It's actually infuriating how energy efficient the human body is...in peace time anyways.
this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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The emphasis when I was younger that exercise was needed to lose weight. Now the emphasis is shifting that eating better and lighter does with exercise an aid in he situation.
Part of the trick is finding an exercise that's actually enjoyable to do so that you don't care how hard you're working or how much time has passed. Time is gonna pass extra slow on a treadmill and feel really difficult, if you're not enjoying it. I find that the bicycle is that sweet spot for me, I do it because it's fun not because of my health.
Go for a run outside it's much better and you go farther
"You just eat less and exercise more."
- Crunch Bandicoot, Crash Nitro Kart
All I can think about is how Crash Bandicoot's main series games are basically doing exercises to get entire crates full of apples.
73 calories is half a pack of baby carrots. That pretty filling.
People must be made so different. Exercise is the main factor in my size & weight. Like, even getting a job where I have to go up the stairs makes a difference.
And remember that there are so many benefits to exercise, beyond body shape. Cardio is so good for your heart and helps ease anxiety, lifting is so good for your bones, yoga helps keep you resilient & mobile so you don't break when you fall down, and helps with balance.
All of them help offset all the sitting most of us have to do at work.
I'm grateful that my work involves running around with children, lifting them up, spinning them, etc. I get a bit of cardio and strength training while making money.
Except today. It was hot as balls and the air conditioner wasn't fully working. I produced enough sweat sitting still to put a gym bro to shame. At one point a kid was spinning around on a spinner toy and I sat next to her just so I could feel the breeze it made, like a little fan.
Some things I've learned throughout the years that may be useful to some people:
- if your aim is to use a lot of energy, dialing down the intensity significantly and working for a longer time is the way to go
- basically all cardio machines at the gym are going to be boring as all hell, going outside and doing activities is a lot more fun
- baking in activity into your day-to-day routines is very helpful. Transporting yourself by biking, walking, taking transit, a mix of all of the above makes a large difference
- cardio as a means of losing weight has a downside in that vigorous exercise provokes a lot of hunger. make sure to combine with small sustainable changes in diet for best results
Exercise isnβt a great way to lose weight at all. The best way to lose weight is changing how much you consume. That being said, exercise and movement are very important for being healthy in general.
source: https://youtu.be/vSSkDos2hzo
Yup, as a Fat Person(tm) I couldn't get into an exercise regiment and keep with it because it's very difficult to do much with a lot of weight. Then a doctor told me "Exercise is good, but you lose weight first in the kitchen." Eat out less, eat more vegetables and fruits, less carbs, fat doesn't make you fatter calories do, if the food is fat free that means it has more calories as they put a crap ton of sugar in it.
baking in activity into your day-to-day routines is very helpful. Transporting yourself by biking, walking, taking transit, a mix of all of the above makes a large difference
I've learned that cardio can work, but there's also a lot of truth to that "you can't outrun a bad diet" saying. Like you said, your body can subtly undermine your work by making you more hungry, and it can also cause you to be less active in between exercise without realizing it.
This is because people diet wrong. You can absolutely gorge yourself on vegetables and still easily run a calorie deficit. People instead try to just eat tiny amounts of calorie dense foods, and that's what fails, because it leaves you hungry and tired.
Also, taking massive doses of iron supplements (or dark greens) helps a lot.
Last year I cut out 95% of all junk food and snacking, started eating more lean protein (like chicken), and made sure to cut out ultra processed foods where I could (i.e. home-cooked meals vs frozen dinners), and without increasing exercise I lost 20 lbs in 2 months. Sometimes it really is the diet that holds you back.
Yeah, most of the people I've spoken with about their weight issues have terrible portion control. Like they'll just sit and eat an entire bag of chips while they watch TV for an hour. It's crazy to me. My parents just got put on a diet to try to get their weight under control because they're both pre-diabetic and the next day my mom went out to costco and loaded up on fruit for them to snack on instead of chips. Which I guess is better, but an entire shelf in their giant 2 door refrigerator is full of tubs of berries and shit, if they're planning to eat proper portions of those as snacks half that shit will rot before they get through it. Maybe my mom just has brain rot from all the fad diets she's been exposed to over the years but I don't think the idea of just not eating snacks or counting calories even went through their heads.
It's crazy to me how people can not eat a whole bag of chips. Like I am supposed to put half of the bag back into the cupboard? If I open a bar of chocolate, I eat the whole thing, every time. And a lot of people I know are similar. This is the reason why I never but this stuff, as the best defense tactic is to have nothing in the house.
I am overall a healthy person and do a lot of exercising by the way, but I can't control myself with chips. And I think that is not unnatural, as this stuff is made exactly the way that it makes you addicted af. Of course I feel like shit after I ate the whole bag, but I don't know how to control myself.
Like I am supposed to put half of the bag back into the cupboard?
Yeah. Even better, don't take the bag of chips out for the snack, only take out a bowl or so of them and don't just keep refilling the bowl, that's the hard part. Not having your snack bag readily available means you have to expend effort to go get more, and that's generally when I lean into my lazy habits. Because I have to go all the way downstairs and across the house to get more.
I feel like snacking in the USA has been made out to be something you do to pass the time or fill up. Instead of enjoying something delightful.
