Exercise & Weight Loss…It’s Not What You Think
8/17/23
This week I would like to talk about exercise and weight loss. And here’s why: Exercise isn’t necessary to lose weight, and I want you to stop overthinking it.
Yep, you can read that again! Exercise is not necessary to lose weight.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. “What are you talking about?! All I’ve heard my whole life is to exercise and eat a healthy diet to lose weight. How is this true?”
As you may know, weight loss is achieved by a negative energy balance, meaning you consistently consume fewer calories than you burn each day (or you consistently burn more than you consume). In turn, weight gain is achieved when you consistently consume more calories than your body can burn each day.
Back in the day (like 10-12 years ago), there were times when I worked out twice per day in an attempt to lose weight. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do love exercise, and there were times I genuinely enjoyed exercising like that, but most times it was because I was attempting to rid my body of the calories I had consumed. I would also be anxious and feel guilty if I went one day without working out. On top of that, on the days that I did exercise twice per day, I would think I could eat even more calories and be “just fine”. That brought me down a vicious cycle that we don’t really have time for today, but just know that I consistently ended up eating way more than I could ever burn off with exercise.
And that is why exercise isn’t necessary to lose weight. Most people don’t burn as many calories as they think with exercise, and most people eat more calories than they think they do.
You would have to run two miles to burn off one serving of peanut butter. You would need to perform about 1 hour on the elliptical machine to burn off two pieces of pizza. And you would need to do about 2.5 hours of strength training to burn off a chef's salad. (These are all estimates, but you get the picture). That is a lot of exercise. My guess is that the average person does not have time for all of that consistently.
The average person does have time to work on the reps going from the fork to the mouth, figuring out the reasons why they are overeating in the first place, and changing their thinking around food.
All this being said, it does not mean that exercise is bad, that you shouldn’t exercise, or that it’s not beneficial in so many other areas of life. It simply means that it shouldn’t be your first priority when trying to shed pounds off your body.
Have you busted your butt, are currently busting your butt, or have felt guilty for not completing a workout on any given day in an attempt to lose weight? Well, you can’t go back in time, but I want you to do something for yourself starting today:
If you hate exercise and are doing it solely for weight loss, stop for now. Work on the food part of weight loss.
If you love exercise and are currently doing it, keep it up!
I hope this helps to simplify your life a little and focus on the big picture. This is a snippet of what it’s like to work with me as your 1:1 weight loss coach. Interested? Email me back! I’ll give you all the information on my program.
Talk soon,
Emily
emily@emilybachhealthcoaching.com
instagram: @emilythehealthynurse
