It's The Food
Posted by Joy M at 8/22/2009 10:37 PM 
Categories: Working Out, Diet and Nutrition
Tags: Health Diet Exercise
Categories: Working Out, Diet and Nutrition
Tags: Health Diet Exercise
Proverbs 23:3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
While on my latest business trip, the August 17th issue of Time caught my eye with the cover article The Myth About Exercise. I am glad to read that John Cloud is drawing attention to this issue. While I heard diet vs. exercise debate before, I'm hoping this article will get some of us to pay attention to fact that food is critical in weight loss. Just the week before this article was written, I had a little chat with a personal trainer who insisted that exercise was needed to lose weight. While exercise has a long list of benefits and can help in weight loss, weight loss can actually happen without it.
Let's do a little math to figure this out without any serious science. It takes a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories/week to lose 1 pound. If a 150-pound person does 30 minutes or aerobics it would burn 204 calories. Less than the average candy bar. With seven days of exercise that is 1,428 calories. Double it for those who exercise an entire hour for seven day and get a whopping 2,856 calories. Not even a whole pound would be lost. It takes a 1930.5 calories for a 35 year old woman, 5' 4" to maintaining the 150 pounds. Without exercise, this woman would need to reduce her caloric intake to 1430.5 a day. (from Women's Nutrition Guide) I'm not saying that it is easy. Obviously, diet and exercise can make the most impact together. There can be more of an impact with food because when we may start exercising, we start eating more.
I'm not necessarily convinced that the additional eating is all appetite related. I've managed a gym and I've seen new members give themselves permission to eat more because they worked out. Calorie-wise, it is almost like eating a candy bar right after the work out. Once the habit of eating after working out is formed, it is hard to break even if your body no longer craves the extra calories, your mind does. I know when I begin a new exercise program after a long break, I'm a little more hungry when I getting into the routine. If I'm really serious, I naturally want less. I'd say this natural decline occurs when I was working out rather intensely with my team. It was a little counter-intuitive, but it did happen to me.
Maybe wanting less food while exercising more won't happen to you. If you're trying to lose weight, what should you do? The same thing you should do if you're at your ideal weight and fitness level. Exercise and a healthy diet is still the answer. Exercise helps your mental ability, flexibility, cardiovascular strength as well as other benefits. Clearly, it is the food you eat that cannot be ignored.
While on my latest business trip, the August 17th issue of Time caught my eye with the cover article The Myth About Exercise. I am glad to read that John Cloud is drawing attention to this issue. While I heard diet vs. exercise debate before, I'm hoping this article will get some of us to pay attention to fact that food is critical in weight loss. Just the week before this article was written, I had a little chat with a personal trainer who insisted that exercise was needed to lose weight. While exercise has a long list of benefits and can help in weight loss, weight loss can actually happen without it.
Let's do a little math to figure this out without any serious science. It takes a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories/week to lose 1 pound. If a 150-pound person does 30 minutes or aerobics it would burn 204 calories. Less than the average candy bar. With seven days of exercise that is 1,428 calories. Double it for those who exercise an entire hour for seven day and get a whopping 2,856 calories. Not even a whole pound would be lost. It takes a 1930.5 calories for a 35 year old woman, 5' 4" to maintaining the 150 pounds. Without exercise, this woman would need to reduce her caloric intake to 1430.5 a day. (from Women's Nutrition Guide) I'm not saying that it is easy. Obviously, diet and exercise can make the most impact together. There can be more of an impact with food because when we may start exercising, we start eating more.
I'm not necessarily convinced that the additional eating is all appetite related. I've managed a gym and I've seen new members give themselves permission to eat more because they worked out. Calorie-wise, it is almost like eating a candy bar right after the work out. Once the habit of eating after working out is formed, it is hard to break even if your body no longer craves the extra calories, your mind does. I know when I begin a new exercise program after a long break, I'm a little more hungry when I getting into the routine. If I'm really serious, I naturally want less. I'd say this natural decline occurs when I was working out rather intensely with my team. It was a little counter-intuitive, but it did happen to me.
Maybe wanting less food while exercising more won't happen to you. If you're trying to lose weight, what should you do? The same thing you should do if you're at your ideal weight and fitness level. Exercise and a healthy diet is still the answer. Exercise helps your mental ability, flexibility, cardiovascular strength as well as other benefits. Clearly, it is the food you eat that cannot be ignored.
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