We often blame lack of exercise and physical activity as the reason behind weight gain and the inability to lose weight. A large part of it is true, but have you heard this saying, “abs are made in the kitchen?” Surprised? Because what mighty changes can be brought about with dieting, only tiny or negligible changes can happen with exercise alone. However, a combination of both exercise and dieting is considered ideal to lose weight with 80% emphasis on dieting and just 20% on exercise. Weight loss is based on the principle of “calorie deficit,” which means you put fewer calories in the body in terms of food and burn more calories through activity, because the calories which don’t get burned off are stored as fat. Unhealthy eating practices coupled with a sedentary lifestyle sets the stage for obesity and a whole lot of lifestyle disorders such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, etc. In this post, we will explain why exercise alone won’t make you thin.
The Weight Loss Maths – Dieting vs Exercising:
If you want to lose approximately half a kg of fat, you would have to do moderate intensity exercise for 12 days continuously (estimating 300 calories burn with each session) because 3500 calories equals to one pound of fat. But on a weight loss diet such as on the Rati Beauty app, you can lose bit that within a few days, just by streamlining your eating habits and without actually breaking a sweat. To burn off an extra 500 calories, you would have to slog it out for hours together in the gym, whereas those calories can be avoided by cutting out a big burger or around two doughnuts, and eating nutritious food instead that would in fact boost weight loss efforts.
Some other issues with relying only on exercise to melt away fat – when we engage in strenuous exercise, we tend to eat more to reward ourselves for sweating it out. The common mindset is that one can eat whatever one wants as long as they are exercising, but that’s not how the body works. Each calorie is accounted for and that extra tub of ice cream and two slices of pizza will be counted without any error, and has a high probability of getting converted into fat layers. Also, we tend to get physically inactive, being a couch potato or sitting in front of the computer for most part of the day, after doing just 30 to one hour of exercise in 24-hour time frame, pumping in more calories, and encouraging the storage of all of them as fat.
Not to undermine other essential factors that hamper weight loss – chronic stress and sleep deprivation. The stress hormone “cortisol” can trigger the appetite, increase cravings for unhealthy food, slow down metabolism, and also encourage storage of fat around the abdominal area where it becomes extremely stubborn and difficult to melt away. Another major factor that acts as a roadblock in one’s journey to lose weight – lack of quality sleep or less number of shut eye. The body needs to have enough rest to repair and rejuvenate, to bring back the metabolism to optimum levels, and to stress hormone, and when sleep is compromised, no weight loss can happen. Also, various studies have shown that with exercise alone, no significant weight loss can be achieved.
Summing up, if losing weight is your top priority right now, you would have to straighten up your diet by switching to weight loss programs on the Rati Beauty app, and getting physically active as well, including at least 40 minutes of exercise 5 times a week (even brisk walking would do if the thought of dumbbells and cardio scares you right now). However, the best way to lose weight boils down to dieting and clean eating.
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