DH has out-exercised a bad diet. How is this possible?

[Jessemer]

I have been pondering how all the exercise and diet advice says that you can't out-exercise a bad diet, and yet... DH has.

Soon after lockdown, he started doing Joe Wicks HIIT and Kettlebell workouts on YouTube. He's gone from about 86 to 77kg and looks great, arms getting muscley, belly fat has lowered, and his thighs look stronger too.

What's interesting to me though is that he hasn't changed his eating habits at all. Our three meals are generally healthy throughout the day but we both have a very sweet tooth which becomes our downfall in the evening. Chocolate, cakes, packets of biscuits, sticky toffee puddings, apple pie and custard, all sorts of treats and huge portions too.

I'm just wondering how he has managed to out-exercise a bad diet?!

I outrun my diet but I do train a lot. It’s possible he’s countering the calories with his new exercise routine?

@GlassOfFizzPlease
Monday - 6mile run
Tuesday - open water swimming/stand up paddle boarding - more fun than serious exercise
Wednesday - 8mile run
Thursday - weights class
Friday
Saturday - hard and fast 5k, 30mins home workout.
Sunday - 6mile run

If I’m training then I move things around and swap the Sunday run to a long run (13+ miles)

I also walk the dog for 1.5hours every evening.

The Fitbit seems to say that if I had a sedentary lifestyle I would only need about 1400 kcal/day.

Instead I routinely burn thru about 2500. Couple hours / day of exercise is my normal. Mostly cycling or walking but sometimes it's hours of gardening or DIY.

“Today
Yoga
Kettles
Long walk

Hiit

Tabata
Bootcamp

Piyo
Kettles

Bootcamp

Piyo”

Is that all in one day?

No that’s a week!!!

Thank goodness for that!

You can exercise enough to create a calorie deficit, which it sounds at though OP’s DH has done. From her OP it sounds as though he eats three healthy meals a day, and then has “extra” calories in the evening - and if he’s exercising he may be subconsciously holding back on portions etc.

He’s created a calorie deficit, nothing more. And done very well by the sound of it!

I run 40km p/week and walk a ton which takes my daily calorie needs from 1588 (sedentary BMR) to around 2,300. Psychologically, that’s the difference between needing to really watch what I eat, and not having to worry about it much at all.

In short, exercise helps, but you have to understand what you’re actually burning and how much you can eat because of it.

I watched a Jillian Michaels video about it and she explains it really well. I'm the same with really having to watch what I eat. Lost 6lb since lockdown but was doing Joe wicks every day and yoga or Pilates every day. Now I've eased up a bit as work is too busy I'm putting it back on. So I need to raise by BMR again or cut way back on food

I've got my diet and exercise in an even balance - i'm still overweight but I don't like dieting so I don't.
Luckily I LOVE exercise so I do a lot of that.

That means I am fit and strong underneath a decent covering of fat, which I am happy with.
So I am exercising enough to keep up with my bad diet ;-)

The reason people were slimmer in the past was because they did far more physical work and drove less not because their diet was any better. In fact it was probably worse.

Body type does matter.
I'm an endomesomorphe so although I gain fat easily I also gain muscle easily once i start exercising. It's annoying because although I'm healthier and more toned, I end up just as bulky either way.

You can out exercise a bad diet, it just involves doing a hell of a lot more exercise than people are actually prepared to do. A wee half hour stroll isn't going to get you where you want to be.

My DH used to be able to eat anything and everything without putting on an ounce. He was doing a job that involved being on his feet and walking for 7.5 hours a day. When he put on a step counter, he was walking a good 20-25 miles a day.

Now he drives for a living and sits on his arse for 10 hours a day, he is putting weight on.

It depends what you mean by bad diet.

If he was maintaining his weight before, ups his excercise significantly then he will lose weight, because he is burning more calories. Its too simplistic really to say you cant out excercise a bad diet

You cant out excercise 3 large dominoes a day, but you can out excercise a slice of cake. Surely we have all known cyclists, swimmers, dancers who have all needed to eat a lot more to maintain their weight. All that saying means is that excercising doesnt burn as many calories as we think, and you cant eat unlimited food just because youve gone for a run. But it doesnt mean excercise burns no calories

it is possible. As a young adult my diet was horrendous. It began with a hot chocolate and a freddo bar (or 2) in the morning, diet coke and some crisps for mid morning snack. Lunch wasn't too bad but it could also of consisted of mcdonalds somedays. another coke and bar in afternoon and then in the evening a pot noodle, or pizza followed by more choc and pringles while i watched a movie.

