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.

thecatsthecats
That’s amazing ! You inspired me . So what exercise do you do ( I have bad knees .cant run , cycle , play badminton ( due to running or lunge shots ) which really annoys me . Jumping on the thread I know ! .. but would really appreciate note info on what you do / I cd do and diet .

For weight loss yes, for health no and if you take your exercise seriously even more so. Exercising heavily on a poor quality diet will lead to burn out.

I'm not sure I agree that healthy food is expensive though. I stopped buying anything processed and started cooking from scratch and eating more vegetarian meals and the cost of my weekly shop reduced significantly.

@Billybob

A lot of running at the moment, unfortunately! I have a bad ankle, and have found it improved by running, so long as I take it carefully.

Sounds like swimming would suit you? Though to be honest, I think the important thing is finding something you're comfortable with that adds anywhere between 200-500 cals to those allowances, and it IS important to eat your allowance.

I can only comfortably manage on the 4x1000 cals because I eat well (healthy and hearty) on the other days, and the food fuels good workouts.

I've lost almost 6st so far, but be warned, I've taken the scenic route. 18m so far, aiming for the last 2st to come off in the next 6m.

I think it's been great as I've done lots of different regimes, and developed a huge toolkit of different approaches to weight loss and maintenance along the way. I didn't track anything for 6 weeks whilst on my honeymoon, but still lost 3lb because my habits are well established.

(All the 'weight loss is 80% diet' people I know have lost more quickly than me, but sadly piled it back on - several of whom told me they put 1st plus back on on their honeymoon.)

You can lose weight eating any food provided you maintain a calorie deficit. Exercise helps to produce that deficit by burning calories during the workout and by increasing your lean muscle mass which burns more calories at rest, and makes you more sensitive to insulin.

So yes, you can, although it may be difficult to maintain satiety on a low quality diet. I would recommend eating higher protein if possible in order to feel more satisfied on less calories. That doesn’t need to be meat. Beans, legumes, eggs etc are great and cheap.

Lentils, pulses etc are your friend. Swap pasta for couscous and make sure you eat brown rice. You can eat very cheaply and healthily using these types of ingredients. Frozen veg is fine and much cheaper than fresh.

Swap pasta for couscous

Correct me here if I am wrong but I thought couscous was a very small pasta not a
Pulse ?

Yes theoretically if you only eat one meal a day & power through the hunger with coffee