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We pride ourselves here at Be Strong, in being honest. We don’t dress weight loss up in any weird, complex methods, but just give you the facts, to help you understand how to do it, and do it forever.
This week we are giving you the hard simple facts that you need to hear (or read) to make your weight loss journey as simple as possible, with as few bumps in the road as possible.
The basics
Last week we discussed the science behind weight loss – how your body maintains, gains and then loses weight. We have told you how we calculate your calorie allowances, and how we get you into a calorie deficit, so that your body can start to burn excess fat, so that it is lost from your body – hopefully for good.
So now we are going to explain why you can only get that deficit through what you eat, and not how much you exercise.
Exercising to weight loss is a common mistake that many, many people make, and it is also the number one cause of confusion on the scales, each week at our groups and in our interactions with our members online. Whenever someone is expecting a result that they then don’t achieve, 9 out of 10 times, we get told how much exercise they have done that week, and how they can’t understand it. Well hopefully, after reading this article, you will.
The honest truth
As an example, I love exercise, it’s fair to say I am addicted. I usually run 2-3 times a week, I lead and take part in 3 HIIT sessions at Be Strong groups, I take part in a spin class and I do a weekly weights session if I have time, and do you think I continuously lose weight?
No! My weight has been in the same 6 or 7 pound range for over 2 years now. Some days I am light, some days a bit heavier, but generally speaking I maintain my weight.
Why? Because I eat! I drink! I enjoy the odd pieces of chocolate and even a bit of cake occasionally. I don’t binge excessively or for long periods of time, which is why I don’t gain, but nor am I getting into the realms of energy deficit, so therefore I don’t lose either. On average across the week, I eat and drink as many calories as I am burning.
Another example, in December 2018, Rick ran 3 miles every single day, even Christmas day! He did not lose any weight that month, in fact he put on a little bit of weight. Crazy isn’t it, but he must have consumed more energy in fuel than he was burning with his runs. Its science. Understand your energy balance and you will understand how to lose weight.
Exercise gets you fit
We are really keen to drive home the message that we want you to focus on getting your calorie deficit through managing your food intake only and sticking to the calorie allowance that we give you. So it is really important to treat fitness and weight loss as two separate entities – for weight loss focus on what you eat and drink, and if you want to get fitter that’s when you focus on your exercise.
The facts
When we are eating to the point that we are gaining weight, we are potentially eating around 1000 calories extra each day than we should be if we wanted to lose weight.
We explained this last week, but as a reminder, 1 pound of fat = 3500 calories, so if we gain a pound a week, we will be consuming 500 calories more than we should be eating each day to maintain our weight. And actually we need to be consuming 500 calories less than our maintenance target, to get into a good enough calorie deficit every day to lose a pound a week.
So if we want to continue to eat what we like, and just exercise our way to weight loss we need to be burning about 1000 calories every day in exercise. Fancy your chances?
So what is 1000 calories in exercise? Obviously the heavier we are, the more effort it takes to carry out activity as we are moving more mass, so a 15 stone person, burns more calories than a 10 stone person, but we can look at averages to get an idea of the principle. This list below gives an indication of the time taken on a particular exercise for a 10 stone woman to burn 1000 calories.
To lose 1lb a week and continue to eat the way you are, you would need to choose one of these activities to do every single day:
- 10 mile run
- 1 hour 30 minutes spin class
- 1 hour 30 minutes swimming
- 90 minutes circuit training
- 2 hours HIIT
- 4 hours strength training/lifting heavy weights
- 3 hours low impact aerobics
- 2 hours boogie bounce/trampoline fitness
- 2 hours vigorous dancing
- 4.5 hours mid tempo dancing
- 5.5 hours yoga
- 3 hours pilates
Still want to exercise yourself to weight loss?
Make the magic happen!
So, if you are currently putting 100% into your exercise and improving your fitness, you will undoubtedly see results like a change in shape, feeling fitter and stronger, losing inches, feeling happier. If your goal is also (or only!) to lose weight; have a think – are your eggs in the right basket? Do you need to refocus some of your effort into making sure what you put in your mouth is conducive to your ultimate goal of weight loss?
Deep down, we think that most people know that the answer is in reducing the food, looking at the calories and making sure they hit their calorie deficit. We can tell with the nods around the room when we talk about this in groups, but we still hear that it’s the exercise that is going to make all your weight loss dreams come true. Because it’s easier to go and workout for an hour a day than it is to control your food intake for the 16 hours a day, that you are awake. Stop kidding yourself that you earned that treat, because you did a workout, or you have been for a long walk or run. Stop wasting all that exercise that you have done, by refuelling with the wrong highly calorific foods.
This week!
This week we want you to check in with yourself and reflect on whether you are putting your eggs in the right basket? Are you putting all your effort into the wrong method to lose weight? If you are, make a few tweaks, start to look at your food, what can you do to improve that? What are your quick wins? Start putting your energy into the right area, and the success will follow.
Next week we will be looking at why tracking your calories is so important, and the cornerstone to your weight loss success.
6 replies on “How To Compliment Weight Loss With Exercise”
It’s taken me a long time to separate these two but was such an important lesson to learn. Great to be reminded and nudged to review which baskets our eggs are in ????
It is hard sometimes to keep them separate in our heads, and is easy to slip into habits where we think we can exercise our way out of bad eating periods.
I’ve known this for a long time but subconsciously I’ve always used it as an excuse or get out of jail card when I’ve over indulged. Since the start of January I’ve got into an exercise routine which I’m really enjoying just for how it makes me feel & the small changes in my body I’m seeing. My weight has spiked up & down during that time, since my exercise routine hasn’t really changed that’s only down to nutrition (& the occasional hormone!).
I love that you have found the routine that you enjoy!! and particularly for how it makes you feel…
Like you say it makes you feel great and allows you to improve your fitness, it’s the nutrition thats going to affect your weight loss.
Wow that was a really good read makes you think ?
Thanks Dawn, it’s so important to separate the two and make sure you put your energy into what will get you the results you’re chasing.