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Comment by amelius | Hacker News Reader

It's surprisingly difficult to get rid of 15lbs of extra weight I gained during COVID, even with 2 hours of cycling a day.

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I think people greatly over estimate how many calories you burn while working out. It's very little, unless you're able to train the entire day I doubt the average person is burning many calories from moderate exercise.

Not trying to say exercising isn't worth while, it is but using it as the sole means of weight loss isn't fruitful gotta change the diet as well.

Ugh, you're so right and I have to add:

STRENGTH TRAINING FIRST!

If you only do cardio, ie bike and run, then you are actually WORSE OFF.

Calories burned is directly proportional to muscle mass!

Air squats. Pushups. Crunches. Ten of each of those a day. It can be done in 60 seconds. 10X that and you'll be shredded without running or cycling a day in your life.

Yes to strength training first. However, please be careful doing only highly repetitive exercises like pushups and crunches every day - it's a good way to develop joint injuries as you get older. Build up slowly and switch it up - like a healthy diet, variation is the key to longevity!

From personal experience, reducing calories intake is the only thing that works. Exercising only burns a noticeable amount of calories to if you are a really good or elite athlete who does a lot of hours everyday at a very high intensity.

Anyway, exercising is always necesary to keeping muscular mass.

Try using smaller plates at meals (not kidding), and/or adding a 30 min walk after dinner.

Could do a fasted ride? How long are your commutes?

1 hour (one way).

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