Take off that Fitbit. Exercise alone won’t make you lose weight Article

[mintons]

What does the fitbit community think about this article?

[Corney]

3 years ago I tore my Rotator cuff, long head of the Biceps tendon and the Superior Labrium in my Right Shoulder. After arthroscopic surgery I have full recovery, so my weight lifting routine concentrates on maintaining strength and range of motion in my shoulders.  I do shoulder Flexion sitting, in the Sagittal plane( lifting forward), Coronal plane ( sideways) and scaption ( half way between the sagittal and coronal plane)  I also do the same exercise prone with less weight.  Biceps curls, Lat pulls with hands facing me and away from me, and shoulder press.  I do less with my legs because I use the ellipital, stationary bike and rower.  My only leg exercise consists of seated leg extensions through a limited range (45 degrees of flexion to full extension)  I do strengthening only on the days I don't row, so I do weights 3-4 times per week.

[Corney]

I totally agree!

[Raviv]

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@I-train-hard wrote:

Raviv- can you go back to your lifting weight routine? 

What do you like to eat? 

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That's what I've started to do, but unfortunately so is everyone else.  My gym has about double the usual number of people they do in October and I have a slight anxiety issue with crowds.  I don't freak out or anything, but I spend the whole time thinking when I can get away from everyone.  Sunday mornings are great, though.  Last time I went, there were only eight or nine people there, not (literally) 75 or 80.

My plan is to go on Sunday mornings, do mostly bodyweight exercises during the week.  I found some really great workouts that are hard enough to be useful.  In February, I can try the gym again.  Hopefully the crowds will have died down a bit by then.  If my tax refund is a reasonable amount, I've decided to get a weight bench, barbell and dumbells so I can work out at home.

One of my problems is that I jacked up my body by dong what amounts to eight hours of cardio for five or six days per week for six years.  My body adjusted and economized, so now anything less than a sprint is like sleeping for the average guy.  I'm thinking I need to start HIIT, maybe when I get more muscle built up.

For food, my biggest problem is that the area at work next to mine is the major welcome center for the whole place, and so they always have tons of crappy food out.  A couple of us have gotten together and pushed for more things like fruit instead of donuts, but it has become the unofficial drop off point for everything that everyone else knows they shouldn't be eating.  And after the most recent of my head injuries (about five years ago) I don't have the impulse control that I used to have.

Now I do my best to bring lunch with me (usually chicken, cheese, olives, eggs - things like that) and have something relatively innocuous to snack on if I really start craving sweet stuff.  So even though I know mini berry flavored rice cakes aren't optimal, they're a better alternative than the triple layer chocolate cake sitting 15 feet away from my desk all day.

[Corney]

I bought the Fitbit for the first 3 letters in the name, Fit.  I use it to keep me on track of maintaining and/or increasing my Physical Fitness.  Weight loss is no secret, it's just calories in vs calories out.  I'm not interested in losing weight, because I've been a runner for over 25 years, after some running injuries that sidelined me from running, I continued to exercise 5 days per week, 45 minutes cardio and 25 minutes strength training.  If you are truly Physically Fit and eat healthy everything else takes care of itself.

[RubyH]

I agree, tracking every morsel you eat and weighing it first is the only way to know what output in exercise you need to balance it and if losing weight you need to take in a minimum of 250 less than that which you are burning and the dashboard will help with that plus give you an analysis of the foods you are eating, if your carbs are too high cut back and up the protein and you will find your balance points.

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@CTW wrote:

In my 20's I believed I could eat almost anything and exercise hard to maintain proper weight. In my 40's, I have seen that weight loss and maintenance is 98% what I put in my mouth and 2% how I exercise. Exercise has other great benefits for our health, but we can control our weight by what and how we eat. Most people  think they are eating healthy and lean when in fact if they were more educated about nutrition and kept a journal they would see exactly where their weight problem is. I was that person for years. I have never been obese but the last 15 years I have carried 25 more pounds than I should have. I ran literally 50 miles a week, I cycled, I swam and lifted weights. I have done cross-fit and insanity. Never really lost much weight. Got super strict on my eating and stopped working out to not get hungry and have lost 20lbs in 8 weeks. I think exercise is great and I have always been athletic, but weight loss and control is about understanding and eating right 98% more than the exercise in my experience. 

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[Corney]

Yes, weight loss is simply calories in vs. calories out, but don't forget about the many benefits of exercise for Physical Fitness.  It slows down or reverses the loss of muscle mass, it keeps your bones strong, it aides in keeping your joints healthy by constantly removing old synovial fluid filled with waste products and replacing it with fresh synovial fluid containing nutrients and O2, and it helps make your heart a more efficient pump.  It also raises HDL, lowers LDL and decreases tryglyerides floating in your blood stream.

