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?

1 packet walkers crisps = 133 calories

Crisp wise quavers, french fries, monster munch tend to be the lowest in cals/saturated fat. I love the WW huula hoops.....75 cals and they are just lovely :)

I have started using a weightloss app on my phone. I find it helps me keep track of what I have eaten that day, and what type of food too as it does the red-bad yellow-ok green-good food thing on a little chart so I can see quite how much yellow and red food I eat! I am trying to get more green on the chart.

You can log exercise on it too and it surprised me how many calories I burn just doing my day to day stuff (2 young kids and 2 horses) and would explain why I have managed to live on crap for so long without getting obese. I currently have a bmi of around 25 so need to lose some.

It really sounds like a good idea and a sustainable one! If you are enjoying the exercise and you don't feel as though you are depriving yourself you will probably notice yourself changing shape. All these things take time. As a long term commitment, it sounds pretty sensible.

You need to create a calorie deficit to lose weight. You can do this by eating less, moving more or a combination of the two. The combination is probably the easiest way. As others have said, it takes a lot of effort to burn calories through exercise. I only burn around 400 for an hour at the gym (cardio an weights) or on a 30 minute run. That's a flapjack - for all that effort! And you need a deficit of around 3500 to lose a pound in weight. So that is a lot of exercise! Whereas, through a combination of moderate exercise and watching what you eat, you could create a 500 cal a day deficit really quite easily, without feeling deprived.

Any diet that involves short term gain (weight loss) will involve long term suffering. If your weight was stable before, and you are changing a habit which you can sustain, it will make a difference, in the long run, to your body shape. It is better to change a small thing over the long term than to fret about calories, unless of course your entire diet consists of crisps and fizzy drinks
Diets don't work or anyone would only ever be on one, ever.

I can't lose weight while bfing alone notyummy. With dd, I did bugger all workout wise after having her (pnd and couldn't face it) but ate really healthily. Weight didn't move. I lost most of it when I took up running 10 months in and the rest when I stopped bfing, it just melted away.

I am bfing now, but had a reopened cs wound so had to rest for the first 6 weeks. I lost no weight. As soon as I started working out again the weight started to go.

Yes it is. But just make sure you don't eat more as a reward All too easy to do.

But the bonus is that if you exercise enough you can increase your metabolic rate so that you burn energy faster.

Be aware that you might not lose lbs, but your body shape will change.

All this presupposes that you are really working hard

Great to do exercise, but 4/5 hours a week is still less then an hour a day. Can you incorporate more exercise into your day to day life - walking/cycling for example?

Govt recommneds 1/2 an hour a day and I'd be surprised if OP isn't walking and stuff in her daily life.

I think that it is a bad sad how "exercise" has become something compartmentalised that you consciously have to "do" - and that normal day to day stuff eg 20 min walk to school and back, 15 mins from bus stop, 30 mins round shops carrying shopping and all the rest of it gets overlooked as it's not formal" exercise.

I eat like a horse, big healthy meals and I have lost two perhaps three stone by running twice a week. I run to feel better mentally and the by product has been I have lost a hell of alot of weight.
I can not diet. For me they dont work and make me hungry tired and miserable. I cant stand being told I cant have something or I must limit what I eat.
So yes I think you can loose weight by exercise alone. If you exercise you feel better and you no longer feel the need to stick a load of rubbish down your throat. IMO.
Common sense would dictate that you do need a healthy diet for your body to function well.

I have dropped two dress sizes without dieting (a year ago, and it's still off). I hadn't intended to lose weight but since we got horses I am so active that I just seem to burn calories. And riding and handling horses has improved my muscle tone. And the fesh air helps me sleep. I generally smell a bit horsey though . And we're skint.

Eurochick - For me, not eating the flapjack is a lot more effort than an hour in the pool or similar, hence I choose an hour in the pool.

Totally agree tyler. I like exercise and I like eating

You can but the problem is people overestimate how much they have burned off.

I used to cycle 10 miles a day in my commute and convinced myself I must be burning off 500 cals a day, but then added it up according to my size and intenisty and it was more like 300! So I went to WW and just made sure I ate exercise points

I dont drive, so walk everywhere usually! So I get at leats half hour/an hour walking even on a lazy day. It a wonder managed to get obese though

I love that I am reading this eating biscuits, I came on here to find some motivation!!

You should use My Fitness Pal (sorry if this has been mentioned before, haven't read the whole thread lazy) then you can track all your food and all your exercise. It's great.

You can still eat what you want, so long as you don't overdo it of course. My problem has always been portion control, so I have decided I would rather sacrifice half an hour of my day to exercise than never eat a biscuit again!

I have been doing this exercise for 12 weeks now, with some weightloss and definite inch loss. I was just hoping I could carry on this way and lose weight, but I think I will need to do it properly from now on. Thanks for all the advice!

Ah yes, portion control....that old nemesis :)

I think it also depends on what exercise you're doing. I started swimming and ended up actually putting on weight (although more toned and quite muscley)

Do not diet!

Read up about feeding your body properly for exercise instead. Stat by looking up clean eating.

It is a much healthier thing to do and also the best mindset. Most people who diet regain all the weight.

Exercise and eating properly is the only way to ensure long term healthy weight.

Go you!