to expect weightloss with exercise but no diet?

[HowToLookGoodGlaikit]

I am doing 4/5 hours of exercise a week (cardio/strength at the gym, aerobics).

I dont want to diet I have cut down a bit though.

Is it possible to lose weight this way?

Yes unless you're eating mountains of the wrong food, but I still think dieting and exercise together will bring the quickest, larger loss.

You'll certainly tone up.

I think you have to do both, don't go mad dieting though, just eat a bit less but of the things you still like. This time I have given up cordial/fruit juice and alcohol unless i'm going out and this seems to be working really well.

A few years ago, I exercised loads (5 or more times a week - cardio and weights) and still kept putting on weight. Had gym consultations, discussions about building muscle, burning fat. In the end realisation dawned and I went to Weight Watchers. Weight dropped off with exercise (not as much as before!) and the diet. So the combination worked for me.

I still exercise a lot, but I always watch what I eat especially during the week. Cheese and wine are the main culprits!

I suppose if you have a healthy diet and watch your portions it could work.

I used to count my exercising in creme eggs, therefore didn't lose an ounce!

Of course you will lose weight if you keep your food intake the same but burn more, unless you were eating more a day than you needed and were steadily gaining weight. It will take longer than if you diet as well and you have to allow yourself more plateaus since you will be replacing some fat stores with muscle which weighs more but it will work in the end.

A trap I find myself falling into when I up my level of exercise is that I am starving after a workout so tend to crave carbs. That can cancel out all the good work I have just done and leaves me feeling a bit bloated so watch out for that!

Yes. To a point. But with strength training your weight as a figure in kg or whatever will plateaux as although you should b burning fat you will be gaining muscle. So take waist, bicep, thigh measurements as well to keep urself motivated

How many calories do you have a day?

The number of calories you need to drop to lose a pound is pretty big. You would have to be doing a huge amount of effective exercise to do that. A combination of both would be better.

Like LAlady I tried this 2 years ago with 'watching what I ate' and I lost nothing got really disheartened and gave up then in May last year I realised I'd had enough joined WW started exercising again and have now lost 3 1/2 stone.

My trainer at the gym told me weight loss is 70% diet 30% exercise.

I do neither that may I need not be disheartened

Honestly to lose weight you need to do both sadly - I used to do around 5 to 6 hours a week exercise and wouldnt lose weight unless dieting. Now have buggered my knee so not exercising at all (and very annoyed about it) so having to diet only and have lost around 7 lbs in 2 and a half weeks...

I remember the day when I worked out that half an hour of very strenuous exercise worked out to about one can of Coke in terms of energy.

Your body uses a huge amount of energy just living every day, dropping food intake and walking around more is far more effective than a few hours of strenuous exercise a week unless the gym instructor can promise extra personal workouts.

It will take longer, but yes, it's possible. Weightloss = more calories out than in, so by increasing your calories burned you'll lose weight.

Whatme I don't think that's right. Strenuous exercise can burn about 100cals every 10mins ime (depending how much you weigh), so half an hour = 300cals. A can of Coke is about 150cals I think?

It really comes down to what you can stick to. Some people hate exercise and would rather just not eat biscuits. Others (like myself) want to still eat the biscuits, so need to exercise :)

It depends how much weight you have to lose. You will gain muscle as you lose body fat, and muscle is heavier.

It didn't work for me. I was doing 3 gym sessions a week and cycling to and from work (about 20 mins each way) daily and I didn't lose anything.

I joined slimming world and I'm now a size 12, I was a size 20. It was the diet that made all the difference to me, though I still go to the gym and swim, had enough of cycling though and even sold my bike

generally YABU. Yes, it is possible, I have personally lost a lot of weight with exercise only and no dieting, but this was when I first qualified as fitness instructor and was doing 2-3 classes per day, sometimes more. This is not something I would recommend.

With 4-5 classes per week - unlikely. First, as others have said, you need to burn a lot to lose. To lose a kilo, you need to burn about 7000 kcal. An average aerobics class is around 300 per hour, maybe 400 if you're heavier.

Second, exercise is excellent for increasing appetite and not only that, people tend to reward themselves. i see it a lot - someone takes a Bodybalance class that barely burns any calories and then after the class, has a big shake and sandwich, as she has worked out and deserves it.

From experience: yes, absolutely, it's possible to lose weight doing what you've described. It's what I'd do, and have done in the past (I don't like proper diets, because they feel too restrictive and often don't work in the longterm). If you're cutting down, rather than formally dieting, just be prepared to lose weight more slowly. Last year I decided to cut out wheat, due to bloating issues. I wasn't trying to lose weight, just avoid feeling uncomfortable. As a side effect I lost around 6lbs - at a rate of 1/3rd pound a week. It dawned on me that 1/3rd pound per week would not be an acceptable weight loss for someone on a diet, but the reality is that the 6lbs have stayed off.

For me, exercising frequently has had a sort of regulatory effect on eating - makes you feel more in tune with your body, appreciate its capabilities and ultimately gives you more freedom with food/eating choices (and feeling the odd overindulgence is not a problem, thereby reducing the likelihood of 'I've eaten too much, I may as well really go for it now' scenarios).

One other thing about exercising - again, from personal experience - I think mixing up factors like duration; frequency; intensity; type of exercise etc keeps your metabolism on its toes as well as making the exercise more interesting.

Good luck!

If you use more energy than you put in, you'll lose weight.

You will probably find as you exercise you decide you want to put a bit less in your body or what goes in will be healthier.
I have just done the opposite to what you want to do and gone from 13 and a half stone to 9 stone 3 pounds with just portion control, cutting junk and eating less carbs and no exercise.
I don't think there is anyone way to loose weight.

Sorry any one way to lose weight.

Whatme I don't think that's right. Strenuous exercise can burn about 100cals every 10mins ime (depending how much you weigh), so half an hour = 300cals. A can of Coke is about 150cals I think?

No, thats very very very strenuous exercise :)

iirc I was looking at aerobics which was c 300 - 400 kcal/hour.

you will not gain muscle

Unless you eat and train like a bodybuilder you will not gain new muscle. You will tone existing muscle making you look thinner, leaner and burning more calories through exercise and at rest.

I've gone the other way recently. My diet at the moment keeps me steadily at the same weight. Just after Christmas I hurt my leg and had to rest it. I ate the same but spent my time sitting down doing bugger all. I put on half a stone in a week and a half.

You wont lose weight if you dont diet....diet is the main thing!

Healthy eating and exercise is the only way to lose weight...boring but true!

But you don't need to do both. I have lost a third of my body weight through dieting alone.