Exercise for Weight Loss

Exercise has many great benefits to health. It improves your cardiovascular health, metabolism and overall health. But we think exercise is overestimated when it comes to weight loss.

Exercise does play into the weight loss equation of calories in vs calories out. However it may not affect it as much as you think. Exercise is responsible for about 5% of our daily total energy expenditure(TEE), while movement(such as cleaning, walking across the parking lot, etc.) is 15% of our TEE.

A publication in Obesity Reviews outlined four factors contributing to limited weight loss despite regular exercise.

Number 1:

Individuals tend to overestimate the calorie expenditure during exercise. Contrary to expectations, exercise machines such as ellipticals, rowers, or treadmills may inaccurately report calorie burn rates, potentially leading to a significant overestimation of expended calories.

Number 2:

There's a tendency to compensate for the calories burned during exercise by consuming more food. This compensation occurs both subconsciously, due to increased hunger triggered by exercise-induced hormonal changes like heightened ghrelin levels, and consciously, as individuals rationalize indulging in certain foods following a workout—a phenomenon known as justification bias.

Number 3:

After engaging in structured exercise, individuals often become less physically active for the remainder of the day, resulting in an overall reduction in calorie expenditure compared to if they had abstained from exercise. This phenomenon is observable when individuals complete a workout session but subsequently adopt a sedentary lifestyle for the remainder of the day or even longer periods.

Number 4:

The calorie intake can occur rapidly, while burning those calories through exercise can be a prolonged process. For instance, consuming several hundred calories can be done within minutes, while it may require hours or even days of sustained physical activity to burn off the same amount. As an illustration, running a mile typically burns approximately 100 calories, indicating the disparity between calorie consumption and expenditure.

You still need to work out!!

Don't take this as an excuse to not work out. Even though it is not responsible for an enormous amount of calorie expenditure, it does still help you develop other healthy habits.

Sleep

Exercise helps you fall asleep more easily which in turn gives you more energy to be active during the day, which helps you sleep better, which makes you feel more rested which.....well, you get the point.

Stress

Research shows that people who exercise are less likely to develop anxiety or depression and can even improve it. It's rare that we ever feel mentally worse after a good workout. No one ever says, "I regret doing that workout because it made me sad." In fact research shows that when you're anxious it's good to go out for a walk and to get moving. Exercise can be meditative, and mood boosting through endorphins, which is a feel good hormone.

Exercise also stimulates serotonin which improves stress and makes you happy.

Nutrition

Exercise effects how you eat throughout the day. There are some exercises that increase hunger, usually cardio activities such as long distance running and skiing. However, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise revealed that, generally, exercise(especially in the morning) usually prevents overeating.

How did they perform this study you ask? Well, we'll tell you! A group of women we're instructed to walk on a treadmill for 45 minutes first thing in the morning.

On another day, the same group of women we're told to skip the morning walk. On both occasions, the researches conducting the study examined the women's brains and how they responded to pictures of food.

The woman who walked for 45 minutes first thing in the morning we're more active throughout the day, ate fewer calories overall, made healthier food choices, and had less cravings to fun foods.

Insulin

Working out makes your body more sensitive to insulin helping you control your blood sugar. This reduces your risk of getting diabetes.

Exercise is great for losing weight but not in the way that you'd think. It helps boost other weight loss habits to help you lose weight. We want you to get in the habit of working out so that you develop sustainable habits once you reach your goal weight.

Strength Training

We like strength training when it comes to working out. Strength training improves muscle mass which helps maintain your metabolism. Muscle mass is also important especially with aging when you risk muscle atrophy.

One of the risks with losing weight in general is also losing muscle mass along with fat. When we go into a caloric deficit our body looks to tap into our reserves for energy. Sometimes it doesn't just go for the fat in our bodies and will target some of the energy sources from our muscles.

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