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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One important thing you should know is that 3500 calories is roughly 1 pound of fat meaning with your estimate of 200 calories burn, it would take you around 17.5 days to lose 1 pound of weight. If you can **MAINTAIN** the same amount of daily calorie intake you do at the moment , then technically you should still lose weight albeit at a very slow pace.
The problem is that people tend to develop the idea that they can eat more than the usual since they are exercising but most don’t realize that it takes a lot of effort to burn calories. With your case, a **single** chocolate cookie is probably enough to setback all 200 calories worth of exercise you did for the day.
That’s why for losing weight, it’s better to focus on the input rather than on the output meaning to give more thought and focus on your diet. Being in calorie deficit and eating better foods provides more impact to weight loss than exercising for exceedingly long hours each day. I’m not saying that you don’t need to exercise, you still do as it helps and is good for you. But primary focus should be on good diet if you really want to lose weight.
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