work out for Beginners that is promoted on the "You: on a Diet" link under Get Moving.) When you click on the Walking Video, it will stop the first one.

Anyway, it looks like this particular walking video of Leslie Sansone's is almost 15 minutes. It's based on the same steps that the other one was that got taken down on her site--which is the one I have at home. This one is at Real Age. There's a number of exercise videos there along with hers.

I found it by doing a google search of "You:on a Diet" which was mentioned on the link I have at Fat Secret

At Fat Secret they do not promote any one diet but give the results of whatever diets their members are using. One of the diets was "You: on a Diet"-- a diet I'd never heard of so was going to check it out.

One Advantage of Writing Down What I Eat

Knowing I'm going to write down what I eat causes me to stop and think about whether I really want it that bad.

Monday

Every morning I have two cups of coffee which I think I figured at one time are about 4o calories each.

I ate a breakfast bar as I was driving into work (160)

About 10:45 I ate a banana

For lunch I had soup (Campbell's beef vegetable of some kind. It was good.) and crackers. A few saltines.

Later (about 3:45) an apple and about 175 calories worth of mixed nuts. And a Diet Mt. Dew

For supper I grilled a chicken breast and had that with turnip greens. But I made a sauce from mayo, ketchup, mustard, sugar, & hot sauce to dip the chicken in. ( I didn't eat alot of sauce.)

I also cooked some apples that had gone soft on me. ( I don't like soft apples.) I used brown sugar. (Duh. I just realized I totally forgot to put margarine in them.) I put about 3 tablespoons of vanilla ice cream on them.

So far I haven't walked.

"The Plan"

What I'm working toward doing-- at least in my mind-- is doing more at night that I used to do in the mornings so I'll have time when I get up to walk for 15 minutes before I go to work.

There's things like--

• setting up my coffee pot the night before so all I have to do is push a button
• finding what I'm going to wear and being sure it gets ironed the night before
• fixing my lunch bag the night before with those things that do not have to be refrigerated
  
• reading my Bible in the evening, instead of the morning. (I've already noticed that's good because I don't have a deadline and I can just keep on reading and reading and reading.) As for prayer, since I've gone to work, I'm almost scared to go to work without praying before I go. There's too much that comes up that I need God's help with.
• whatever blogging I do--- like now :D. (It seems I just have to sit here for a minute while I drink that first cup of coffee and wake up a litte. The important thing is that I not linger more than a few minutes.) Do my blogging in the evening.
  
• taking my shower at night (although I must confess, in the winter time, my skin is so dry that when I take a shower at night, I have a huge problem with dry skin and I feel like a dog with fleas. I itch, itch, itch. So if I don't want to deal with that, I wait and shower in the morning.Besides, if I walk like I need to, I may NEED a shower when I'm done.

I think if I did those things in the evening, I'd add back 15 minutes to my mornings in which I could Walk with Leslie. It looks like she took down her video clip of the original Walk a Mile that you could get online, but I have it so no matter.

It's February

Time to start living up to my commitment to "Get in Shape"

I'm not sure I started off with a bang.
I pushed up against leaving time for church too close to eat at home so I grabbed a banana and a couple of breakfast bars and headed out.

Let's see that would be 160 calories each for the bars and about 105 for the banana.
For lunch I had a piece of cornbread (with olive oil margarine moderately applied which is a change for me) and soup. Milk to drink. About 8 ounces I'd guess. 2% (110)

I wanted something sweet and opted for an apple.

So far so good.

After a nap, I had one of Orville Redenbacher's mini bags of Butter popcorn (210 calories) with milk (about 10 ounces-- about 125 calories)

I also drank a cup of Cappuccino-- the powdered kind you mix up. (80 calories)

After church, I ate a bologna sandwich on white bread (gasp) and had coke mixed with lemon lime twist to drink (non diet)

But then I quit eating... unlike normal. I usually end up with some nuts and ice cream.

Just So You'll Know

I haven't given up on losing weight, but I just am so rushed right now that I am not taking time to shop for the right foods, pack the right kinds of lunches, count my calories and such like.

