I often get this question during my weight loss journey…
“Do I need to exercise for weight loss?”
There seem to be conflicting opinions on this but most would agree that a combination of eating right and exercise is the best approach to losing weight.
You can compare our bodies to very fine tuned machines that use whatever we put into them to operate. If we put junk into our bodies, we can still go on, but not in the most optimized fashion. In a nutshell, our bodies run on blood sugar (glucose).
Exercise plays an important role because it leads to a depletion of blood sugar in our blood stream which then causes fat cells to release fat to replace it. Our body then uses this fat for energy instead of just storing it. And that’s how exercise for weight loss fits in.
There are a couple of myths that need to be dispelled right away.
1. Exercise means going to the gym every day for at least an hour (or something similar)
2. You can eat whatever you want, whenever you want and then exercise to make it go away.
Let’s start with the first one. In order to be effective, exercise must be performed regularly. If you honestly believe that you can go to the gym every single day to work out for an hour, then that’s fine. Most people find this a stretch. But they feel that it must be done.
So, they will dive into their exercise routine for a week or two and then get completely burned out and quit. Wrong. Your exercise routine should consist of doing something that you enjoy (or at least don’t mind too much) in a consistent fashion. Does it have to be every day? No. But it must be something that you can stick to regularly (three to five times a week is something to shoot for).
You should try to get a combination of aerobic (cardiovascular) exercise which gets your heart rate up and strength building exercise such as weight lifting. Exercise burns calories and speeds up your metabolism.
While exercise will make you hungrier, it shouldn’t be an excuse to eat the wrong kinds of foods all the time. How often do you hear people say “Well, I’ll eat this piece of pie and work it off later”? That’s fine occasionally and you can afford to splurge every once in a while when you maintain a consistent activity routine.
But what you put into your body is even more important if you are exercising. The right foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein, fatty fish, etc) will give you more energy and keep you feeling good. The wrong types of foods (excess fats, processed foods, too much sugar, etc) will only inhibit the effectiveness of your exercise and weight loss plan.
Consistent exercise for weight loss will get you the kind of results you are looking for — a slimmer self for life
If you’ve decided you want to lose some weight, (whether it be just a few pounds or a large chunk of your body mass)…
Chances are you’ve done the research on diets, plans, gyms, exercises, and anything that you can find on that subject. You’ve probably seen that most credible sources will tell you that weight loss and fitness are strongly related. If not, that’s what I’ll tell you now.
If you want to lose weight, you first need to evaluate a few truths. The most obvious is that if you burn off more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. You can either chose to do no “extra” exercise and eat very, very little in order to lose weight, or you can stick to a plan that will burn off enough calories and allow you not to starve yourself. It’s also important to note that overly-decreasing your calorie intake can backfire on you because your body will slow your metabolism down in order to accommodate this adjustment in calorie intake. This will cause you to actually gain weight instead of lose it.
The next fact is that a combination of water and oxygen leads to fat burning. Make sure that you are getting at least a half gallon of water every day. Your body will use this water when you exercise, and cause you to lose weight in a healthy way. Again, you must combine your water intake with some form of aerobic exercise (increased oxygen) for this to work. Choose something that you like and can do on a regular basis like Walking, biking, swimming, yard work, etc. As long as you get your heart rate up a little bit, it’s a good fat burning exercise.
Finally, consistency is the key when it comes to your weight loss and fitness plan.
So many people jump into something quickly with the mindset that they will just keep up the pace for a couple of weeks or a couple of months and then they can go back to their usual life.
In reality, your plan should be a life-long commitment. Even after you lose the weight, in order to maintain your goal weight, you need to eat right and get some activity in. So, pick an activity that you enjoy (or that you don’t mind so much). Walking is one favorite.
If you live in the city, you can actually walk part of the way to work, save on gym expenses, and not have to worry about finding time in your day to exercise. If not, no matter where you live, you can probably find the time to take a 20-minute brisk walk around your neighborhood. Bring a buddy along to keep you entertained and you’ll see that the time flies. The connection between weight loss and fitness is too strong to ignore. So, pick your plan and stick with it for life.
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