Confounding the Diet Nazis

8/6/14 251 lbs, 57 pounds lost since 8/30/11
37 minutes around the neighborhood, stopped for breakfast

Today I posted a little note at Facebook that said: "Eating a Denver Omelet with pancakes, laughing at the diet nazis - in the middle of a 15 mile bike ride - at Village Inn". Well, I guess I was incorrect on the distance. I actually rode only 7-1/2 miles, but it was a great workout for my heart and legs. At least there wasn't any rain today lol! If it's any consolation, I had plans for 15 miles but the day called me home.

If you spend any time searching the internet and listening to experts and studying diet programs, it is easy to conclude that the key to weight loss is what you eat - both the quantity and the quality. However, personal experience tells me that (at least for me) exercise as a lifestyle is much more important to attain health and weight control. As a matter of fact, there have been times in my life (as recently as 3 years ago) that I have experienced substantial weight loss through exercise alone, without dieting.

There is one reclusive exercise proponent, a man named Covert Bailey. You find very little about this man on the internet these days. He is not listed on Wikipedia, there are no videos of him at YouTube, and his old website says simply that he is retired. He was one of the few pro-exercise voices. Of course, there are several more, but Mr. Bailey was a pioneer, and shook my planet.

I have rarely dieted, until recently, and after that experience will probably not diet again.

For the science behind why I believe exercise is the primary permanent weight-loss and health engine, and why I appreciate Mr. Bailey so much, look at the links listed here at my website markstone.org.

My personal experience is lifelong, but in this following couple of paragraphs I will detail the last three years:

I weighed in at 308 pounds on August 30, 2011. At that time I was about a month into a bicycle commuting, car-lite lifestyle that had me riding my bike about 5 days per week, with a total of 35 or 40 minutes per day in the saddle. Between that August weigh-in and January 21, 2012, I lost 33 pounds not dieting. Not only was I not dieting, I was recklessly overeating. 33 pounds lost in 5 months = 6.6 pounds lost per month.

On January 21, 2012, my wife and I joined Weight Watchers. I weighed 275 at the beginning, and when we quit WW at the end of 2012 I had lost 45 pounds in 11 months. During that time, I continued to exercise but backed off on the duration and intensity, and no longer commuted on the bike. 45 pounds lost in 11 months = 4.1 pounds lost per month. Additionally, when we quit WW and I did not adjust my cycling, I gained back 20 of those 45 pounds. Just recently I have kicked up the bike mileage and frequency again, and am losing the weight. 

This is a small example of a pattern I've seen my whole life long: Exercise produces faster, more permanent weight loss than dieting. Apart from the physiological reasons stated at my website (see link above in this post), exercise can be (and is for me) a healthy lifestyle, whereas dieting is just - - dieting.

For the full story of my battle with weight since 2003, scroll to the top of the page and click the link there.

See you on the bike!