I was about a wide as a pencil

I was toned, even had a nice little V and lovely little feminine abs.... I had a manual job with horses, worked all hours under the sun and more, rode several horses a day, did all the heavy lifting etc and it didn't matter what i ate. My sweets bill at the end of each week could of been 20 quid. But I out exercised it.

coming to the end of my equestrian "career" my diet had improved as i had aged and become wiser, I didn't work as hard as i did then but still very hard and 6 days a week. but I still nibbled my way through a pack of biscuits most days and still held a great shape and tone. Now I am in an office, I have never been so squishy in my life, and unless I eat primarily lettuce, I can not keep weight down. Extra hard because for first 30 years of my life i never watched what i ate. Now just looking at a biscuit and i feel the calories.

Just to give context... By a bad diet I mean, for example, three meals a day, but then in the evening would be sticky toffee pudding and custard followed by a whole packet of Fingers.

Or a 200g bar of Cadbury followed by half a packet of chocolate digestives!

You definitely can out exercise a bad diet. My DH is a chef, on a long, busy shift he does 45k steps and his fit bit says he has burned over 4k calories. My job also involves being on my feet all day and will do 25k steps on a busy shift. We both do regular exercise as well. We have been furloghed since March and have had to hugely up our exercise to avoid gaining weight.

I do quite a bit of exercise atm, running, PIYO, Zumba and weights. I tracked what I ate for a few days recently and was eating either less calories than I burned, about the same or just slightly more, I ate whatever I wanted. I eat a family size bar of chocolate or half a tub (Ben and jerry's size) of ice cream pretty much every day but my weight only goes up if I've been particularly sedentary.

This thread is giving me hope! I like exercise a lot more than I like dieting - I’m not getting anywhere anyway, so I might as well start an exercise kick instead of yet another diet.

Of course it’s possible to out-exercise a bad diet. The riders in the Tour de France consume as much calorie-dense food and energy drinks / gels as they physically can, yet they still lose significant amounts of weight during the course of the race.

Those who exercise a lot, do you not find you get very tired and/or hungry? I have upped my activity to an hour long brisk walk 3/4 times a week and I'm tired on these days! Would have always been fit and active in younger years. I probably need to suck it up and also add pilates/yoga to mix it up a bit.

Also op I'll bet he was nowhere near cals needed with his three healthy meals so the snacks weren't pushing him over immediately.

@Heygirlheyboy

Those who exercise a lot, do you not find you get very tired and/or hungry? I have upped my activity to an hour long brisk walk 3/4 times a week and I'm tired on these days! Would have always been fit and active in younger years. I probably need to suck it up and also add pilates/yoga to mix it up a bit.

Yes, it's normal. Your body is reconfiguring itself, putting on muscle.

If hungry I eat more. I accept tiredness and muscle aches as normal, after a long exercise session. I find it feels like a healthy kind of tiredness that helps me sleep, rather than the frazzled tiredness of a stressful day in the office. It's also normal to feel more tired after you significantly increase exercise levels. If it's overwhelming, take more rest periods and ramp things up more gradually. It can be worth getting checked out if you feel it worse than others- my friend who was struggling with exercise turned out to be anaemic.

Thanks a mill. Yes sleep definitely improving! Will keep at it.

How old is he? How overweight was he to start with?

It is easier for men, they have more testosterone and build muscle and strength much quicker. They also have a higher nasal metabolic rate so can eat more than women without gaining weight.

You've inspired me to get out and run again. Makes me feel good and will burn some calories

@Atalune I’d love to do that much exercise- used to pretty much - now small DS

Anyone have any tips on how to realistically ramp up exercise with a baby /toddler in tow? Whilst working full time and lots on in general It keeps slipping to the bottom of my priority list and not feeling good for it. And not running, I despise running and can’t do it to save my life.