Potentially stupid question on weight loss

[Mizydoscape]

Ok so hear me out. Before I was pregnant 4 years ago, I was 57kg. Super happy with how I looked at that weight. I had a horse, was pretty active and never had to calorie count etc.

Roll on just over 4 years and I now have a 3 1/2 year old and weigh around 62kg on average. So that's a net increase of 5kg over those 4 years. I now no longer have my own horse, WFH and until recently have been pretty sedentary, this has all changed since pregnancy and birth. So those 5kg have crept on pretty slowly.

Would that mean that the amount of calories I'm consuming for the amount of activity I've been doing is only slightly too high? If I were to start a regular exercise program of 3/4 days a week cardio and lifting, and getting my steps in on the other days, I could potentially (over a long period and I'm thinking up to those 4 years again) lose those 5kg without changing the amount I'm eating?

Or am I kidding myself 😅

I think you're right.

I often see it said that exercise won't take weight off and that it has to be diet but for me the times I lose weight are when I'm doing a lot of fast walking.

With lifting though you'll build muscle which is heavier than fat so the numbers on the scale might not change but you'll feel better and be more toned.

I enjoy food and never fully subscribe to a diet but you could choose one small change to what you eat as well as the exercise. For example before her wedding a friend asked me to suggest an easy thing to lose weight. I suggested she gave up cheese. It worked. For me my one easy change is to switch from a very milky whole milk coffee to black coffee. Or not eating after 7pm.

It's not a stupid question and probably the answer isn't completely straightforward. But at a very basic level you're right, if you've put the weight on slowly, at just over 1kg per year, it is likely you are only very marginally eating over your calorie requirement on a daily basis.

I'm afraid I work in old money but the basic equation is that you need a deficit of 3500 calories to lose a pound of weight and then conversely if you eat 3500 more calories than your body requires you will gain a pound. I'm sure you could find the same equation for kg if you googled but I believe 1kg is 2.2lb so it's probably around 7700 calories per kg.

So if you added in 200-300 calories of exercise 3-4 times a week and carried on eating in exactly the same way you should eventually lose the weight as you'll be in a very small deficit over the week.

Things to consider:

• exercise will make you hungrier so you may find you unconsciously increase your calorie consumption a bit which will render the exercise ineffective.
• as you get older your body requires less calories each year to perform it's basic functions so you will need to bear that in mind.
• slower loss is usually more sustainable than rapid so your plan is good from that perspective.
• weight loss is 80% nutrition and only 20% exercise - the old adage is that you can't exercise away a bad diet so checking that your nutrition is on point might also be a good call.

Hope that helps.

Well it depends on if you think your diet genuinely hasn’t changed in that time. It stands to reason that if you are eating exactly the same, and it’s just your activity levels that have dropped, you should be able to increase activity levels and slowly get there again.

I saw a Dr talking on tv about people claiming ‘Middle aged spread’ and blaming menopause for weight gain, and he said while that’s true for some, due to hormonal fluctuations etc. People also forget that it only takes them putting on 1 pound per year, to become 10lbs over the course of a decade. So it can happen so gradually that you almost don’t notice until you suddenly hit 60 and realise you’re nearly a stone heavier than at 50.
He said what a lot of people do is put on, say 5 pounds during December and Christmas, naturally lose maybe 4 of those over the course of the year, but that remaining 1lb stays.

Not that you’re in that age bracket, but just that you might naturally be putting on the tiniest amount each year, and suddenly it’s contributing to what you’ve put on, as well as reduced activity.

Age has been on my side previously. I'm now 35 if that makes any difference.

5 years ago I was working out of the home, had my horse so was doing the daily manual work that comes with that, and started going to the gym 3 times a week before work. I was trying to tone up for a big holiday. Started exercising in the April and by the holiday in August I looked the best I ever had. I agree that the times in my life I've ever lost weight and felt good about how I looked were when I was regularly exercising regularly.

The amount of food I've been eating has not changed one bit (I'm pretty fussy about food and what I eat, not a big snacker etc). If anything I've been making healthier choices sometimes but I don't restrict. I could drink less though 😅 I was ill over Christmas this year but have never been one for oooh treat yourself because of the time of year IYSWIM.

I'm aiming for super slow and sustainable feel good.