The Exercise Myth: it’s not about losing weight
It’s coming towards the end of March and I still haven’t lost the christmas flab as I call it. There is a new baby around so I’m not putting any pressure on myself to try and lose it in a hurry to get back to my usual weight. But the comments that people make are really beginning to piss me off. No, it’s not that they are calling me fat, but suggesting ways that I could lose it. They all suggest exercise!
Who are they talking to?
Some of these comments are coming from friends, but the majority are coming from my yoga students. Really, they should know better. But it’s the first thing that rolls off their tongue. But these are people that come regularly to my classes and I see them going to other classes and also working out. Surely they understand it? Perhaps they don’t.
They know that I cycle a lot and use my bike as my only method of transport. That’s around a hundred miles a week. On top of that I teach and practice yoga many times a week. Are they really suggesting that I do more? Further questioning seems to reveal that they do. So even though I do more exercise than they do and more intensely, they still suggest that I need to do more exercise.
The Great Myth
Most people can do basic arithmetic, especially the high flyers that attend my classes in Central London. So this is nothing to do with their level of intelligence or their knowledge. Somehow they have got it into their head that a little bit of exercise goes a long way and can burn so many calories that you can virtually eat what you like. One person suggested that I do just a little bit of exercise every day and that would allow me eat whatever the hell I wanted.
So who is propagating these myths? I suspect that it’s the gyms themselves. The more gym subscriptions the more money they get. And if they can fool people into thinking that by going to the gym they can lose weight, then they’ll go. What a con. Wake up you fools, wake up.
BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate
If you take a minute to look at a few charts that give details of how many calories a particular type of exercise actually burns, you’ll find that it’s pretty miniscule if you take the hourly rate into account. If I cycle for an hour at a medium pace then I burn the equivalent of a couple of chocolate hob-nobs. Wow. So how far would I have to cycle in order to eat the whole packet?
Here’s a chart that will give a basic idea
Not much is it. Ah, but what about the basal metabolic rate? If you exercise on a regular basis then it tends increase your basal metabolic rate. So even if you are sitting around doing nothing much you can smile with comfort knowing that you are burning extra calories because you do regular exercise.
That’s the basics. But you have to take into account that people have high and low metabolisms. And even though exercising on a regular basis will increase the basal metabolic rate, it won’t increase it by that much. (There are studies to show that aerobic exercise has little or no effect resting metabolism. So put that in your exercise pipe and smoke it!) It will certainly help toward your overall plan toward losing weight, but it cannot be used as the sole strategy.
Carbohydrate Window
Take out the glass and put in pasta or bread and there you have a carbohydrate window. Well, not quite. It’s time window and it opens after a period of strenuous exercise and last for about half an hour. Some say up to an hour. During that time window the body is able to process simple carbs such as sugar (yeah, the white death) without the usual high energy boost followed by the crash. Your muscles can actually replenish the glycogen more readily during this phase. This information is useful for amateur and professional athletes but only serves as another excuse to pig out for non athletes.
Read more about the carbohydrate window.
Exercise is for fitness and NOT weight loss
So if exercise does not produce any significant weight loss benefits then why bother? Because there is more to good health than losing weight. Being excessively overweight is dangerous to ones health but a few extra kilos or pounds won’t harm anyone. Diet in the sense of a way of eating rather than a calorie controlled diet should contain all the basic nutrients that a body needs and I really don’t need to go into that here.
We exercise to get fit and keep fit. But what does that mean? That means building and maintaining strength, stamina and flexibility. Aerobic, anaerobic and stretching. Another way to put it would be exercises that cause the muscles to contract deeply, ones that cause the muscles to relax and exercise that works the heart and lungs. If all of that results in the loss of a few excess baggage then all well and good. But that is not its main aim.
How NOT to lose weight – the diet fads
There are so many diets available today and none of them seem to work long term. The phenomenon of yo-yo dieting comes to mind. So why do people do these diets? Because controlling our dietary input is psychologically difficult. Craving is strong and most people can’t resist. Especially as food is plentiful. We all understand that it’s just a question of number crunching but it’s not quite as simple as that. Or at least that is what we tell ourselves. I shouldn’t really comment here as I have never experienced any great weight issues either from being overweight or underweight. So I’m making assumptions on what other people think about these diets. They simply want something that will work and work immediately.
But that’s the thing – it doesn’t work. There may be a brief period of weight loss but it is not sustainable once the initial period of enthusiasm is over. And that is when the weight goes back on. Most people end up even heavier than they started at this point. A friend might point out that perhaps they should try the gym. Hmm. So after they pick themselves up they try another faddy diet and go through the same process all over again.
The BEST way to lose weight
If you put the whole psychological part to one side for a moment then it really is just a question of input and output. The body uses a certain amount of calories every day in order to maintain itself. If that many calories go in then the body remains at the same weight. If you consume less than the required amount to maintain your weight then you’ll weight. It’s as simple as that. So you have to make notes of how much goes in so that you can correctly monitor the amount.
Now starving yourself doesn’t work because your body is wise to it. It will go into starvation mode and store more of the calories that you consume as fat than it usually does. It will assume that food is scarce and put away as much as possible into reserves. So there is a maximum amount below your required amount that you can go before your body puts on its alarm bells. I think it equates to losing no more than 1lb a week. Your body will then slowly adjust and will be more likely to get accustomed to the new regime.
An occasional blowout is fine as long as it is now and again. Never more than 2 consecutive days. Then it’s too easy to keep going that way. Just like having a spending spree now and again. But don’t max out your credit card.
- Count your input
- Have a goal
- Lose it at a sensible rate
- An occasional blowout is OK
- Don’t starve yourself
April 30th, 2010 at 2:13 am
I think your article was really a strong beginning to a potential series of posts about this topic. Most people act like they know what they are talking about when it comes to this area and generally, hardly anyone actually get it. You seem to really dominate it however, so I think you need to take it and run. Thanks a lot!