[Corney]

I guess I'm one who is in the minority, exercise does not increase my appetite thereby causing me to eat more.  When I bought my Fitbit, nowhere did it state it would lead to miracle weight loss. If you use all the available applications like charting what you eat, when you eat, along with your level of activities, you will improve you health and Physical Fitness.  It also offers many the motivation to improve, along with access to friends that offer advice( good or bad ), and lets one know you are not in this alone! 

[betpchem]

Here, here, @Corney!

[Dominique]

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@Corney wrote:

3 years ago I tore my Rotator cuff, long head of the Biceps tendon and the Superior Labrium in my Right Shoulder.

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Just curious: how did that happen? Was it during a workout? Or a non-workout related accident?

[Corney]

It was a work injury.

[savanahrae2269]

Agree and Disagree.

Agree: Using a fitbit is great for motivation but if you don't change your diet, the exercise isn't going to do anything.  I used to walk an hour on the treadmill but I was drinking soda and eating junk food = didn't do anything.

Disagree: Since purchasing a fitbit, I now track all my calories and it keeps me motivated to do my exercises. I work out every single day which I wasn't doing before and I haven't had any soda or junk food in more than a month.  I buy healthier foods and now snack on celery and carrots.. I think fitbits are great for keeping you moving but if you make excuses and eat like crap, you'll never lose weight.

[Corney]

I totally Agree!

[sabitabi88]

I had the same type of experiance. In highschool I got a treadmill for christmas one year (yes I asked for that lol) and I would usually burn 200 to 400 calories a day just on that treadmill and I thought I would lose weight just by doing that. I will say that my calves looked fabulous but other than that my body changed very little. 

The problem was that I still ate crap! I ate pizza or a sandwich on a bulky roll for school lunch pretty much everyday, I'd have easy mac as a snack after school and I would eat as many oreos or other sweets as I felt like. My mom never had a weight problem when she was young so asking for her advice didn't yield much help (plus I was just chubby so no one was all that worried about my health). It wasn't until I was in my 20's that I figured out that I should have been counting my calories as well. Then it took me a few more years to realize their are even deeper factors like carbs and protein at play.

Being active is important, obviously, but it can't fix a really bad diet.

[Dominique]

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@sabitabi88 wrote:

The problem was that I still ate crap!

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Actually, the problem was not so much that you ate crap, but rather that you ate too much of it.

It’s perfectly possible (though not desirable) to maintain one’s weight (or even lose) eating crap. And it’s perfectly possible to gain weight and becoming fatter eating "clean".

Otherwise, I agree that it’s very hard to out-exercise a bad diet.

[sabitabi88]

Absolutely, when I first started my weight loss journey I worked retail and was considerably more active, because of that I was able to have a candy bar a day and still lose weight fairly easily. I counted calories and that candy bar still left me within my allotted amount each day. The goal is to find balance. Sadly with my current office job that balance has been shifted from very active and aloud more calories to not very active and aloud less.

[SebringDon]

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@sabitabi88 wrote:

Absolutely, when I first started my weight loss journey I worked retail and was considerably more active, because of that I was able to have a candy bar a day and still lose weight fairly easily. I counted calories and that candy bar still left me within my allotted amount each day. The goal is to find balance. Sadly with my current office job that balance has been shifted from very active and aloud more calories to not very active and aloud less.

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@sabitabi88

I love candy bars too, and I've found the perfect "cheat." Try these chocolate-peanut butter protein bars; at 20g protein, 200 cals, they're the closest thing I've found to a healthy Snickers bar. 🙂

http://www.pureprotein.com/products/chocolate-peanut-butter-50-g/

[NancyPat]

FitBit Flex helps me maintain a healthy balanced lifestyle. I was so focussed on the work I do - sitting long hours at a desk & manipulating a computer - it was bringing health issues.  Drinking enough water, providing healthy real food, and moving my body every day - oh yes, and need I mention awareness of quality sleep?! FitBit has helped me re-gain a healthy balanced life.  Stepping up goals, having friends who share common pursuits - tracking everything honestly really has given me a life "re-do" and that's what I needed.  Challenging myself to achieve even more - and weightloss being a side benefit - to me its about acheiving balance.  So thank you FitBit Flex! And thanks to my daughters who gave me this gadget for my birthday last October!! Give yourself a gift everyday - be good to yourself! You're worth it.