Comment by nick486
6 months ago
I think it sort of depends on how you look at it. If 800 is an hour of running - that's probably "a lot" for quite a few people. But 800 is also just a sandwich. Which isn't all that much.
So if you view this from a time use perspective, just skipping that sandwich is way better than running for an hour. And many people can't spare an hour a day just to make up for a sandwich. Hence - "not a lot" - Its too expensive time-wise for the caloric balance effect it provides. Just skip the sandwich instead.
What kind of sandwiches are you eating? 800 calories is a ridiculously large sandwich.
Even Tesco's bacon & egg triple is only 550 : https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/260422235
I'm struggling to find anything I'd describe as a sandwich come close to 800 calories.
Footlong Spicy Italian at Subway ($10 sandwich) is 1320 cals.
EDIT: the trend holds pretty well at the footlong size (which is a big sandwich). 18/26 sandwiches they offer are >1000 calories.
A foot-long sub is not "just a sandwich", it's a meal for 2.
Secondly, I can't see how you can get to 1320 calories for a footlong italian going by this: https://www.subway.com/en-gb/-/media/emea/europe/uk/nutritio...
Even counting footlong bread + footlong Italian Sub it only comes to ~1100.
And as it makes clear, a footlong is 2 6" servings, it's disingenuous to pretend that's a sandwich.
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Fair enough, but so is 800cal/h exercise. And I'd rather overestimate the intake.
I agree with the general message, but I'm curious what ingredients go in your 800 calorie sandwich. That's more than a double Big Mac with 4 patties (780 kcal)!
Maybe the Elvis sandwich
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_butter,_banana_and_baco...
Lots of mayo.. and butter. It's more like a butterich, realistically. ;)
That's a big sandwich :)
Big Mac = 580 Cal.
I'm going to eat lunch one way or another and for me it's going to be under 800. Skipping meals isn't really a good choice, imo, but ok.
You need to eat roughly somewhere between 1300 and 2000 Cal every day to maintain your weight even if you are doing to exercise at all.
If you want to lose weight, it's far easier to remove 800 Cal from your diet, at least time wise, then it is to exercise 800 Cal's worth every day.
Either way, if you're losing weight at any appreciable rate, you will feel hungry (at least if it's not chemically induced in some way, such as chemo or GLP-1 inhibitors or similar). That's just something you have to get used to if you want to lose weight.
This is well-intentioned but I think it oversimplifies in ways that can actually be harmful. "Just get used to being hungry" is rough advice to give people - chronic hunger is one of the main reasons diets fail, and framing weight loss as a willpower contest against hunger ignores that satiety is heavily influenced by _what_ you eat, not just how much. A 400 kcal meal of protein, fat, and fiber will keep you full for hours; 400 kcal of simple carbs will leave you hungry again in 45 minutes, in part because of the insulin and blood glucose dynamics involved.
The calories in/out model isn't wrong exactly, but it's so reductionist that it becomes misleading in practice. It omits hormonal responses (insulin, leptin, ghrelin), the thermic effect differences between macronutrients (your body burns 20-30% of protein calories just processing them vs 0-5% for fat), gut microbiome composition, sleep quality, stress hormones, meal timing, and individual metabolic variation. Two people eating identical calorie counts can have very different outcomes. Telling someone "just eat less and accept the hunger" without any of that context can set them up for a miserable yo-yo cycle - or worse, a disordered relationship with food.
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> If you want to lose weight, it's far easier to remove 800 Cal from your diet, at least time wise, then it is to exercise 800 Cal's worth every day.
That I absolutely agree with and so do my legs ;)
I only found the suggestion that exercise _doesn't_ burn calories a bit weird.
> you will feel hungry
That I also agree with... all this talk of sandwiches!
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For cardio sure but for weight training you're burning calories and tearing muscle fibres to increase size/strength. Also depending on the running you're doing, you're likely staying fitter.
Sure it's easier to fast but you're missing out on the other benefits associated with exercise.
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