You bend your back in hot yoga, sweat through spin class and torture yourself in bootcamp yet the pounds just aren’t coming off. Or at least, they aren’t coming off as quickly as you’d like. Does exercise really work? Does it make you thin? Afterall, who cares about clean arteries and healthy cholesterol levels if your butt won’t fit into a pair of Lucky jeans?
Time Magazine recently explored this issue in their article: Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin. And the title is sexy and seemingly contradictory but the article itself does have some truth to it.
This article claims that exercise isn’t helping us lose weight and it might even make losing weight a bigger challenge. And, they are right, sort of. It isn’t necessarily the exercise that is making us fat but instead the mindset we have when we approach exercise. Many people tell me they are exercising but they just aren’t doing enough of the right type of exercise at the right intensity. Or their exercise consists of 30 minutes on one machine and the rest of the day spent sitting behind a computer or in front of the TV. And, the majority of people who are frustrated with the whole weight loss process are completely unaware of what they are eating and/or they compensate for their physical activity with a “reward” (i.e. doughnut, burger and fries etc.). After all, they did run 10 miles so a fast food post workout meal shouldn’t matter right?
So what is the solution? Should you skip hard-core (the article calls it “punishing”) exercise in favor of a lot more low-level activity (taking the stairs, walking, gardening etc.)? It depends on the person and their medical history, what they enjoy doing and what they will stick with (some call hard-core exercise pure punishment, I call it fun and energizing). But will that spin class or bootcamp actually make you fat? Nope. But what you eat might. And not exercising isn’t a great option. Sure, you might fit into those Lucky jeans and your BMI might be within the normal range but you’ll be carrying a lot of fat on your body and not much muscle. And, there are indeed health consequences for that scenario.