this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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I was wondering what exactly should I do there to help with that.

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[–] Nojustice@lemmy.ml 142 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Losing weight is actually more about eating at a calorie deficit rather than what exercise you choose. Exercise is still very important in overall health though and can certainly help lose weight, but the actual mechanism is a calorie deficit.

But to more answer your question, chose something you enjoy so that you actually have motivation to stick with it. If you like cardio, do cardio, if you like weight lifting do that, if you like calisthenics do that.

And the last thing, be patient with it and yourself but be consistent in both exercise and eating well. As long as you are consistent you will see results.

Good luck!

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 42 points 1 year ago (7 children)

This...everything else is just sales tactics on memberships and gimmics that won't do much without eating differently.

Run a deficit and be patient.

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[–] CatWhoMustNotBeNamed@geddit.social 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Exactly!

"You can't out run a bad diet".

Exercise helps, but once you do the math and see how many calories hard exercise consumes vs how easy it is to eat more calories, it becomes very clear.

[–] flubba86@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Exactly. Its "I could eat this chocolate bar, and do an hour of cardio later in the gym" or to achieve the same outcome: "I could just not eat the chocolate bar".

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[–] Lem453@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago

Also remember that you can't lose weight in a specific part of your body. As you lose weight, your body chooses where the fat is reduced. No exercise can target fat in a specific area. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling you something.

Should note that working on the underlying muscle might help certain areas look less fat but that effect is negligible compared to finding a regimen that works for you in the long run to keep your calorie intake less than your calorie burn rate .

[–] jarredpickles87@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I also wanted to lose a bit of weight and get stronger, but to me, going to the gym sucks. I never stick with that, but I really enjoy physical activities with a purpose. So I joined a rock climbing gym. It's all the physical working out that I want with all the fun that I need to stick with it. Now if I could just eat better...

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

My favorite weight loss exercise is existing but being very cold. Not even joking. That’s the whole thing.

If you want to balance calories with low effort, expose yourself to whatever temperature you shiver at (cold water is great for this because you lose heat 25x faster when wet). You burn an absolute ton of calories for heat, and recruit beige fat cells to function as brown fat cells which exist only to burn through fat to maintain homeostasis. The more you shiver, the more effective you are at ambient calorie burn when you don’t shiver.

https://www.medicaldaily.com/shivering-more-effective-exercise-15-minutes-shivering-may-burn-more-fat-1-hour-working-out-268555

Cardio is wonderful for upping your overall metabolism, as is building any muscle. They also both work to strengthen your overall system. Do those things. They are good for you.

But for pure calorie balancing and deficits, cold wins hands down as far as effort involved. Because it’s just sitting there being uncomfortable, and that’s easy, some of us are that way always :)

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

while i'm sure this does work well, i'd maybe tone down the miraculousity of your message a bit. Don't want to overhype people and have them hurt themselves or simply not see such a big effect and conclude it's a sham.

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

I don’t think I oversold it at all, it’s just a calorie balancer, it’s not going to do anything else, and it won’t fix a bad diet..

But it does work; it’s just a standard biological mechanism. If you shiver, you burn a ton of energy to do so, it comes from fat. This is true in any species with the shiver capacity, that’s what it’s for.

Bigger people need more shiver time and lower temps, which makes it harder to see the result, but it still works.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

The reason it's hard to build muscle, is muscles are incredibly inefficient and a huge calorie sink.

If you're heavily muscled, you're using more calories even if you're not working out. Just reaching out to grab something takes more energy.

So building muscle means you have a higher caloric baseline.

And that's not even getting into calorie density. 150 calories worth of beans will keep you feeling full for a long time, and a 12 ounce can of soda won't make anyone feel full because it's all liquid already.

Then there's physically eating slower and chewing more, because we evolved to not feel full if we're still eating.

Reducing it just down to "eat less calories than you use" is technically correct, but it's the details that help people.

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[–] Schlemmy@lemmy.ml 67 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Change your diet. You lose weight in the kitchen.

Grant yourself a cheat day from time to time but stay on your diet the first months. I've been on a diet for about three years now and I can have a cheat day once a week.

Expect it to be something you have to commit to the rest of your life but believe me, it gets easier. Don't go on a crash diet but do something that you realistically can maintain.