Like I am supposed to put half of the bag back into the cupboard?
Yes? A serving of 15-20 chips is usually like 150 calories some are way worse than that. Dump a handful in a bowl and put the bag up. If you take the bag with you of course you're going to mindlessly plow through it. How many times does someone need to do that before they think "wow, that's not good for me, maybe I should consider a different tactic to consuming these things?", that's the crazy part to me that they don't do anything to change their habits. You're right though that just not buying it is the best option if that's a problem for you as they are designed to be addictive.
Seriously, don't eat snacks out of the package they come in. Put a small portion in a bowl or on a plate and put the main container up. It gets easier with practice.
It's always the diet. Even someone who burns an extra 4000 calories a day can eat themselves into obesity.
That doesn't mean someone has to starve to lose weight, just watch what they eat, like you did.
That isn't a surprise, diet makes a massively bigger difference than exercise, but the real goal needs to be sustainability.
That's a fantastic result, nice job.
My body isn't subtle in the slightest.
Any amount of work?
We're starving, we're starving! Says my body, like the cats who have a still almost full bowl of food.
Stupid meat husk.
Right? (I know it's not the same) but come on look at all of this fat you can burn! You're not hungry, you're lazy, you know, like I want to be.
basically all cardio machines at the gym are going to be boring as all hell, going outside and doing activities is a lot more fun
I have health issues so I can no longer go biking outdoors, but I use the app KinoMap (like Peloton but without brand lock-in) to view POV video of bike trips and the app adjusts resistance over BT according to the road topology.
I pick out a map/video and internet radio or a playlist from the country it is recorded. It makes exercise much easier and more fun for me and is way more engaging than staring at numbers on a display.
They also have videos for running trails and rowing and additional social media stuff that I am not interested in.
That sounds like the most fun you can get with an indoor bike, and I'm happy you're able to do It despite the health issues.
I will concede that the one type of indoor training I could one day get behind would probably be virtual cycling. Maybe one winter when I decide that running in the dark and wet isn't actually fun. Time will tell.
There are other apps that are more oriented towards racing if that's your thing and you can get a BT connected trainer for your roadbike.
For me an upright exercise bike is great now and I enjoy doing little mini excursions around the world when I can not travel any more.
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Humans are hilariously efficient at running. Skipping a candy bar is easier than running two miles.
The line I like is "you can't outrun your fork." Weight loss is 99% about the kitchen, bodybuilding is probably about 75% the kitchen.
Put the candy bar at the end of a track and I'll run to get the candy.
Speak for your fucking self. I run about as well as a 65 year old tractor left out in the sun
If your goal is losing weight then yes it is underwhelming to say the least, but you should just totally ignore that number and focus on how the exercise makes you feel instead because I promise it's not a drag and you will feel good about it if you approach it right and make it a habit, if you are pushing yourself way too hard then it is going to be miserable. Take your time, ease into it, then it will feel nice to be able to run or bike some miles without being totally winded.
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You burn 73 calories by running less than 10 minutes.
A 30 minute jog burns over 300.
Do that twice a week and it amounts to a body weight difference of 90 lbs. (300000 calories) over 10 years with the same diet.
A healthy weight isn't something you achieve quickly and then you're done and can go back to your old "normal" lifestyle.
The human body is kinda magical. If you live an active life, take the stairs, exercise, commute by bicycle, and walk a lot, it'll change to become better at being active over time.
If you sit on your ass all day and eat a lot, it'll optimize itself for sitting on its ass and eating a lot.
So your body does its best to adjust to what you want to do.
(Of course there are medical exceptions where that doesn't work right, too. And the prevailing culture and car-centric infrastructure in the US doesn't make it exactly easy to be active in your daily life.)
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Had a short walk to the store and back. About 130 cal burned. Then I drink a big glass of milk. 300 cal.
Awesome
In case anyone needs to hear this, you do not need to be exercising away every calorie you eat. A ton of energy gets burned just keeping your body alive. Just keeping your body temperature in the right range accounts for around half of it on its own.
Is there any information about exercising in the cold vs when hot?
It's crazy how much work it is to maintain a mid physique. I gym/cardio 6 days a week and am training for a marathon and will still put on weight if I don't track what I eat.
How are you all tracking what you eat? I've had some success with doing that before, but I did it with menu management that I can't pull off easily now. Still, I feel like just knowing where I'm at each day would be helpful for me.
Since you mentioned you track what you eat, this might be a good place for me to add my contribution.
I struggled with my weight my whole life and I started tracking what I eat, focused mainly on limiting my calories. It was still a struggle, but it definitely helped.
Then I discovered my body overproduces cholesterol and I had to change my diet, which was relatively easy since I was already tracking. I feel like I was given the key to weight loss with this one change: keep your saturated fat below 13g per day.
It's not as easy as it sounds, you're stuck basically eliminating certain foods altogether (I'm looking at you, beef) and you need to do a good deal of meal plan and prep (which is good for you anyway) - but holy shit. I eat constantly and I can't keep weight on.
The only way I can gain is by stopping exercise altogether (I do one hour 3 days a week) and really loading up on carbs (bread/pasta).
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