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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So a calorie is actually a scientific unit, it’s meant to represent the amount of energy it takes to heat 1 gram of water up by 1 degree Celsius. The crazy thing is the Calories we know are actually 1000 calories (little c) and that’s why some labels in foreign countries say kcal instead of Calories.
Several people here have detailed out the simple answer to “losing weight”, which is have an energy deficit, which will make your body burn it’s stored energy (fat). Here’s the thing though, all weight is is the effect that gravity has on your mass….that’s it. It’s a number, an arbitrary measurement that says very little about your overall health.
The routine you have going is a great start. And if you’re enjoying it, you should definitely keep it up. But you may need to adjust your goal from “I want to lose weight” to something more along the lines of “I want to be healthier”, “I want to be able to walk up stairs without being winded”, “I want to fit into my jeans from college” etc…real actionable goals that don’t rely on that arbitrary number.
I say this because as you get fitter, you’ll build up lean muscle, which contrary to myth, doesn’t “weigh more than fat”…it is denser though. So 1 lb of muscle takes up less room than 1lb of fat. This is why a body builder or pro athlete can be 6 ft and 200 lbs and look ripped, but a couch potato with the same stats looks “chunky”. Fat simply takes up more room.
So long term, you need to figure out what you really are after, and then make some of the changes the other users are suggesting. The real key is finding a routine that you actually enjoy and can stick with long term. The extreme diets and exercise routines tend to fail because no one can keep that up long term, and they don’t teach you habits that will keep you healthy and maintain at the size you want to be.
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