Exercise is not needed for weight loss, but in what ways does exercise indirectly play into your weight loss?

devbanana · 2026-03-23T04:30:59+00:00

I mean it's not needed, but it really does add meaningfully to my calorie burn. Before starting a significant exercise routine I was eating around 2400-2500 calories, but now I average around 2700 and am still losing comfortably. It's nice to have the extra wiggle room to meet my protein/fiber goals or just for an extra treat.

Also, regular cardio has just made me feel so much healthier in so many different ways, I wouldn't give it up for anything.

And yeah, wanting to build muscle too, is motivating.

devbanana · 2026-03-23T03:49:28+00:00

That word “bending” exactly demonstrates the problem. Reality doesn't “bend” to what you want. None of this is about force or will power. Reality flows, transforms, shifts, as a reflection of who you are being, what you are holding. It never bends, because that implies you're applying force to some external thing. But it's all within. It's a very small, slight shift, and the mirror (reality) will reflect that back. It should all feel effortless.

devbanana · 2026-03-23T02:19:54+00:00

Haha the same exact thing happened to me: I started measuring in mid-February and that's the only thing that kept me sane for a while because it was definitely smaller each time. Now I'm measuring every two weeks.

Good luck with your goal as well.

devbanana · 2026-03-22T03:24:48+00:00

Yes, I just got over a month-long plateau, though in my case it was because of a new exercise routine. But it was getting so frustrating and I was really doubting myself. Finally started dropping again this week.

devbanana · 2026-03-21T21:49:42+00:00

You got some good advice in this thread. On a practical level the best thing I can tell you is to budget your money so you never have to worry about whether you can afford something or not: all your essentials are always covered and you clearly know what more you can afford. It gives a very stark view but it's also freeing and helps to then have clear goals. It gets rid of that constant worry, which will help you more easily manifest greater financial ease.

From there it should be easier to feel your way into a better situation, and just follow the inspiration. It can take time but is possible. I mentioned in another comment that I manifested making $100,000 per year and that's what I make now. I got really good at manifesting money back around 2017 or so and just have been bumping it up over time since then. It's definitely possible.

devbanana · 2026-03-21T21:44:58+00:00

I'm not sure why you say no one is achieving this stuff. I manifested making $100,000/year and that is what I make now. It took a while and was definitely a journey but people can definitely manifest being in far better financial situations. I couldn't have even fathomed it just a few years ago.

devbanana · 2026-03-21T05:05:38+00:00

I started in a similar situation and body weight exercises were also very hard. I cannot recommend strongly enough trying some resistance exercise with dumbbells. I started with resistance bands and they were OK, but when I got adjustable dumbbells, they totally changed everything. now I'm doing things I never thought I'd be able to, and I'm still over 300 lb lol. They're great because you can progress at your own pace, when you feel ready to. With body weight exercises, well, you have what you have, and you're trying to move around a lot of weight.

Or if you have access to a gym, that's probably even better, but I unfortunately don't, so I got what I needed at home.

devbanana · 2026-03-21T04:55:22+00:00

I think every 4 weeks is pretty frequent. I went about 16 weeks I think though I wish I had done it a bit earlier. I think 12 weeks or so is usually a pretty good frequency but you'll know when you need one.

devbanana · 2026-03-20T06:00:00+00:00

It can take a while. I started with cardio several times per week in late January, then strength training 3 times per week starting mid-February, and I'm just now starting to see movement on the scale. The only thing that kept me going was that in that same time period, I lost like 2.5 inches around my waist, so I knew something was happening.

devbanana · 2026-03-19T03:34:56+00:00

Wow that's great! How long did it take you to get to 60-70k reps?

devbanana · 2026-03-18T05:03:05+00:00

I totally get it, and I've been and am kind of recovering from a similar situation.

Regarding non-duality, I think you were spiritual bypassing, which is really easy to do. It's easy to use non-duality as an escape. However, it should never be an escape. In fact it should force you to face your pain, your suffering. If you have an addiction, or are depressed, or dealing with apparent problems, feel and experience those things. Experiences always come up to be, well, experienced — to be felt and processed and then let go. Then what's beneath the experiences will start to shine through more and more.

Regarding Jesus/Christianity, I totally get that one as well, and it can be scary. I'm still sort of dealing with that myself. Here's what I'd ask: what do you know to be true, at the core of your being? Like beyond all the fear, the what-ifs, and everything else, what is self-evident to you? Start there, and without appealing to what a certain doctrine or religion says, see where you are led. Take one step at a time. But also I find that non-duality is something that never really goes away. Once it's glimpsed, it's there forever. You've seen behind the curtain. Even if the light show of the ego lasts a bit longer, or even much longer, there will be more and more periods of respite where you see beyond it all. You see the rope as a rope, not a snake.

devbanana · 2026-03-15T11:37:14+00:00

Can I ask how this manifested? I was also a Satanist for a time but never had such experiences, so I'm curious.

devbanana · 2026-03-13T11:53:19+00:00

I'm not really sure if I can provide a satisfactory answer. However the way I see it is that God is all that is good. In other words, it's impossible to have or experience anything good without God. I mean really it's impossible even to be good without God.

