However those who recommend this did not keep the practical considerations in mind while giving you these tips. Yes it’s true, you cannot rely alone on exercising to lose weight and similarly you cannot lose weight just by following a strict diet. But there has always been a debate that what is more important exercising or dieting? Scroll over as we look into what should be more important to you during your journey to losing weight: .
This means we lose weight when eat less calories than we spend and we gain weight when we eat more calories than we spend. Thus to lose weight you need eat lesser calories and burn off more calories. Interestingly to lose 1 pound in a week, a person will either need to reduce his/her intake of food or beverages by 500 calories a day with no physical activity or will need to run 3.5 miles every day without cutting down on his/her diet. The result achieved by both the actions will be same but then we are not living utopia world where all this can be easily achieved.
Fitness expert Dr. John Briffa analysed a study where the subjects were given instructions to follow exercise regime with no dietary interventions. The group was divided in two sections, additional exercise group and no additional exercise group (controlled group). The women in exercise group were instructed to exercise for 45 minutes a day -5 times a week for 1 year. There were changes in diet for both the groups. After an year, it was observed exercise group lost 2.2 kgs of fat. This means this group required to give in 178.5 minutes a week to exercises ad when you multiply with 52 weeks and divide it 60 to convert in hours, it turned out that on an average each woman spent 77 hours to lose 1 kg of weight.
Thus to lose just 1 kg of weight, 77 hours of moderate exercising is not something very impressive.
This is termed as “Thermic Effect Of Food”. Another reason why calories keep getting burned is through fidgeting, that is “Non Exercise Adaptive Thermogenesis”. As you get out of bed and do your daily routine works, you spend another 10 % of your calories. Thus even without exercising you are already burning a lot of calories, in fact adding exercise in the routines will only bring a small difference in your total caloric expenditure. However this does not mean you should not exercise at all.
Similarly while consuming food, they under estimate that they have hardly consumed in extra calories. Thus one needs to be very conscious about what they are eating and how much they are eating and how they will get their calorie count correctly.
According to Dr. Freedhoff “this is basically because we don’t get endorphin rushes by chopping vegetables”.
He also adviced to spend 2 to 3 minutes on your food diary every day, this will surely give better results than hitting the gym. He further points out that you should not expect to see results in a few days, imagine your weight loss as martial art training, where in you cannot just join in and get black belt. Same way when you take your trip to weight loss, you will embrace consistency and imperfections, but then you when need to work your way through and achieve your weight loss goal.
We have already noted that exercise alone cannot help you achieve your weight loss targets. Incorporate a few tips given here and you will see the difference in your body
• Determine how much calories you are expending per day and track it.
• Reduce your calorie intake 20 % to maintain your calorie intake. Ensure to increase your protein intake to stay satiated.
• Once you are on right track of consuming calories correctly, focus on macro nutrients. Ensure you are taking right amounts of nutrients to keep fit and healthy.
• Lastly always keep in mind that weight is lost in kitchen but health in maintained in the gym – so always incorporate the two together for successful weight loss.
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