Will I still see results from just exercising? Not going full hog?

[YellowEllis]

I've never struggled with my weight despite doing zero exercise and eating absolute crap. I've always been a size 6 regardless. I'm only 25 so a lot of that was probably down to age/good metabolism. I had my son last year, and put on a lot of weight in pregnancy (for me) and went up to a size 12 after he was born. I've not done any exercise since, but I have started eating better. I don't watch what I eat but I just cook healthier meals now and eat more veg purely because I cook meals for us all, including my son to share. I've managed to get down to neaarly a size 10. I'm not interested in being a skinny size 6 again, but I'd like to be a more toned, healthy 8/10

I won an Apple Watch and have decided to make the most of it and get fit. I've done two HIIT sessions. I'm going to aim to do 3 a week, and I might try and teach myself yoga from YouTube tutorials for the days I don't do HIIT.

Anyway just wanted to give background, basically my question is can I get fit just from eating kinda well, and exercising? Some nights I will eat a whole bar of dairy milk and polish off a bottle of wine with my h. I want to lose a little bit of weight, but mainly just tone up and get fit. I get so out of breathe, even before having my son, just doing basic exercise. I get stitches so easily. I'm just really unfit. I just cba to start tracking carbs or macros or follow meal plans or whatever it's called.

I've started running. I haven't changed my diet. I eat loads. Probably 3000 calories a day. I'm losing weight. I've lost around 2 stone. Maybe I'm lucky? I think we are all different OP. There must be a reason people say that it's 90% diet and 10% exercise but for me that's not the case. Maybe I'm the exception 🤷🏽‍♀️

"They" say that you can't out run a bad diet, but I've seen people on here say that does depend how far you actually run!

I'm trying to eat healthily but not count calories or track anything. I'm then exercising 5-6 days a week (running and boot camp)
I've toned up a lot but not actually lost weight. I feel so much better
If I made a conscious effort to cut out the little extras I'd lose weight but I'm at a BMI of 23 so I don't really need to.

Personally I'm concentrating on making the exercise a more embedded habit, not doing yo-yo dieting which never works anyway

Depends what you mean by "fit", really. Your plan sounds basically fine but many people think they are doing HIIT when the intensity is not really high enough in the work intervals. How long are the sessions and what are the work/rest intervals?

Yoga is good for general conditioning. A bit of strength/resistance work would not go amiss. Elastic resistance bands are cheap and mean you can do a variety of stuff.

Obviously - doing a bit of exercise will make you a bit more fit than not doing any exercise at all... If the only thing you want is to be able to move a bit easier &not get cramps, then "just" exercising is plenty. These NHS guidelines say that anything is better than nothing

If you want to lose weight, you need to look at your eating as well. If you're eating nothing but crap then you won't lose weight, and you may well not want to exercise. A bottle of wine & big bar of Dairy Milk one night a month - fine; 6 nights a week - not fine if you want to lose weight or have the energy & motivation to do stuff.

Thanks all. I don't have a bad diet per se. Breakfast is usually toast which probably isn't great, eggs sometimes. I don't always have lunch if I'm being honest. Every night is a healthy meal with veg. Probably twice a week I'll have a bar of chocolate and some wine but I can cut that down. I just don't want to start carb counting or macros or whatever it is people do. I just want to enjoy work outs and see results but not actually have all the admin if that makes sense.

In regards to the HIIT I just followed the Joe Wicks HIIT YouTube video. Was going to do that one for a few weeks then maybe look for another. I must of done something because I'm in agony today!

"They" say that you can't out run a bad diet, but I've seen people on here say that does depend how far you actually run!

Definitely depends what you’re actually doing! When I was training for a half Ironman I could literally eat whatever I liked and still lost weight (and wasn’t overweight to start with). Husband trains for endurance events and eats more than anyone you’ve ever met, including loads of cake, biscuits etc.

But to answer your question OP, I think you might need to do a bit more than three HIIT sessions and some yoga if you don’t want to give up wine and chocolate. Yoga doesn’t burn a massive amount of calories (even pregnant my HR usually sits at around 80-90 for a session) and HIIT can be great as part of a workout routine but I am a bit suspicious of anything that offers a quick, easy fix. S a

@YellowEllis

Thanks all. I don't have a bad diet per se. Breakfast is usually toast which probably isn't great, eggs sometimes. I don't always have lunch if I'm being honest. Every night is a healthy meal with veg. Probably twice a week I'll have a bar of chocolate and some wine but I can cut that down. I just don't want to start carb counting or macros or whatever it is people do. I just want to enjoy work outs and see results but not actually have all the admin if that makes sense.

Could you maybe just make some easy swaps?

Instead of just toast, have one slice of toast and some scrambled eggs? Or a bowl of porridge? Try adding in a quick, easy lunch with some protein and slow release carbs (tuna salad with wholemeal pasta, brown rice with stir fried salmon and veg, chicken wrap etc.). Keep dinner as is. It’s important to eat enough to actually fuel your body and give you the energy to work out properly if you want to be toned and healthy.

I'm doing couch to 5 k but I also fast 3/4 times a week till 1/2pm. I've lost 5 lbs so far another 4/5 to go If I can get there.

There's exercise, exercise and exercise.

Movement is good for the body and very important for good health.

You can move all day at a gentle pace and not be fit though.
It is worth doing something that gets you breathless, even if it's just brisk walking. It's also worth doing something for strength, even if it's 15 minutes of a yoga video each day.

Being fit doesn't have to mean hours down the gym, weightlifting, running marathons or 22 minute parkruns. It's having the energy to get through life, and keeping muscles (including your heart) strong for life. One of the most aging things is poor muscle tone/ poor posture.

The 20s is a forgiving age, but it is worth having healthy routines before that youthful advantage wears off and you have to work at staying still at some point around the 30s/ 40s when metabolism slows and muscle density has peaked.

Little and often is best for practical fitness (rather than performance fitness)

You will. I'm 44 and used to exercise 4 times a week. Stopped during lockdown and have put on weight. Didn't change diet.
Might vary from person to person but I realised the reason I stayed slimmer was exercise.

Do you want to loose weight or do you want to get fit? The 2 are different objectives. Personally, I have never lost weight from just exercising, if anything, the further i've run and more i've trained the more weight i've gained due to being constantly hungry!
If you want to be toned then you need to build muscle through resistance and weight bearing exercises AND burn the fat that sits of the top of the muscles so they can be seen.
You need to burn around 3500 calories a week to burn a lb of fat (a 30min HIIT session is probably around 300 calories but it is meant to boost your metabolism) so it's easiest to create this deficit predominantly through what you eat.
I think you also need to eat lunch regularly and make sure you're drinking enough water.