Anonymous wrote:But if you are burning calories in an exercise, that contributes to calorie deficit, no?

Yes, but it's a double-edged sword. Unless you have a plan and are disciplined, it's very easy to feel hungry after exercise and end up consuming more than you burned. You could run 30 minutes and have a single bagel (or else) afterward that wipes out your effort and more.

Exercise rarely contributes to losing weight.

What contributes to losing weight is increasing your metabolism; which is done by increasing muscle mass and eliminating fat stores.

Currently, the most effective way to lose fat and gain muscle with exercise in the shortest period of time is doing very intense interval training.

But if you do it properly the exercise regimen is not for the faint of heart or people who prefer just walking/low key exercise.

It is designed to push your body to near extremes to utilize all available energy sources during the exercise and the recovery period in the following day uses fat stores (ie burns them) for energy while you limit easy energy (like carbs) for it to use.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8294064/

You don’t sound fat

But if you are burning calories in an exercise, that contributes to calorie deficit, no?

You can't outrun a poor diet, so as others have said, the working out will matter less than what you eat.

Probably not. Not much anyway. Weight is lost in the kitchen, not the gym.

But it depends on your body and how much you were eating before you started running again.

Losing weight is about calorie deficit. The easiest way to do this is by ingesting less than you expend. It's about what you eat and drink, NOT your exercise!

The type of exercise you can add to your diet goals has to be exercise for calorie burn, so mainly cardio. Lifting weights is great to preserve muscle while you try to lose weight, but by itself does not do much for your calorie deficit because it doesn't burn nearly as much as cardio.

Your weight may not technically change (muscle weighs more than fat), but your body will definitely get smaller as you lose fat. I would just be mindful with that extra cardio that you don't accidentally consume too many calories if your hunger increases.

Currently 5'7" and weigh 150 pounds. Realistically want to lost 10-15 pounds. Just turned 40 years old.

I have been weight lifting 2-3 times a week for the past 1.5 years. Just added back in running into my routine. Have been an off and on runner for the past 15 years or so.

I have been running around 2 miles a day 5 days a week plus walking an additional 3 miles a day 7 days a week. I also try and lift weights 2 times a week.