how much exercise...

[creampie]

Do you need to do in order to not really think about what you eat? I know you can't really exercise away a bad diet, I just want to get to a point where I don't really need to count calories or worry about the odd treat. How many hours of exercise do you do if you've mastered that balance?! And what types/intensities do you find make most difference? Thanks

I love my food. Will only eat when I know I get to really enjoy it.
Will go hungry if the only way I can eat is to scoff something without tasting it. May pick very slowly at the most minimal size tea if it would be rude to completely not partake.

I also have an active lifestyle (shopping-commuting done on bike/foot), but I really think it's the attitude that food must only be consumed when it can be enjoyed that means I don't have to think worry/count. Food is such a waste otherwise.

I do an hour of fairly high intensity circuit training 6 times per week. I'm also fairly active in general (I'll walk rather than taking the car if I'm going 2 miles or less, and I always take the stairs if possible).

I don't calorie count at all (I'm a size 6-8), and eat pretty much what I want. I also don't really snack between meals - I just eat 3 meals a day.

I used to be able to eat what I wanted and stay a size 10.

I did 50 minutes on the cross trainer at level 11, 60 rpm 4 or 5 times a week. 3 times a week I followed that with 15 mins weights and 100 sit ups.

This worked for 10 years!

Until the perimenopause started...My metabolism has changed hugely I think. I still do the exercise, but am size 14 and simply can't lose weight.

Of course I got very bored of the same routine, but the fact I was so slim and ate what I liked ( within reason- I had a healthy diet, lots of vegetables, not too much red meat, but could eat chocolate, cheese etc in moderation. Always had bread and pasta and wine though!)kept me motivated.

I now do a real mixture- lots of classes like Zumba and aerobics, fat burn as well as the crosstrainer.

I have a fit bit, and the highest calorie burn is from Zumba, then aeobics then crosstrainer, then country walk. Weight bearing classes like Fat burn and Pump burn the least, but are very good for you allegedly!

Hmm.

You can't really. Your calorie burn is individual and will depend on your current weight, how much exercise you do now, whatctyoecof exercise you do, how much effort you put in, where in your monthly cycle you are...

But you cannot out exercise a bad diet.

If you do want exercise where you can eat a lot look at weight lifting rather than cardio though.

I don't think it's that simple. A decent amount of exercise will make you genuinely hungry, so if you already over eat the chances are you'll just continue to do so. Not thinking about what you eat is more about your mental process regarding food, than how much you can get away with eating.

I've been everything between athlete level fitness/ exercise and doing sweet fa this summer with a plaster cast. Usually I'm just in the very fit range. All that happens when I don't exercise is that my appetite drops by itself. Eg when exercising lots I eat lots because I'm physically hungry. When not exercising I don't use my willpower to resist stuff, it just doesn't cross my mind I want it.

I suppose if you aren't exercising much/ at all, and don't have natural self regulation then it's going to be a lot easier to follow a regime that allows a tasty diet with your idea of treats. Rather than say sticking to something like 1000cals cos that's all you need. And of course muscle is less calorie efficient than fat, so if you exercise to the point you have good muscle tone you will use more calories maintaining it than you use maintaining fat.

How much exercise you need to burn off the kind of diet you would prefer depends on too many factors to possibly guess though.

When I was marathon training I didn't watch my portion sizes etc, but if I'm just gym going I still control food, ie no naughty goods!

if your appetite is out of line with your physiological needs then you will always be able to eat more calories than you expend

exercise will mean that you burn more fuel but it wont necessarily help you to exercise restraint when it comes to what you eat

there is an upper limit to how much exercise you can do, lets say 4 hours of running per day, that might burn up 3000 calories, but the upper limit to calories eaten is much higher, if you really went for it you probably put away 4 or 5000 calories.

In an obese-ogenic environment eating whatever takes your fancy will lead to obesity for the majority

According to my sports watch, on a normal sedentary day I'd use about 1700 calories. My regular exercise would get me around the 2000 zone. More if I'm doing something intense like long runs for HM training.

I don't calorie count, but aim to eat sensible portions of breakfast, lunch and dinner. I try to avoid sugar highs and crashes. In the week I eat school dinners, so they're fairly well balanced and controlled. Evening meals I try to make a balance of carbs, protein and veg. So I think about the general balance of food and the big picture. Times like Christmas balance out within that.

I eat until I'm comfortable. People often find it odd that I'll often leave one or two mouthfuls at the end, but I'm not going to make myself uncomfortable for it. I drink little alcohol. I've mostly cut out sweetened drinks for water and fruit tea.

I can't eat and drink hedonisticly without consequence, but I can maintain a healthy weight with a moderate attitude to food and exercise.

afaik there is some evidence of a correlation between obesity and damage to the mechanisms which regulate appetite and body fat levels

suspect that there are physiological processes involved which we dont yet fully understand

I think you can out-exercise any diet, certainly I know people who do, but not from a starting point of being entirely mentally normal.

I used to run 10-15 km x 5 a week. That's the only time I have ever had the body I wanted and didn't need to watch what I ate. Wish I could get back there.

The important thing is to really to get fit enough that you can trust your hunger - ie you don't have any insulin or leptin resistance. And you can then also avoid any psychological triggers to hunger - such as unhappiness, and you avoid extra calories through a drug dependency (normally alcohol)

How much exercise that costs is individual of course, but that's the mechanisms that really prevent you getting fat, not just thinking of it in terms of calories burnt - because that will not help on the days when you can't exercise for whatever reason.