DH has out-exercised a bad diet. How is this possible?

Like others have said, you get tired but it’s a lovely sort of tired. I run daily and mix in speed runs, hills and recovery runs - I never physically ache or am in pain. Run 40km a week.

I’ve always lost weight during marathon training - running 5 days a week, total distance between 20-30 miles a week - with a fairly rubbish diet. It is possible to do enough exercise to still lose weight.

Light exercise makes me hungry, hard exercise suppresses my appetite

That's interesting; I'm the total opposite. Something like a 5k or 10k run, or a HIIT session, suppresses my appetite. But after a long, hard run I just can't seem to eat enough!

Light exercise makes me hungry, hard exercise suppresses my appetite.

I don't get tired, I do get hungry. I try and ignore it for as long as possible in the morning and try not to eat until 11am/miday. Won't eat after 6pm....but I do go to bed a bit hungry some days. I'm starving now, have been for ages.

I had porridge at 11am. Followed by a waffle
I had lunch about midday - prawns and melon
Haven't eaten since.
I'll have chicken for dinner in about an hour, with edame beans and either halloimi fries or new potatoes. Then a yoghurt

That'll be it for the day.

I've done an hour fast bike ride and a 90 min brisk walk today. Which according to my fitbit has burnt just over 800 calories combined.

Those who exercise a lot, do you not find you get very tired and/or hungry

I suspect when I was young I used to need like 4000-4500 kcal/day. Being hungry then was a much more uncomfortable and urgent experience. But not since I was 35 or so. I'm pretty good nowadays at waiting until a convenient time to eat. Sometimes nowadays I find I'm feeling very tired & then realise... "oh, I haven't eaten in a while. Try eating something to feel better."

Teen DS was moaning today about being tired; I pointed out he's only tired bc he's been doing blank all most days. Doing little means that doing anything becomes exhausting.

I do get hungry. But I eat loads at breakfast-
2 eggs and avocado some toast and a protein yogurt. Then I am full till about 2 then I have something small and then I would have a normal dinner. But we eat healthy as we are all sporty and heavy processed food juts makes us sluggish.

I exercise early in the morning- so maybe stick the tele on and do a YouTube vid? The later in the eve 3/4 times and husband or partner does the bedtimes.

For me the endorphins and the mental health benefits motivate me to make exercise a priority. If I don’t I feel sad.

However it wasn’t until my youngest was 2 that I could really do that as I was breastfeeding and was literally tethered to the baby. Once I swapped the bedtime feed for a bottle I was out of that house! Husband used to ring and say I’m half an hour away so I would be in my gym kit and ready to ping out the door as soon as I heard the gravel crunch x

OK thank you but I'm not doing long runs yet anyway!

Those who exercise a lot, do you not find you get very tired and/or hungry

God yes. That's why distance runners talk about "runger"! In marathon training, particularly, I get ravenous after long runs and can happily go to bed at 9pm for a long, deep sleep.
But if you imagine I'm burning 2,000 calories or so in those long runs, I can be absolutely ravenous- eat a handful of biscuits afterwards, as well as my main meals - and still be in calorie deficit overall.

[quote Everybloodybottleunderthesun]@Atalune I’d love to do that much exercise- used to pretty much - now small DS

Anyone have any tips on how to realistically ramp up exercise with a baby /toddler in tow? Whilst working full time and lots on in general It keeps slipping to the bottom of my priority list and not feeling good for it. And not running, I despise running and can’t do it to save my life.[/quote]
Stick DS in the pushchair and walk..... As much as possible.
I walk a lot, the only times I drive are if I have heavy shopping to carry, if it's raining heavily (light rain is fine as long as you have a raincoat, sensible shoes and a rain cover for the pushchair), if it's more than a couple of hours to walk or if it's completely impossible to factor in the time it takes. This is how I lost my baby weight, I wasn't doing any other exercise at the time but I walked everywhere.

I cant outrun a bad diet as I get hungry (or maybe feel justified) eating more and so I am fitter but same wt.

