The title says it all. When it comes to the ambition of losing weight, some may get the idea that they’ll just do the “move more” part of the “Move more, eat less” phrase that’s often repeated by several fitness spheres. However, this very often ends in failure because of the equilibrium the body works to maintain.
You can run, but you can’t hide.
Walking, stairs, and other cardio habits that create an increase of daily calories burned are well and good, but they are not a full cardio session where you get your heart rate up and really start to sweat. Exercise sessions on the treadmill or going for a long walk take between 30 to 60 minutes, and the expenditure of this is anywhere from 250 to 500 calories depending on the size, weight, and walking conditions of the person. This is also a workout where you will probably get a good sweat from all the movement and need a shower and change of clothes afterwards. So that’s…
-An hour on the treadmill
-Any commute time used if going to the gym or location (Let’s assume 10 minutes there and back)
-At least 15 minutes to shower and change afterwards
-A few minutes stretching afterwards would probably be a good idea
Totaling to about 100 minutes for this scenario.
Doing cardio certainly has it’s benefits but as the time we calculated points out, the speed of expending energy is nothing compared to how easy it is to take it in, especially in an environment where food supply is usually unlimited and engineered to be addicting. Compared to consuming calories, and especially what kind of calories, 1000 calories can easily be consumed with only 10 minutes assuming little or no restraint.
Appetite and Equilibrium
After a cardio session is done, a common feeling is to have appetite surge to make up the lost calories. The body wants to maintain balance and habit, so a big expenditure of glycogen or stored fat will cause the body to try urge you into replacing it. Any time I go for a long walk, I always feel the urge to have some kind of post workout meal, and trying to ignore it to do a hard deficit it is felt. The most reliable calorie burning is something called the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which is just the energy your body needs to get your brain through the day, keep your organs running, and all of the regular non-romantic muscle movements your body does once it gets out of bed. To calculate your own, here are some formulae.
For US Readers
For men:
BMR = 66.47 + (6.24 × weight in pounds) + (12.7 × height in inches) – (6.755 × age in years)
For women:
BMR = 655.1 + (4.35 × weight in pounds) + (4.7 × height in inches) – (4.7 × age in years)
For Non-US Readers
For men: BMR = 88.362 + (13.397 × weight in kg) + (4.799 × height in cm) – (5.677 × age in years)
For women: BMR = 447.593 + (9.247 × weight in kg) + (3.098 × height in cm) – (4.330 × age in years)
Your Most Reliable Calorie Expenditure is Your Body!
Playing around with the formulae above, we can see that most calories used in the day comes from the body itself with all of it’s contents. Put another way, the best way to consistently lose weight is fixing the diet rather than putting all of your chips on religious exercise routines. Don’t get me wrong, going to the gym is great and resistance training does wonders for the ambition of physical and mental fitness, but for goals pertaining to just fat loss it cannot be done without proper diet. You will never bench press or jog calories away faster than ice cream and pasta can put them on. So if you’re new to the daunting task of fitness and diet and want to just pick one to focus on first, your better bet would be learning about a better diet. Exercise routines are usually only done 3-5 times per week depending on enthusiasm, habit, and experience, whereas some kind of answer for food must be given every single day. This reason alone is why fasting of some kind is such an effective tool for weight loss. Caloric restriction combined with fasting allows for stabilization of blood sugar, a better recovery window for the body as it goes to sleep for the night, and a myriad of other benefits deserving it’s own post.
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Don’t give up, honor your body.
-Ed