Don’t Let Exercise Make You Fatter

Adding exercise and cutting back on calories is supposed to lead to greater weight loss, but many studies don’t support this theory. What?!!! Those studies are flawed, right? Well, some people may have been eating more calories since exercising leads to an increase in appetite, but there’s more to this. Let me explain. When some people put in a workout, they “…compensate for their increased energy expended by increasing the time spent sleeping, sitting and lying down during the day.” You’ve probably seen me write that you need to exercise AND do your normal household chores. This phenomenon of not losing more weight by adding exercise to a lower calorie diet also explains why you keep hearing to take the stairs, park farther away, and to stand instead of sit. This is why it’s important to keep moving. Our bodies were meant to be in motion.

I admit that I’m guilty of being lazier on days that I exercise harder. After a good cardio workout on a Saturday morning, I’m more apt to lay on the couch and watch TV for the rest of the day. I know two friends that go for long runs every weekend and that’s all they do on that day. On their running day, they won’t even make plans to meet me and my husband for dinner because, they said, that would be too much effort.

On two the days I don’t do cardio or weight train, I go for walks and clean the house. Now that I know that one exercise session won’t bring about fat burning results that I once thought, I’ll make sure to get off my butt and move about more on my workout days.

(Source: Sport Nutrition for Health and Performance, 2nd Ed. Quote found on pg. 188)