Then start with some moderate exercise. Just walking more often is a great way to lose weight.

You can't target zones to lose weight but you can tone zones by building muscle. Bigger shoulders lake your waist look thinner.

Stick to it. You'll feel better overall. Good luck.

[–] UID_Zero@infosec.pub 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is the way.

I started by just eating less. I cut portions and started counting calories. I did the math and started staying under my number, and the pounds just melted off.

A couple months later, I added biking and walking. I'm trying to walk at least 30 minutes daily, which is just a nice break from everything.

I'm down 120 pounds. I want to drop more, but I've been pretty stationary for the past 3 months or so. I'm already a new man, and my doctor says I'm fine where I am. I'd like to drop another 10 just to be solidly below 200 for the first time in decades.

I went to a personal trainer for some ideas on exercises, and I need to fit those workouts into my schedule. I haven't done that yet, but I need to.

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[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 42 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You cannot spot target weight loss. It will decrease as a total over your whole body rather than in a particular area. And don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise.

If you want to lose weight in the most efficient way possible, just sit. Or rather, SIT.

https://runrepeat.com/sprint-interval-training

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If you don't want to do sprints, my weight loss rule of thumb is panting.

You gotta be pushing yourself to get out of breath. That's literally how you lose weight. You exhale it. So push your body to exhale a lot.

I use small hikes to stay in shape.

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 5 points 1 year ago

True, it was quite a surprise to learn that fat is exhaled.

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[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You cannot spot target weight loss

Hey that's not true, not only can you spot reduce fat, but do it successfully within a single day!

[–] luthis@lemmy.nz 3 points 1 year ago

Good point! Actually there's also the caveat that if the spot is your entire body then it's also possible!

[–] FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

Weight is lost in the kitchen. You go to the gym to improve your fitness.

[–] ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip 32 points 1 year ago

You're not going to have a lot of luck targeting areas, regardless of what Internet and checkout lane magazines might claim. Your best bet is generalized diet and exercise based weight loss plus building areas you want to build (arms, legs, butt, chest, whatever).

[–] bitsplease@lemmy.ml 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

I'm going to disagree slightly with the majority of the comments here and say that excersize is still very important for weight loss.

First off though, because I'm sure some folks are already getting their pitchforks out, all weight loss is CICO, and you can absolutely hit any goal weight just by diet alone without ever getting off your couch. Additionally, what works for weight loss (in terms of actual techniques to achieve a net Calorie deficiency) varies from person to person, what I say below may totally not be the case for you, and that's fine.

All that being said, I think you're going to have a much easier time of it if you also workout in some way.

For one thing, more excersize means more calories out. You can easily (well, your definition of "easy" may vary lol) burn 500 calories during a single workout. If you're making smart eating choices, 500 calories is a lot of food. You would be hard pressed to be physically able to eat 500 calories of an air fried vegetable medely for example. This means that you can lose weight while not feeling starved. And even for less healthy choices, it's still a fair bit of food. You can eat 2 slices of pizza for that one workout and still break even from a calories standpoint.

Basically, excersize = free food - most people fail their diets because they're tired of being hungry all the time and tired of not being able to enjoy the foods they love. Adding excersize into the mix means you can eat more, and still enjoy sensible servings of your favorite "treat" foods while still losing weight.

Secondly, for me at least, working out gives you motivation in the kitchen later. It's a lot harder to cave and order that pizza instead of making the salmon and veggies you had planned for dinner when you know that doing so means "wasting" all that sweat and effort you put in at the gym earlier that day. Remember how earlier I pointed out that a single excersize = 2 slices of pizza? Well that also works the other way around - when you go to reach for a slice of pizza, you wind up asking yourself "is this one slice of pizza worth half a workout?" for me at least, the answer is often no, and even when it's yes (every diet needs room for your favorite junk foods in moderation), I keep asking myself that for each slice, and so will stop eating before I go overboard.

Finally, you probably don't just want to lose weight. OK, maybe you do, idk you - but if you succeed and hit your goal weight, you'll probably just transition to being insecure about fat deposits to being insecure about being scrawny. If your goal is to look good, at least some muscle tone is necessary, and if your goal is to be generally healthier, than it's even more important to add exercise to the mix.

