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Can you stay thin if you exercise but don’t watch what you eat?
August 24, 2009
You already know what I’m going to say: NO!
A recent article in Newsweek should go a long way towards shedding some light on the relation between exercise and diet when it comes to weight loss.
I’m always baffled when I listen to people complaining that they are exercising regularly and they’re not dropping any weight.
Recently, I had a conversation with a woman at a product launch event and she seemed to sit at a size 16 or 18. When I told her a little bit more about my profession, she explained that she ran twice a week and did boxing classes four times per week. I quickly calculated that this woman was exercising six times per week, yet, she was telling me that she didn’t seem to be losing any weight and she didn’t know why. I quickly glanced at her plate that was filled with fatty cheese and thought to myself that I LOVE cheese, but would not pile up that amount on a small bread plate at an event or at home.
I’ve experienced this myself. When I first started lifting weights more seriously many years ago, I thought to myself that I needed to eat much more since I was exercising more therefore burning more calories. I ended up allowing myself to eat whatever because I had that comfortable excuse that I’d end up burning it in the end.
Well, it doesn’t quite work that way. If you are exercising more you will have to change your diet to compensate. If you’re training for a 20 km run and you are running all the time, you might need to ensure you replenish your body with good quality carbs and protein. It’s not because you are running everyday in preparation for the big race that you should indulge in a medium size pizza every night of the week.
>>>> The story of the fat runner!
The Newsweek article Confessions of a Fat Runner is by a woman named Jennifer Graham. Jennifer runs over 10 miles a week and has been doing it for 20 years of her life!
You can read the full article here: Jennifer Graham Confessions of a Fat Runner
With that kind of discipline, you might think that Jennifer would be in the same type of shape as Jackie Warner from Bravo’s “The Workout” reality TV show? Not quite!
Jennifer Graham is an average size 14. It all almost seems to quite frankly defy the laws of physical science when you hear her say: “my body doesn’t look much different even though I’ve run at least 16,093 kilometres (aka 10,000 miles)”.
Her conclusion is this: “Without a significant reduction in ice cream (a sacrifice I’m unwilling to make), running won’t make you thin“. And you know what, Jennifer Graham has accurately well defined the reason why she’ll find it very challenging to lose weight.
There it is in the open for everyone to read … even if you run, swim, take boxing classes, tennis, take spinning classes, take Pilates classes or lift weights (which are fantastic fitness activities for your heart by the way), if you don’t change your eating habits and cut back on your favourite cheat foods, reduce portions, spot overeating increase healthier food options and cut back on sugar intake, you simply CANNOT LOSE WEIGHT!
>>> Don’t use the Olympic athlete excuse!
Stop trying to convince yourself that just because you’re hitting the gym more regularly, you are entitled to eating more because you are burning more.
Unless you are training at a Michael Phelps’ level, you won’t have a chance to fully burn the typical calorie count the average person ingests in a meal at a restaurant such as Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken or any of the favourite family-sit down fast food joints.
Most people overeat, which leads them to gaining all that weight that makes it necessary to hit the gym to try to burn off those calories to gain back a healthy weight.
So going to the gym on a regular basis should allow you to burn calories and since most people REALLY overestimate how many calories they burn and greatly underestimate how many they need to eat when they start exercising again.
The moral of this story is that if your goal is to lose weight to achieve a healthy weight as you age, you need to be careful not to overeat and you need to adopt a healthier diet. Sorry, but there are no short cuts here!
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