One popular belief says that in order to lose some weight and obtain that slim look you always wanted, you need to exercise like crazy. Well, it’s time to bust the myth: That’s not true. You can lose more weight if you start eating less, instead of exercising. Actually, you can do it by paying more attention to what you’re eating and don’t exercise at all.
The idea is simple: in order to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Exercising consumes far fewer calories than many people think. Let’s say that you go for a 30 minutes jog. In that amount of time, you manage to burn less than 350 calories, as long as you have a constant pace, but more people can’t do this, so the amount of burnt calories is smaller.
Sure, exercising has its benefits, but there are way more problems with it when it comes to relying on it to control your weight. And studies also confirm this.
A 2011 meta-analysis – a study of studies, that is – found that being active is not actually the key determinant in whether a child reached an unhealthy weight. As for the adult population, studies had difficulties finding if a physically active person is less likely to gain excess weight than a person who can be considered sedentary.
Besides all these, it’s important to mention that exercise increases appetite. Therefore, if you go for a jog – or any other type of exercise – it’s somehow difficult to lose weight if you can’t control your appetite, as your body will send signals, asking you to replace them.
But we’re not saying that exercise and maintaining a good fitness state plays no role in your mission.
Adding exercise to diets is definitely beneficial! The idea is to combine exercise with diet, for more sustained weight loss, but for longer periods, like at least a year. Studies have shown that doing this for shorter periods, like six months, made little to no difference.
Therefore, why this belief that only by exercising you can drop some pounds? It’s actually very simple.
A lot of people can manage to find at least an hour in their daily schedule to go to the gym, but complain that they don’t have the time to prepare a healthy meal, able to help them with their weight loss efforts. The truth is that if they would try spending just half the time they dedicate to exercising to prepare a healthy meal, they would see much better results.
Last but not least, we need to mention one more aspect that has a big impact on your weight: stress. It is highly recommended to totally avoid it and your fitness can significantly improve.
A great way to relieve the pressure of everyday life is through massage. Thanks to specialized training and years of experience, as well as an Asian heritage, Maria’s Professional Massage can help you obtain a healthier mind and body.
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