Weight Loss And Exercise

Exercise is generally considered essential for weight loss. However, if that's the case, why are so many people failing in their attempts lose weight, with a full two-thirds of Americans overweight and one-third obese?

In fact, the emphasis on vigorous exercise for weight loss turns out to be something of a myth. This isn't to say you shouldn't exercise – it remains an important to overall good health. But as far as weight loss goes, it has been way over-hyped, and following the conventional wisdom might actually get in the way of your progress.

Instead, the key to long-term, sutainable weight loss is good nutrition, for the following reasons:

1. The theory that a "caloric defecit" is necessary in order to lose weight – in other words, burn off more calories than you eat) hasn't panned out. It makes sense on paper, but in the real world it does not provide dieters with sustainable results and sets people up to fail by giving them the idea that losing weight is a math problem – as if losing weight weren't hard enough already.

2. Exercise can hide the effects of bad eating habits. Unfortunately, some people who exercise a lot fall into the trap of believing that because they are burning so many calories, they can effectively eat whatever they want with no consequences. It may even work for a while, but eventually a poor diet will catch up with you, limiting the results you can attain. Exercise is like vitamins – it should be a supplement to your main weight-loss routine, and not the main course.

3. Exercise makes you hungry. Unless you have a lot of self-discipline and are counting calories, you may end up over-eating on workout days, effectively cancelling out your gains.

4. Exercise can make you a couch potato. After working out, many people use the exertion as an excuse to eat a big meal or sit on the couch and watch TV – unless you maintain physical activity outside of your official exercise times, you won't see the kind of results you're looking for. In addition, exercise feeds into the "punishment/reward" mentality: Surely, you think, that hour on the treadmill deserves a Starbucks frappuccino to celebrate...and there goes your diet.

The important thing to remember is that any exercise routine needs to be carefully integrated into your lifestyle. Otherwise, it can just end up being another excuse to cheat on your diet.