[nickybearblog]

> Becoming lighter has encouraged me to exercise but what I eat has always been the main factor in what I weigh.

That's exactly what I've found. I can exercise two or three hours a day; means nothing if I'm not watching my calories. Congrats on the weight loss!

[bowsamic]

That's why it's sometimes better, especially for people with low muscle mass and not currently obese, to concentrate on liftings weights instead. If you do cardio to lose weight then eating just undoes any benefit, since the body is not very damaged and doesn't need to repair much. If you lift weights using a progressive overloading regime, you actually need a lot of calories over time to actually repair your body. Also, if you lose weight with only cardio, then you will end up quite skinny and have to be really careful not to put it back on pretty quickly. As a bonus, lifting weights is often more fun for most than doing steady cardio, which is often extremely boring

[nradov]

Repairing the tissue damage from weight does take a lot of energy (calories) but it also requires a high intake of essential amino acids. Otherwise muscle growth will be slow and the risk of injury increases. Many people aren't getting enough, and as we age our digestive system becomes less efficient at absorbing those nutrients. The easiest way to get enough is to eat a couple scoops of whey protein powder, but there are other good options for those willing to put a little more effort into nutrition planning.

[bowsamic]

Yeah protein powder is actually a really good food

[apelapan]

This seems to be the most common situation, but it is not the only one. Plenty of people have lost significant weight by taking up exercise and not doing any active, concious changes to their diet.

I myself have lost 15kg over the past couple of years, after going from zero high-intensity physical activity on a normal week to a few hours of running and swimming every week.

I'm sure there are some unconscious changes to my eating, in particular afternoon/evening snacking. But that just happened without me trying or planning for it. I still eat at the same lunch restaurants and it is still my wife making me dinner most evenings.