OP yes as lots of people saying here, you definitely can but I do think you need the right basic predisposition to a leaner body

Did he work from home and only eat the same as you before? IF not, I suspect he was snacking his way through work and sipping or guzzling calorific soft drinks of coffees all day. His calorie deficit is way more than you realize.

also: how old is he? If he is still only in his thirties, or even early 40s, this is less surprising than if he were older. If he doesn't maintain this, and gets as bad as he was, he likely will find he can't repeat this trick with an older body.

@Atalune I’d love to do that much exercise- used to pretty much - now small DS

Anyone have any tips on how to realistically ramp up exercise with a baby /toddler in tow? Whilst working full time and lots on in general It keeps slipping to the bottom of my priority list and not feeling good for it. And not running, I despise running and can’t do it to save my life.

You've inspired me to get out and run again. Makes me feel good and will burn some calories

How old is he? How overweight was he to start with?

It is easier for men, they have more testosterone and build muscle and strength much quicker. They also have a higher nasal metabolic rate so can eat more than women without gaining weight.

Thanks a mill. Yes sleep definitely improving! Will keep at it.

If hungry I eat more. I accept tiredness and muscle aches as normal, after a long exercise session. I find it feels like a healthy kind of tiredness that helps me sleep, rather than the frazzled tiredness of a stressful day in the office. It's also normal to feel more tired after you significantly increase exercise levels. If it's overwhelming, take more rest periods and ramp things up more gradually. It can be worth getting checked out if you feel it worse than others- my friend who was struggling with exercise turned out to be anaemic.

Also op I'll bet he was nowhere near cals needed with his three healthy meals so the snacks weren't pushing him over immediately.

Those who exercise a lot, do you not find you get very tired and/or hungry? I have upped my activity to an hour long brisk walk 3/4 times a week and I'm tired on these days! Would have always been fit and active in younger years. I probably need to suck it up and also add pilates/yoga to mix it up a bit.

Of course it’s possible to out-exercise a bad diet. The riders in the Tour de France consume as much calorie-dense food and energy drinks / gels as they physically can, yet they still lose significant amounts of weight during the course of the race.

This thread is giving me hope! I like exercise a lot more than I like dieting - I’m not getting anywhere anyway, so I might as well start an exercise kick instead of yet another diet.

You definitely can out exercise a bad diet. My DH is a chef, on a long, busy shift he does 45k steps and his fit bit says he has burned over 4k calories. My job also involves being on my feet all day and will do 25k steps on a busy shift. We both do regular exercise as well. We have been furloghed since March and have had to hugely up our exercise to avoid gaining weight.

I do quite a bit of exercise atm, running, PIYO, Zumba and weights. I tracked what I ate for a few days recently and was eating either less calories than I burned, about the same or just slightly more, I ate whatever I wanted. I eat a family size bar of chocolate or half a tub (Ben and jerry's size) of ice cream pretty much every day but my weight only goes up if I've been particularly sedentary.

it is possible. As a young adult my diet was horrendous. It began with a hot chocolate and a freddo bar (or 2) in the morning, diet coke and some crisps for mid morning snack. Lunch wasn't too bad but it could also of consisted of mcdonalds somedays. another coke and bar in afternoon and then in the evening a pot noodle, or pizza followed by more choc and pringles while i watched a movie.

I was about a wide as a pencil

I was toned, even had a nice little V and lovely little feminine abs.... I had a manual job with horses, worked all hours under the sun and more, rode several horses a day, did all the heavy lifting etc and it didn't matter what i ate. My sweets bill at the end of each week could of been 20 quid. But I out exercised it.

coming to the end of my equestrian "career" my diet had improved as i had aged and become wiser, I didn't work as hard as i did then but still very hard and 6 days a week. but I still nibbled my way through a pack of biscuits most days and still held a great shape and tone. Now I am in an office, I have never been so squishy in my life, and unless I eat primarily lettuce, I can not keep weight down. Extra hard because for first 30 years of my life i never watched what i ate. Now just looking at a biscuit and i feel the calories.