Yes You Do Need to Exercise to Lose Weight
While it is true that you do need to exercise regularly to be healthy, there is a myth about exercise that goes something like, "you can eat what you want as long as you get plenty of exercise every day."
Well, that may be partially true but if you're eating way too much in the way of processed, high calorie foods, than all that exercise may still not be enough to give you a net calorie loss and you may see little loss in weight.
Eat Right and Exercise
But that doesn't mean you should stop exercising and just go on a calorie control diet. Exercise is good for you in more ways than you can begin to imagine and while a good diet is the true cornerstone of any weight loss program, you still need to be active in order to get your body in good shape.
The way to lose weight with exercise is to use common sense and eat a healthy diet with moderate portions and plenty of fresh, whole foods.
Cutting down on processed foods to the bare minimum and cutting out high calorie drinks such as soda and some sweetened juices and replacing them with good old fashioned plain water will work wonders if you are exercising every day.
As long as you are restricting the amount of glucose getting into your bloodstream and thereby limiting the amount of insulin produced to manage it, you can reduce your body's store of fat by actually burning it for fuel. It takes a determined change in dieting practice, but it works amazingly well when done correctly.
When combined with a daily exercise regimen, this really can transform an overweight, flabby body into a slender, fit and healthy looking body over time.
It's very simple really.
The Simple Calorie Math
As long as you are doing enough exercise to keep yourself fit and combining it with a healthy, sensible diet, then you will attain and then maintain a great figure, be in good health and be able to enjoy treating yourself every now and then with a naughty snack! The main thing to remember is to just use your head and be sensible about food and the exercise will make your body do the rest for you.
Exercise makes the muscles burn sugars for energy, the sugars that are processed from the food you eat. When you have the right amount of sugars present in you body and the exercise you are doing burns them all up and you don't immediately replace them by eating or drinking sports drinks or soda, then your body will start to burn fat.
It uses your store of fat to process into ketones that the muscles can use as energy and that's how exercise helps you lose weight.
Ketones and Health
Recent studies have revealed that the body actually prefers ketones as an energy source and it will naturally use this fuel source when sugars are restricted. This mimicks a situation that our distant ancestors would have found themselves in quite often, which is a period of not eating following a period of feasting.
Our bodies are designed to work in this way, so it is better to eat one big meal and then not eat for the rest of the day. We now call that Intermittent Fasting, which triggers a ketogenic state in our bodies after around 14-16 hours of not eating.
We can still exercise and build muscle when in ketosis because the fuel is used efficiently by the muscles and as long as we obtain a full day's quota of nutrients, protein and fats from our main meal. That way there is no need to worry about starvation or lacking nutrition.
So enjoy your daily exercise because it will mean that as long as you are eating right, you will look great and feel great!
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Posted on Fri, 12 Nov 2010 in News | 1 Comments
1 thoughts on "Yes You Do Need to Exercise to Lose Weight"
Queenie says:
I'll definitely have to look into this, cause I always believed that exercise was the best way to stay healthy. Thank you!