Friendly reminder: Try not to eat your exercise calories and remember to track what you're eating

This is an old article, but Facebook clearly knows I've been spending time reading up on CICO and exercising. https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories

A summary of the 10 key learnings in the article -

1. From an evolutionary POV, human bodies have evolved to be efficient in how we spend our energy. Those on the upper level of being active seemed to have roughly the same energy expenditure as people in sedentary lifestyles.
2. Exercise is great for your physical and mental health. This is why you should move more - not only because you want to lose weight. Exercise can also help with maintenance when it's used along with watching calorie intake.
3. Exercise alone is almost useless for weight loss.
4. Exercise alone accounts for a small portion of your calorie burn - approx 10-30% while the food you eat accounts for 100% calories in.
5. It's hard to create a significant calorie deficit through exercise alone.
6. Exercise can undermine weight loss in other, subtle ways. Our bodies will try to compensate for the energy burnt during exercising. We either get hungry after exercising (and eat) or tend to rest and reduce our movement afterwards.
7. Exercise may cause physiological changes to conserve energy. (I'll admit I was a bit surprised with this one. Not what I expected but also makes sense given how much we struggle with plateauing)
8. Energy expenditure may have an upper limit. (Note: this is a hypothesis and needs more evidence)
9. The government and food industry are doling out unscientific advice and equating a lack of exercise and too many calories as contributors to the obesity crisis. As seen from the above points, exercise plays only a small role in your energy expenditure. Your calories in are what matters more.
10. What actually works for weight loss - weighing yourself weekly, restricting calorie intake and exercising regularly. BUT, physical activity is used in addition to calorie counting and behavioural changes. Think of exercise as a means to improve your health, not the main way to lose weight.

Some interesting points, especially around the possibility of there being an upper limit on TDEE and some of the unexpected physiological changes from exercise. A lot of the points mentioned cover what I've already read here over a couple of months of lurking - so a big thank you to all the thoughtful and valuable information shared in this community :)

I've lost 6kg (13lbs) since the last week of November 2019 and being on this subreddit and reading everyone's stories has been incredibly helpful. Not every day is perfect and I've not always been at deficit, but mentally I haven't felt as good as this in years. Another 29kgs to go! Good luck to everyone else too - no matter how close or far away you are from your GW. You got this 👊🏽

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