I was still cutting back on portions but I transgressed big time two weekends ago by fixing spaghetti (which I love) for my Sunday company. I always fix enough for there to be plenty, but if plenty is not eaten it's left for me to have all week. Since I love it, that's not a punishment, but it's not good for weight control.

Then the next weekend Jef and Jeni popped in after church on Sunday night with some homemade salsa, chips and some cookie dough. I chowed down on the delicious salsa and "hundreds" of chips and finished off with one (YES, I DID SAY, ONE) cookie.

I've eaten at Five Guys more than I've needed to. They are so handy when I'm rushed and don't take a lunch. I've even indulged in their fries once.

But after this wedding is over, I'm going into this for "the long haul", meaning I'm not planning so much to "go on" a diet as to change my eating habits so that MOST DAYS of the week I'm cutting back my portions, eating "healthy" lunches and snacks, and beginning a weekly exercise routine.

Fattie, Fattie

CalorieLab

Saturday--today

Breakfast at Granny Nell's
Blackberry pancakes, three slices of bacon, fried egg

Lunch: 2 cold chicken legs

a few cashews and an apple

tomato
tomato and onion sandwich and buttermilk

Friday-- thinking back

Supper: cold cut sandwich (at work)

Thursday--thinking back

Thursday

Lunch at Southern Market Chicken fingers, greens, and cheesy potatoes

Supper of Jeni's casserole.

Wednesday--thinking back

Peanut Butter Sandwich

Cold cut and cheese sandwich.

Week Six--Day Two (Tuesday)

Breakfast: a steak with about half a dozen french fries

Lunch: Sandwich with lunch meat cheese and two pepper cheese sticks, 1/2 cup fruit cocktail

Snack: Banana and a nectarine

Before bed snack: Cereal with milk

Week Six- Day One

At two o'clock I had a sandwich with lunch meat and cheese and tomato... and pepper cheese sticks on the side with a diet Mtn Dew. I also ate a piece of candy Will gave me.

For supper I had taco salad again-- fixed like it was yesterday, except today I put a little salsa on it too. I'm enjoying the fresh garden tomatoes my brother brought me on Friday.

I've lost eight pounds. That is about 1.5 pounds a week.

I really need to keep on watching what I eat until I lose about 30 more pounds. The hard part is finding stuff I enjoy eating that is not too fattening and that I don't get burned out on.

Week Five-- Day Seven (Sunday)

Breakfast-- a fried egg on toast with two slices of cheese

Lunch-- Taco salad with grated cheese, taco meat, cheese dip, and chips.



Then I didn't eat again because I began my 24-hour fast for the sick.

Week Five--Day Six (Saturday)

Breakfast
Hmmm.... maybe it was a fried egg and a piece of sausage and toast. Yea, I think that is what I had.

I can't remember what I ate before I went to work--maybe just a banana-- but I took two boiled eggs, two slices of bread, and a mixture of mayo and mustard to make myself an egg salad sandwich for supper.

I had an apple for snack.


Afterwards, I went back to Sister Debra's and ended up eating blueberry pie with cool whip, water melon, and... chips

Week Five--Day Four (Friday)

This is going to be an attempt to remember what I ate.

I didn't go in to work until 2PM.

My brother took me to breakfast at the Morgan City Cafe and I had a cheesy egg, two pieces of buttered toast and two pieces of bacon.

He came to my house to check on my lawn mower and helped me mow my yard.

He brought me tomatoes. I ate a tomato sandwich.

At work, I ordered a hot dog from Five Guys. (Yes, another one, just like the first.)

After work, I gathered up my stuff and went to spend the night with Sister Debra. I ate another tomato sandwich at her house. I doubt I stopped at that but my memory is not kicking in.

Week Five--Day Three (Thursday)

Breakfast Peanut butter toast

At 11 I ordered a hot dog from Five Guys Famous Burger and Fries. A hot dog with mayo, mustard, grilled onions and jalapenos

Later I ate a banana and some yogurt

When I came home I had a steak and a salad.

Up until then, I had done just okay....

Then there was Tesia's personal shower and all the goodies that everyone brought to feed us there. Taco makings, plus all kinds of dips to go with the chips, strawberry dessert, and brownies. Also I had a NON- diet Dr Pepper.