Exercise To Lose Weight? But I HATE Exercising!
Awwwww… do I have to?
Despite some recent publicized silliness that indicated that exercise offered no “metabolic advantage” to those who included it in their diet programs (see this post from Elissa for complete details), exercise is a critical element of any weight loss program.
It’s simple really… to lose weight, you must create a caloric deficit; take in fewer calories than you expend. There are two ways to best do this…
- Reduce your caloric intake.
- Increase your caloric expenditure (i.e., the number of calories you burn) by adopting an exercise program.
The best strategy is implementing a bit of both. Here’s why…
Reducing calories can be helpful for weight loss, but it also causes the metabolism to slow. Exercise on the other hand — especially resistance training — has the opposite effect. Yes, exercise elevates the metabolism. And the benefits don’t end there — exercise can lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels, increase confidence, strengthen tendons, joints, the cardio-pulmonary system — the list goes on and on and on.
Why then, does the very thought of exercise bring such lamentation and wringing of hands for some folks? Why do some people cringe at the idea of exercise?
I suspect there are many reasons.
Recently, a friend of mine informed me that his doctor had instructed him to lose some weight, and in accordance, he bought himself a gym membership. Now this guy is in his mid-forties and hasn’t worked out or done anything physically strenous in years. So when he purchases his gym membership, he figures the best thing to do is to hire a personal trainer to “show him the ropes.”
Unfortunately, she did a lot more than show him the ropes. What she did was put him through a workout so brutal he barely made it home in time to fall asleep on the couch… at 5:30 — in the afternoon, mind you. His wife was completely appalled by the fact that his color was completely “white.” She thought he was going to have a heart attack, she said.
The following day and for several days thereafter he was so sore he could barely move. I don’t think he’s been back to the gym ever since.
This is sheer dumb-founded stupidity on the part of the personal trainer (some training certifications aren’t worth the paper they are written on, IMHO). For anyone who has ever experienced anything like this, I certainly understand why “exercise” frightens the heck out of you. But here’s the thing… this scenario should not have happened.
My friend should have had an introductory workout — a gentle “easing-into” things. Exercising and working out — especially when you have been inactive for years — is something you ease into slowly. Frankly, you will be sore in places you didn’t know you had… and that’s OK. But you should not be devastatingly sore.
That is not to say that to make gains you don’t have to work. But you have to walk before you can run. And when the time comes for “running”… well, your body will be well prepared for it.
The other big problem that I see is the whole “fast and easy” perception of weight loss that permeates everything — TV ads, magazines, etc. Every day you see ads displaying fit, grinning, attractive young people using some machine or another, all burbling on about how “fun and easy” the machine is to use, how quick the fat melted off, yada, yada, yada.
Two points…
First, most of the people appearing in paid ads are fitness models. 99 times out of a 100, they didn’t get the bodies they have by using a gimmick like this one. Secondly, if something really is “easy,” chances are it’s not doing much for you. Losing weight is hard work. A pound of fat is the equivalent to about 3,500 calories of stored energy. The average person burns around 500-600 calories per hour on a treadmill at medium intensity.
You do the math.
Exercise is critical for weight loss. It’s also work. But implemented slowly and sensibly, I believe everyone is perfectly capable of both exercising effectively, and perhaps more importantly, enjoying that period of exercise.