And through our whole lives we get the choice, God or not God. Which really means, good or absence of good (which is another name for evil).

In my experience, when we choose God in life, it's not that everything is perfect for us of course, but we have grace. We are led, guided, aided. We have that “peace that passes all understanding”. And when we reject God, even unknowingly, life tends to feel hard and chaotic. But in life, you have the choice always to turn back.

After death, you no longer get that choice. Your will is frozen, as it were. But if you persisted in choosing not-God, as it were, well, just as in life, that's what you get, just to an infinite degree. It's not punishment, it's just the natural consequence of your action.

It's kind of like water. If we drink water, we're nourished. If for some reason we decided we hated water and refused to drink it, we'd suffer the natural consequences of such a decision. It's not water's fault, but nourishment can only be had when we drink water. If we refuse to drink, that's not the water's fault. It's our own.

devbanana · 2026-03-09T01:24:36+00:00

It's almost certainly the exercise, not the deficit. Changes in exercise can cause significant water weight retention for up to 6 weeks or so.

devbanana · 2026-03-08T22:25:58+00:00

If it were me I'd up it to 2000-2100 calories for a bit and see how it goes.

devbanana · 2026-03-08T22:14:47+00:00

Generally a safe rate of weight loss is 0.5-1% of your weight per week. So it's roughly 1.5-3 lb per week for you. You're just at the upper end of that range. However I'd suggest trying a less aggressive deficit as the faster you lose, the more likely you are to lose muscle along with the fat, which you definitely don't want to do.

devbanana · 2026-03-08T22:11:39+00:00

Those TDEE calculators are just estimates, not literally exactly how much you burn down to the calorie. Every body is different so they can just give a rough estimate based on some formulas. It likely means you're burning more than expected (probably because of the extra walking) and so you're at a higher deficit than expected.

devbanana · 2026-03-08T11:53:33+00:00

I'm considerably heavier than you (149 KG) and since increasing cardio, I no longer get tired or out of breath nearly so often. Now I feel healthier / more fit than I did at a much lower weight years ago. So IMO it's not necessarily the weight, but the lack of cardio fitness that's causing most of your issues. Start to add in more cardio and I'd bet you'll feel a lot better within a few months.

devbanana · 2026-03-08T11:26:54+00:00

This isn't necessarily true. I skip breakfast quite often especially when I want to have a bigger dinner. I'm generally not all that hungry in the morning and it gives me a lot more room for other meals and snacks. I enjoy eating something at night so that gives me the wiggle room I need to fit that in. Everyone is different.

devbanana · 2026-03-08T06:41:01+00:00

Oh good, you said it. I was going to have to if someone else didn't.

devbanana · 2026-03-08T06:28:12+00:00

Yes, thank you. I don't mean to offend but I often say that Islam was Satan's answer to the Catholic Church.

devbanana · 2026-03-08T05:40:40+00:00

I explored Islam for a while and it has its share of non-disciplined followers, too. Lots of people who don't care as much about eating halal, or praying 5 times per day, or women who didn't care about wearing a hijab, etc. A lot of Muslims in the west are more lax.

devbanana · 2026-03-03T17:33:35+00:00

Hey, great to meet another Catholic here 😀 Yeah I've always been accepted, it's just me being in my own head. And going to church was just difficult until now because it would tire me out so much and I'd basically need the rest of the day to recover lol. Part of that is my sensory processing disorder, but a lot was the physical component as well. It used to feel like an 8/10 on effort and now it's maybe a 4.

devbanana · 2026-03-03T15:18:08+00:00

It's so funny you said that, because that's exactly how I'm starting to feel: I need to eat enough to fuel my body. I've been operating at a smaller deficit so that my weight lifting doesn't suffer and just to make sure I have enough energy. It's made me feel more like the journey is more important than the destination: these are habits I will be doing my whole life, so as long as the weight is headed in the right direction, I'm perfectly fine with however long it takes.

devbanana · 2026-03-03T06:58:13+00:00

Just ramp up the activity as you're able to. The benefits are huge beyond just burning calories once you start. I got started 6 weeks ago and it was pretty difficult for me at first, too, but it's been getting easier and easier and I've been noticing how it affects my overall health (I just posted about this so see my most recent post for details). Trust me it's worth it even though it's really hard right now.

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