Unfortunately, the answer is no. Although it's easy to assume – or hope – that regular exercise will burn away any unhealthy food choices, that's not the case.
You'll end up exhausting yourself, feeling lousy and possibly becoming even hungrier due to over-exercising and eating poorly. You might also end up becoming dependent on exercise to burn off the extra kilojoules you eat from junk food.
Exercising without eating well can have various consequences, both short-term and long-term. Exercising without proper nutrition can hinder your performance, slow down recovery, lead to muscle loss, weaken your immune system, and make it challenging to manage your weight effectively.
The short answer: No. As good as exercise is for you, it won't help much without dietary modifications if you're trying to lose weight and fend off heart disease, diabetes and other ailments, dietitians and researchers say.
No. Eating food then exercising right after does not burn the food in your stomach. You will burn stored energy then your body will use the food in your stomach to replenish the stored energy. Be it your glucose (fast energy) or fat (long term storage) or muscle (over-exercising or starving yourself).
Unfortunately, the answer is no. Although it's easy to assume – or hope – that regular exercise will burn away any unhealthy food choices, that's not the case.
Your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple. If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat fewer calories and burn more calories through physical activity, you lose weight. In the past, research found about 3,500 calories of energy equaled about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat.
If you eat a lot of protein but not enough overall calories, you'll struggle to be able to workout to build more muscle. If you eat enough calories but too much junk and not enough protein, your body won't be able to build up muscle tissue and will gain fat instead.
When it comes to balancing food eaten with activity, there's a simple equation: energy in = energy out (in other words, calories eaten = calories burned). So, yes, it is possible to burn off food calorie for calorie with exercise. But it's not very practical.
We know from, you know, hundreds of randomized control trials that you can see changes in as small as two weeks in blood cholesterol to a healthy diet. We know it takes about six weeks to see improvements in blood pressure and about six weeks to see improvements in our insulin sensitivity.
Diet vs exercise for weight loss
According to Colleen Alrutz, health and fitness manager at Piedmont Newnan, diet wins 70% of the time when it comes to shedding pounds. To fast-track your weight-loss results, couple a healthy diet with regular physical activity. Exercise wins when it comes to keeping the weight off.
Though you may feel like you're performing with all you've got, you're actually working at a severe energy disadvantage. Without enough fuel, you can't perform at your best. “When energy and intake is too low, it really cannot support the demands of health and high-level performance,” says Ansari.
Overtraining and undereating can not only cause you to lose efficiency, but it can also cause you to lose muscle mass. If you have weight loss goals, eating less may sound like a good idea, but if it doesn't align with your fitness goals, you won't see the results you're hoping for.
There's no such thing as a perfect diet, and by practicing moderation, you can enjoy fast food while maintaining a healthy eating pattern. One meal won't affect your health goals; consistent behaviors contribute to weight loss, metabolic health, mood, and energy levels.
Whether you work out longer or at a higher intensity, exercise can't completely reverse the effects of a bad diet, expert say. There's also an increased risk for premature death if you exercise but neglect healthy eating.
You need to burn 3500 calories a day to lose one pound a day, and you need anywhere between 2000 and 2500 calories in a day if you are doing your routine activities. That means you need to starve yourself the whole day and exercise as much as to lose the remaining calories. This is practically not possible.
Without enough protein, your muscles may struggle to recover properly, leading to slower progress in strength and weight gain. Intense physical activity, such as weightlifting, can temporarily weaken the immune system, making it important to consume enough protein to support immune function and overall recovery.
There are other terms for this, such as build mode, but bulking is a common term for this caloric surplus. Dirty bulking is when an individual is in a caloric surplus to build muscle (build mode). However, the individual is eating foods that are carb dense, unhealthy, and ultra-processed out of convenience.
These changes might be subtle at first—like your clothes fitting a bit looser or noticing a slight difference in the mirror. Even if the transformation isn't dramatic right away, it's a sign that your efforts are paying off. A noticeable difference often comes after losing about 5% of your body weight.
Decreased Muscle Mass
Your body composition may be another reason why you are still gaining weight while in a calorie deficit. If you have a higher body fat percentage and lower muscle mass, then you are probably burning fewer calories than if you had more muscle mass.