Trying to lose weight and putting it in numbers is demoralizing. I’ve started riding a stationary bike for 5 miles and then doing minor weight lifting after and I maaaaybe lose 200 or so calories. Is that not a good exercise? I’ve been doing this almost everyday starting 2 weeks ago. But it’s starting to feel useless if it’s such a minor amount of calories burnt. Is this a good trend to continue? What am I missing?
Edit: everyone here has been incredibly helpful, and surprisingly consistent with one another. I feel much more confident about what I’m doing and what I need to do. Seriously, thank you all.
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Weight management is very difficult. While in the end it is KCal in vs KCal out it gets much more complex (I can already feel the hateful glare of /r/lifting). Bike 5 miles, burn ~200 calories. But it doesn’t end there. You have forced a caloric deficit and now feel hungry so you eat and replace those calories. Now some will argue that lifting is better because you will burn some while actually lifting plus the muscle mass built will continue to burn more. Still though you will be hungry eat and the cycle continues.
The biggest thing you can do for weight management is adjust your diet. I am not saying dieting in the sense of caloric deficits (important to have if looking to lose) but more making what you eat count. Some things (like chips) don’t fill you up and are calorically dense. Other things (like apples, celery, steak, chicken) are not so calorically dense and will fill you up. Adding cardio and resistance training are great and have other benefits but most people fail due to their diet.
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