To think that you CAN out exercise a poor diet?

[SallyAnne89]

I'm basically food bank poor right now. I'm getting back into exercising anyway. AIBU to think that even though I can't afford to change my diet i can still lose weight through exercise?

I'm currently maintaining so roughly calories in = calories out and should be burning 200-400calories a day once back into it. Exercise is free but healthy food isn't, so I can't think of an alternative right now. I do my best, so chose baked potato over bread that kind of thing, but can't drastically change my diet right now.

No because not all calories are equal. You have different hormonal and metabolic patterns depending on what the macronutrient content is - carbs, fats and proteins. Calories in calories out is far too simplistic.

It's all about calories and not 'healthy' food. You need to track how many calories you eat a day and put yourself in a deficit. If you go over- train for longer.

@NonUrinatInVentum

That's what I've been worried about. I do my best food wise, but feeding my kids well has to take priority which means I eat a lot of cheap tinned foods and freezer foods. I do try and chose healthier options, but it's expensive so I end up eating meals like cheese omelette and baked beans, pasta with tomato sauce, or sausages with rice and gravy.

@KatieHack

Thank you

I think in general the answer is no, particularly if you are talking about cake/crisps/chocolate and general overeating.

However, you mention cheap but not necessarily unhealthy, highly calorific foods, so I think it’s possible to lose weight in your case. I agree that not all calories are not created equal for your health, but on a very basic sum, you should lose weight.

What do you think makes a 'bad diet' OP?
No one is so poor that they must eat only sweets & crisps (unless they have no money for any food & the only food they are given is sweets & crisps, I guess).

There's a lot of orthorexia on MN; I don't think you need 20 g carb + 120 g protein /day to lose weight, if that's what you meant by not being able to afford a good diet.

A friend at uni successfully lost weight on pasta, tinned tomatoes and tinned tuna.

Add in cheap frozen veg and you're onto a healthier diet.

Farmfoods is good.

I think you can lose weight eating the foods that you describe.

The saying "you can't out train a bad diet" is referring to diets v high in calories, sugar, carbs and bad fats eg 20 packets of crisps a day and a choc bar for lunch!

The food you describe sounds simple, and perhaps not the absolute best diet in the world, but not the worst. I'm sure there are people that eat far worse than that through choice.

Sounds like you have a really good attitude and sorry to hear you are in a tough spot just now.

Is your aim to loose weight or to be healthy?

On a very basic level, yes you can loose weight on the diet you describe. Its calories in vs calories out.

However to be 'healthy' you need think about the nutritional value of these calories

I eat a lot of processed and cheap meat, eggs, dairy, tuna, beans, because they are fairly cheap, filling and nutritious compared to crisps and biscuits. I do try and have lots of veg, but mostly it's onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, things that are versatile and can go into lots of recipes with no waste. Carbs are mostly white potatoes, other root veg, rice, pasta, maybe some porridge or some homemade rolls here and there.

I dropped an awful lot of weight when very poor but without access to food banks, I looked good but bugger me, I was faint constantly. I don’t think food banks existed where I lived (abroad) 25 years ago.

A friend of mine (ex-army) used to say you could eat 10 Mars bars a day as long as you exercised them off. As a pp said, it’s all about calorie deficit.

Assuming your goal is to lose weight, then yes I think so, I use MFP and just make sure eat less than what I burn or increase my activity, when I'm trying to lose, or about the same when maintaining. I lost weight while eating Big Macs! I feel better when eating healthier though of course. I know people start talking about biochemistry etc etc, but for me burning more calories than I eat, whatever I eat, has always worked.

Cutting calories will help you to lose weight, BUT eating healthier options will make you feel much much better. There are ways to eat healthily and cheaply. You can buy frozen chicken breasts and huge bags of veg in Farmfoods very cheaply. It does take effort to get the food and cook it, but if you're invested in this, it's well worth it.

I'd like to lose weight and be healthier. I know it's not going to be perfect while I'm so skint, but feel like I want to improve things as much as I can.

There are lots of vegetarian recipes made with beans and lentil that are cheap, filing and healthy. Here's a few ideas you could try -

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/kidney-bean-curry

simple-veganista.com/smoky-lentil-quinoa-soup/#tasty-recipes-8579

veggiedesserts.co.uk/red-lentil-dahl/

realfood.tesco.com/recipes/vegetarian-bolognese.html

You can of course technically, if calories out equal or exceed calories in. But it's quite hard to do for a lot (possibly most) people.

And if people exercise they tend to reward themselves/instinctively eat a bit more.

@orangeteal

I'd love a Big Mac or a mars bar right now! Much better than value burgers or tinned hot dogs which is where things are right now unfortunately.

My DH is a high level amateur athlete (Endurance sport). His diet is quite frankly shocking. We eat nice, home cooked, reasonably healthy meals, but he will also eat an entire cake, a packet of cookies, some crisps... etc on top of those meals. He keeps losing weight! (No illness or anything, he just trains hard.) I eat whatever I like, and have a big appetite, and can maintain decent shape when I’m training for an event, but have definitely got a bit chubbier since I’ve had a few weeks off. So yeah, you can effectively out train a ‘bad diet’ if you are willing to put in 15+ hours of high intensity training per week.

Nothing you’ve listed sounds horrifically unhealthy to me either? Most of what you’ve listed sounds like normal, healthy food. You don’t have to make quinoa and kale salads with wasabi and organic salmon to get all the micro and macro nutrients you need.

Dr Fung of the Obesity code book said he believes one of the advantages of fasting, which is what he recommends is that it will always be available to the poorest people who can only afford lower quality food and may not have much choice but to rely on cheap carbs. Fasting offers health benefits and helps control your appetite so it is better than normal calorie counting in his opinion.

For the average person, eating a varied diet and limiting obvious junk & not overeating is enough. The key is doing so consistently.
Anyone can sit here and tell you about macros and micros but really, unless you're an athlete, it's not actually necessary. The main benefit of things like high protein diets or intermittent fasting or keto or any of the other fads is because they all usually lead to a calorie reduction, NOT because the average office worker has created maximum dietary efficiency.

The mantra that you can't out train a bad diet is really about calories - that it's unrealistic to want to burn off excess food intake and that you need to avoid eating it in the first place.

Cheaper food tends to be calorie dense and easier to overeat, but eggs as you've mentioned are great, and things like lentils, porridge oats, bags of frozen fish fillets etc are all examples of inexpensive ingredients that are filling and can help when trying to lose weight and avoid just eating pasta!

@OpheliaBee

I think my main downfalls are Ketchup, brown sauce and cheese because I can eat most things with one of those on top.

It's entirely possible if you're 6ft 3, 18, male and in the rugby/rowing team. Also if you do things like walk to the North Pole you can't have too many Mars Bars.

Bit extreme though.

I hear you! I think at least 50% of my meals involve cheese 😂

You can do it but hard work, if you do calories in Vs out and to be honest your diet ain't that bad you can lose weight.

My advice would be buy cheap frozen veg ect.

You can do it.