Just my $0.02, Im no dietician or personal trainer, but I've been working hard at getting in shape and have lost 13 pounds in the last month through a combination of diet and exercise, and I truly don't think I could have done it without having added excersize to my routine

[–] starelfsc2@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Very true, I have a friend who wants to lose weight and said "but eating makes me happy." Easiest way to keep your current habits and lose weight is just add on going to the gym, and the more you go the more you can eat. Added bonus is no matter what happens you'll just feel better in daily life.

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[–] ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 year ago

The other thing to note is that nearly all the "permanent" weight you lose (the loss you can actually maintain) is lost from exhaling carbon. Water weight comes back when you rehydrate (and you should hydrate). You don't poop much weight out (it's a lot of water and dead blood cells). But the output of the Krebs cycle (respiration) is carbon dioxide.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid_cycle

That's carbon you ate in various forms: protein, fat, and sugar.

Strength training is useful but a weight loss exercise regime will have a lot of sustained heavy breathing, i.e cardio.

(Plus with cardio you'll be ready for most zombie apocalypses.)

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[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a lot of bro-science in here ("Your body metabolizes sugar to basically fat", no, it doesn't, sugar is just a simple, easily metabolized carbohydrate, and as long as you aren't exceeding your caloric intake regularly, it's fine).

You can loose weight by exercise alone, but it's a challenge; most people tend to start eating more (consciously or not) once they're exercising. Exercise is only have of the equation. Diet is the other part. Most people are very, very resistant to changing their diet, because they have an emotional connection with food. Think about that; is what you eat more important to you than how you feel? Are you willing to make life-long changes, or are you just trying to have a beach body? "Dieting" is setting yourself up for failure; you want to be changing your entire lifestyle and relationship with food and movement.

So, let's start off with something super-important: talk to a registered dietician. Don't make radical changes to your diet without consulting a professional that's qualified to give answers to YOU.

Second: spot fat reduction is not a thing, unless you want to go the surgical route. You need to reduce body fat all over in order to reduce fat on your neck and waist.

Third: do a resting metabolic rate test, and find out how many calories you burn just existing. That gives you an idea of what you need to eat to maintain your weight, what you need to your macros (daily carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake), and where you need to be as far as exercising. At one time you could get them done at certain Lifetime Fitness locations, and they were a couple hundred bucks. Without knowing this, dieting and exercise is being done blindly.

Fourth: Once you know your metabolic rate, and you've consulted with a dietician, start keeping track of everything that goes in your mouth in a day. Start by just taking a photo, and get used to that. (And yes, everything; every drink that isn't plain water, every single thing you swallow.) Once you've gotten used to that, then start writing it down. Once you can reliably write everything down, start measuring everything. How many ounces of Cheerios go in your bowl in the morning, how much milk, and how many eggs are you scrambling? Once you've got that? then start comparing that to your macros. How many grams of carbs, protein, and fats are in your Cheerios, milk, and scrambled eggs (and don't forget to count the butter that goes in the pan before you scramble your eggs!)? That tells you where you are, and where you need to add, and where you need to cut.

While you're doing that:

Start with cardio, just to get in the habit of moving. I would suggest buying a heart rate monitor (I have a Garmin Instinct). Figure out your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age), and generally work at 60-80% of that, for 30-60 minutes at a time. Working above 80% increases your aerobic threshold, staying below 50% isn't going to give you a significant benefit.

Weight training should be your bread and butter. Cardio burns calories now, weight training burns calories for up to 3-4 hours after you're done in the gym, and muscle burns more calories just existing than fat does. If you have never done weight training before, I would strongly suggest that you hire a personal trainer. Look for a trainer that has at least a BS in exercise science or kinesiology, and a training certification from ASCM (American College of Sport Medicine) or the NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Assoc.). Other physical trainer certifications are worth about as much as the paper they're printed on, and I say this as someone that was certified through NASM. ASCM and NSCA have a very strong science-based approach that other certifying bodies lack. DO NOT sign up for months and months of training, unless you simply can't motivate yourself, or are unable to replicate training prompts on your own; you want someone that will create a program for you to follow for several months that isn't just trendy, bullshit exercises (see also: fitness "influencers"), and coach you through the proper way to complete the motion so that you can do it safely and effectively. Unless you have significant movement deficiencies, your goal should be to use freeweights and for almost everything. A trainer should be able to tailor your programming to your goals; there's no one-size-fits-all. Generally speaking, if you've never lifted weights before, 30 minutes of fairly intense work is about all you'll be able to manage.

