I’m inspired by a lot of people’s progress with IF in here (down 30 lbs myself since over a year ago), but am peeved with folks who post their progress and leave a comment like “I did this all without exercise! Tee-hee!”
Exercise is about more than just losing weight - it’s about the overall improvement of your health and wellness. You don’t like doing exercise? Fine, but don’t downplay its benefits and dismiss it as a nuisance.
EDIT: Damn it, I misspelled “beneficial”
When I was considering IF, the fact that you get results without exercise was a big plus. I wouldn’t have started otherwise. Now that I’m my goal weight (which I reached without exercise), I’ve become really healthy. I choose to exercise 30-60 minutes each day.
This is a result of the “losing weight” cult actively pushed by the media. While a “getting healthy” cult would be so much better. And that yes, would include a love for exercising instead of the hate we can see right now (speaking in terms of majority of population). Even when talking about exercise, the emphasis is often made on burning calories instead of training the heart, improving breathing, taking care of the spine, improving sleeping and other countless benefits of exercising. And moreover, when talking about losing weight, the media connect it to wearing fancy clothes and lingerie, and not to health benefits. It’s all about superficial gains in the media, not about deep understanding how our body works and what it needs. “Losing weight without exercising” is a false goal. The true goal is “getting healthy”. This is yet to be understood and normalized.
I feel like fitness and weight are two entirely different concepts that overlap. Controversial as it may be, I have definitely been in great shape while overweight. And I’ve been skinny-fat. I’m all for exercise and it’s also true that it has very little influence on weight.
Yup, I’m one of those who live a very sedentary life. I’ve lost 40lbs without exercise and am thrilled to share that when people ask. I usually comment that with exercise, they would probably lose more. I stated I’m not recommending others don’t exercise, but I’m living proof you can do IF, lose weight, w/o it. I leave it to others to do their own thing. I’m sure I’m in a better place health wise with the loss, so don’t be peeved.
I am a physiotherapist and i am absolutely passionate about exercise and all its benefits for quality of life. However, IF is a form of weight loss that can be healthy and improve peoples health. In most cases when people start a positive change and have success, they move into other dimensions such as exercise. The less barriers the better. The key here, is people are living healthier lives with or without exercise and that is a great victory. Of course the two together are better but we should all be happy for anyones victory to living a better life. Long live healthy people whatever road they take to get there :)
When a person is significantly overweight or is obese, exercise can be a brick wall for a variety of reasons, including mental and physical. That’s most likely at least part of the reason why they are overweight/obese in the first place. For me it’s like I’m carrying a 50-pound weight and it hurts everywhere. And when I get out of breath and my heartbeat speeds way up, I panic. I had to rest even in between basic chores. Now that I’ve lost 10 pounds of that 50 (through a different no-exercise program) I’m starting to think about wanting to exercise, which is a huge step. I realized I can start with kettlebells and build some more muscle tissue first, so that exercise and chores aren’t so challenging. I’m hoping to lose at least 10 (additional) pounds on IF for starters, with just kettlebells (which arrived yesterday), and then ramp up with some cardio. tl;dr it is worse than a nuisance for a lot of people who have 40+ pounds to lose. Give them a chance to lose a little before they’re mentally really ready for exercise!
If you are very obese , starting with exercise is very hard and sometimes even dangerous. My highest weight was 320, I didn’t start trying to exercise until atleast 50 lbs lost because I was just too uncomfortable before that with joint pain and feeling like a big round beach ball. But I definitely agree with you that exercise is important.
Exercise is great if you can do it. I’ve had runner’s knee (PFPS) and a touchy shoulder and can’t really do much in the way of cardio or weightlifting. I’d probably need to make enough money for 1-3 physical therapy sessions a week indefinitely if I wanted to exercise. I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if a lot of other people had similar frustrations.
That’s without considering COVID or the time needed to go to a gym and back (or the money for equipment).
Can’t argue with that!!
For those of us with limited access to workout equiptment and lockdowns getting in the way of training as we’d like, its nice to know that its possible to stay on track for weightloss goals even when your gym is locked down.
There are lots of modes of exercise that are great for mental health (yoga, walking, tai chi etc) but won’t really help you move towards your weightloss goals (from a caloric perspective). Can decreasing your stress/cortisol levels help with weightloss? Absolutely! So definitely keep active for your mental health!
Eh, I think you’re being a bit of a gatekeeper here. There are a lot of people who say they can’t get started losing weight because they don’t have the time to exercise, or money for a gym membership. It can be motivating to see that you don’t have to commit to hours at the gym every week to see results. Are the 145 pounds I’ve lost less valid because my only exercise is walking?
Our bodies are unique from another – some are blessed with great metabolism who can loose lbs w/o much body movements, while others need to exercise even on IF. However, the tone of your message did rub off as dismissive. But, I do get your point OP that exercise has its benefits and that you may not have intended to sound that way.
I saw comments that some can’t go to the gym due to pandemic, or have no time.. those are valid points. But I think daily (or 4x a week) 7 mins low impact workout, or basic yoga, at home is achievable and wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Exercise is great for our lungs, heart, and it can affect our brains too.. usually we can think more creatively or find better solutions after taking a walk, or do stretchings, or exercise. So yeah, I wouldn’t dismiss the benefits of exercise either when on IF.
I understand your POV, and I agree to a certain extent, but at the same time, I and many others suffer from chronic ilnesses that take exercising off the table. Hearing about people’s success without exercising give me a huge sense of optimism and hope for the future :)
I think it’s a remarkably palatable entry point for a lot of people!