Exercise and calories

So… so so so!!!

Listen up party people, I’m going to tell you something you are probably not going to like. Here goes…

EXERCISE WILL NOT MAKE YOU THIN!!!
GOING TO THE GYM WILL NOT MAKE YOU THIN!!!
EXERCISE ISN’T THE BEST CALORIE BURNER!!!

There, I said it. It’s true yo! If you want to burn 500kcals in 45mins you gotta put a decent shift in. And how quickly can you eat 500kcals in comparison?

See what I mean?

This is the beauty of being a human! We can consume and digest very high calorie foods, freeing up our time to do other things! And we are great at conserving energy. A plus for survival, but not so much for calorie burn!

It’s one reason we are so successful as a species.

Okay, a gorilla is STACKED, but that big boy eats for 18hrs a day!!! No thanks!

Therefore, it is totally futile to think exercise is enough to keep you from putting on weight.

We ALL also need that wonderful thing known as a calorie deficit.

A calorie deficit can be achieved WITHOUT the gym too.. True story!

The gym is awesome for getting your stronger, fitter, healthier in many many many ways that will, without a doubt improve your quality of life. However, as a way to burn calories, it is just a piece of a much bigger ‘strategy pie’ that needs to be implemented to create a healthy calorie deficit, to illicit sustainable weight loss consistently over time.

So, if you are hitting the gym and ‘treating’ yourself afterwards, or if you are taking it easy after a session, STOP!

Overestimation of calories burnt in the gym is a biggie when it comes to stalled progress for weight loss. Weight loss occurs with a kcal deficit, that’s it! It doesn’t matter how that deficit is created, as long as it is sustainable. Fitness and better health comes with hitting the gym AND solid nutrition.

The two things are closely linked, but it is important to recognise the difference.

DT