Finally: Best case, with perfect diet and exercise, you should be losing no more than 1-2 pounds of fat per week. That's the most that will be sustainable. Don't worry about raw weight; worry about measurements, and body composition.

Is this a lot? Yeah, it is. And it's barely scratching the surface.

But everyone starts on the ground floor.

[–] festus@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There’s a lot of bro-science in here (“Your body metabolizes sugar to basically fat”, no, it doesn’t, sugar is just a simple, easily metabolized carbohydrate, and as long as you aren’t exceeding your caloric intake regularly, it’s fine).

+1 to this. I have a pretty terrible diet (I make ice cream fairly often) but I've been able to control my weight by cutting calories elsewhere.

[–] puppy@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Also consider non-exercise energy expenditure. This is considered to burn the most calories per day. Therefore try to walk more, take the stairs always etc. This will help you reduce weight without even trying and often is the only form of exercise a severely obese person can do.

Also spot fat reduction is a scam. So expect that you can't only burn fat in your belly and chin. Fat will be burned from everywhere in your body. So it will come out of chin and belly too.

[–] Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works 15 points 1 year ago

Some thoughts.

Regarding weight loss, diet is more efficient to exercise. But exercise has tons of other benefit, especially regarding mental /physical health and it can also be the base of healthy habits to improve your lifestyle. Just compare one hour on the threadmill with a starbuck's pumpkin spice latte.

Gym is not for everybody, there is tons of other sports, if you want to stick with it, find a sport you enjoy in a club with nice persons. If you exercise like you clean the toilets you won't be regular, if you have a fun time with friends you will.

If you can afford a couple of kickstart session with a trainer, go for it.

Depending how overweight you are avoid running, and do body weight training and elliptical

[–] dannyboy5498@aussie.zone 15 points 1 year ago

There is no way to target specific areas of fat. You just need to expend more energy than you consume and you'll get skinnier. So do lots of exercise, decrease portions, eat healthier and sleep better. It sounds simple but it takes a long time and a lot of effort to build and maintain good habits.

[–] McJonalds@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

exercises that target weight loss in specific areas dont exist. your body has a genetic predisposition in regards to where it allocates fat. eat a bit healthier, eat a bit less, exercise regularly and your body will do its best with what you give it, every day

[–] librechad@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My old boss who lost over 100lbs, once said this to me:

I asked him: "What did you eat to lose all that weight?"

He said: "Everyone knows how to lose weight, you know exactly what you're doing to yourself."

Man, I love Lenny.

[–] Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Hunger is the feeling of fat leaving the body.

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[–] ji88aja88a@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

I'm not agym.go-er or a trainer.. aerobic workouts. I lost 30kg over 12months just by walking 10000 purposeful steps a day and doing 2 rounds of interval training (HIIT) a night. Once my fitness came back/got some fitness, I started introducing weights... and more importantly, I watched what I ate. Specifically, i stopped all sometimes foods and stopped eating bread. This worked for me. But you can't go from little to no exercise tomall the exercise. Work up to it

[–] jeena@jemmy.jeena.net 9 points 1 year ago

The truth is that you can't outrun a shitty diet.

[–] scorpious@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Resistance training.

It will build muscle, which will amp up your metabolism, which will make burning fat easier. You’ll also be stronger, look better, and be much less likely to injure yourself. Learn and be diligent about using proper form and don’t push too hard.

Note: muscle weighs more than fat, so remember to look in the mirror and take measurements…your weight is only part of the equation.

[–] Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 year ago

Don't bother with the gym, it will almost certainly just be a waste of money and a source of stress.

Instead, learn how to eat healthily (good start is eating less in general and eating more greens) and start easing yourself into getting more exercise.
The key to weight loss is making changes that you can maintain for the rest of your life, otherwise you will inevitably rebound and be sad.

