subject: Rethinking Exercises for Fat Loss: 7 Reasons Why Exercise Is a Bad Way to Lose Weight [print this page] Rethinking Exercises for Fat Loss: 7 Reasons Why Exercise Is a Bad Way to Lose Weight
Exercises for fat loss. There is no shortage of fat-loss workouts on the internet and in print media. It is a common belief that exercises for fat loss are the most important part of a weight loss program. However, given that Americans continue to gain weight every year, there is clearly a problem with the common notion that exercise alone will help us lose weight.
It is not just a matter of people "knowing what to do" and not doing it. It is a matter of misinformation and misconceptions about the effectiveness of exercise to burn calories and contribute directly to weight loss. While exercise is essential to good health, it is an inefficient, sometimes expensive, and often unsustainable way to lose weight when used solely as a vehicle for weight loss.
Here are 7 reasons why exercise is a bad way to try to lose weight:
Exercise does not burn enough calories to produce significant weight loss. The average person burns 350 calories during a hard gym workout (exercise machines and personal trainers are being very nice if they say you are burning more than that). A person needs to burn 3500 calories in order to lose one pound of fat. This means 10 hours in the gym before losing a single pound, and that's assuming you don't increase your calorie intake. People give up sooner rather than later simply because they do not see results quickly enough.
After working out, most people are hungry. It turns out that most people DO increase their calorie intake if they're exercising to lose weight. Why? Because they feel that because they worked out hard and "deserve" to go to Starbucks and replace those 350 calories they just exercised off with a 400 calorie, high-sugar beverage. Instead of creating a calorie deficit, they've just created a calorie surplus, not to mention a high blood sugar, high-insulin, fat-storing event in their bodies. This again leads to little to no results, which causes people to drop off their exercise routine because it's "not working."
Exercise takes precious time that few people have. There is travel time involved in going to the gym, as well as the time required to pack the gym bag with items necessary for a pre- or post-workday workout. This can amount to an extra two hours or more a day just to get in a one hour workout> Waking up at 5am gets old after a while, especially if those extra hours are not producing significant changes on the scale (see reasons 1 and 2 again). Here we go again, people quit because it becomes too time-consuming to exercise enough to get results.
Too much exercise causes the body to hold onto fat. While not enough exercise produces little to no results, so does TOO much exercise. If your body receives significantly fewer calories than it needs to sustain a healthy metabolism, whether you are not eating enough nutritious calories or working out too much, it will hold on to its fat reserves because it thinks you are starving it. This is a vital protective mechanism leftover from our caveman days, when our bodies held onto fat because it didn't know when it would get its next meal. This mechanism is not going away anytime soon even though today's world has drive-thru "hunting."
Exercise can be expensive. Gyms are packed in the beginning of the year, and by March most people have stopped their new routine (because they've seen little results) even though they've already paid for it. With the economy the way it is, many people have told themselves that they can't afford to exercise. Given what we have already learned about the inefficiency of exercises for fat loss, people would lose more weight if they saved that gym money and used the money that they currently spend on food to make healthier food choices, which is what really contributes to weight loss.
Exercise can actually hurt you. For people who are overweight, hitting the gym in an effort to lose weight can cause serious injury to the back, knees, and ankles. Even people who aren't overweight often hurt themselves in the gym. The result is that they have to take a break from exercising, which then causes them to gain weight. This is sadly ironic since the whole reason they may have joined the gym was to lose weight.
Exercise is not fun if you're doing it only to try to lose weight. Given all the reasons above for why exercise for fat loss is a losing (or not losing, in this case) battle, exercise turns into a chore, a burden, and something people feel guilty for not doing. Why would anybody stick with doing something that is no fun?At its best, exercise is a lifelong habit of good health, not just something you do when you want to lose weight.
What you eat is always the number one factor in successful weight loss. The ONLY time exercises for fat loss work is when they are combined with a nutritional eating plan designed specifically for weight loss as opposed to healthy eating for weight maintenance. If you are able to start achieving a healthy weight through proper nutrition, you actually WANT to move your body because you feel healthier. That's when exercise becomes a fun, sustainable habit of health for life.
If you want to incorporate exercises for fat loss into your healthy eating plan, there are exercise programs available that can be done from the comfort of your home and can be more effective and fun than using fancy gym equipment. This significantly cuts down on the time and monetary investment. All you have to bring is your desire and commitment. When you "eat right and exercise" the smart way, you will feel great and see results that will motivate you to keep up the routines that contribute to a healthier life.