If you can, probably the single most effective way to lose weight for most people is to start biking or walking to work, this is a trivial way to burn tons of calories compared to driving.

Also important is to fully expect it to take a year before you notice a difference, this is going to be a lifestyle change so you have to commit, and it's better to be positively surprised to see a difference early, than the opposite.

[–] gigachad@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Take it easy, patience is key for sustainable weight loss. As a beginner 3x workouts a week are good.

Be sure to make a training plan you can use for orientation. Cardio is great for burning calories, but don't underestimate the power of muscle training. Building muscles will help shape your body and you'll lose a lot of calories on the long term. Do not be afraid of gaining "too much muscles", that is not happening within a couple of months.

Best would be a full body workout, splitting muscle groups is not recommended for beginners who work out 3x a week. Start with the machines, they are relatively easy to use and to adjust, there is less danger of wrong movements.
Challenge yourself, but don't overdo it, otherwise you can hurt yourself seriously (joints etc.).
Do not forget a warm-up, 10-15 minutes of whatever machine you like (bike, treadmill etc.). Finish with a 30 minutes cardio session if you are serious.

That's the part in the gym.

For weight loss the most important thing is your diet. No need for protein shakes or meat the whole day, just don't eat over your budget. Maybe you have already tried this and you are frustrated because it didn't have the effects you expected - don't worry, the gym will accelerate this. Eat something not too heavy after workout, ideally protein/fats instead of carbs.

The third aspect is sleep. Your body will regenerate during your sleep so it is super important. Try do get your 8 hours or whatever amount you need.

Last advice is again patience. Success will only come from continuity, not 2 weeks but several months. 1-2 pounds per week is already great and sutainable and if you watch out for workout, nutrition, sleep, it will for sure happen.

You got this!

Edit: As others have said, you cannot target a region for weight loss. However in my experience there are regions where you first start to gain weight and also lose weight. For people born as biological man this is often face and belly.

[–] chardiemacdennis@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Lots of great advice here. CICO is fundamental BUT your most successful diet will focus on reducing sugar intake. Your body metabolizes sugar to basically fat. Also, increase your fiber. Those two are key to faster results.

[–] Touching_Grass@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Fuck yea, nail it. But promise yourself one thing. That you're not going to quit. And I don't mean you're not going to stop at some point. We all do. But don't quit. It took me multiple kicks at the can. And the results will come, slowly at first. Even slower later on. But the way you feel better will grow with each work out. Each kick at the can you'll realize you still remember all the stuff you learned last time and now you're just adding to your knowledge base.

What you should do is do what feels right. Lots of options. But get comfortable just chilling at the gym and making it a place to hang. I started with just walking on treadmills listening to podcasts. Then like 6 months later weights. Then running. Then a mix of running and weights. Eventually I went full home gym. Have fun, treat it like a hobby. Be as consistent as you can and you'll reach your goals.

One cool thing j learned late, running and walking burn the same calories if you go the same distance. So for me, I can walk an hour or run 20 minutes. Same calories burned for. But I can walk everyday, I can't run everyday. Tricks like that help in cutting weight. But keep in mind that's like a cheeseburger burned, it ain't much. True weight loss occurs in the kitchen.

Please dont feel like you need to try to do everything at once. But when you're ready get a calorie counting app like my fitness and start tracking calories for a few weeks, see what you're taking in. Over time you'll get a feel for what amount of food you can. eat in a day to lose, maintain, gain weight. It takes time but it can get fun when you see the results. It can get frustrating when you realize some gains/lose are just shadows or a full bladder lol. But most important thing is just doing something.

[–] etchinghillside@reddthat.com 3 points 1 year ago

Get a digital food scale and start tracking calories and macros. MyFitnessPal’s free version is sufficient for this.

Be honest with yourself. Research an appropriate calorie deficit to work with. Realize that ~3500 calories is approximately 1 pound. Set some weigh in goals at the 3 and 6 month marks. Try daily weigh ins but only track the week to week average.

Not concrete advice, and everyone is different, but hope this helps.

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Losing weight is at a minimum 75% about your diet, so don’t forget to focus on that. Eating protein helps keep you full and also pairs great with recovery for exercise; try to cut out as many sugars from your diet as you can, they’re worthless calories.

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