Exercise Could Be Making You Fatter

I was reading a recent article in Times magazine… generally a publication I feel is reliable and informative compared to most magazines (though I do love People). There was an article that caught my eye titled “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” which I am sure you can see why I might want to read it.

Anyways it claims that individuals that work out don’t see a ton of weight loss results because of exercise compensation. The idea is that because you just worked hard sweating and burning calories you’re more likely to reward yourself with food… thus eliminating the calorie blasting benefits you just worked hard with.

I think this is bogus.

Sure there are people with this attitude but the vast majority of my clients, workout friends and of me is that after a good workout, we all feel too proud to scarf down a basket of fries as the article claims happens. Plus who can stomach that grease and unhealthy food right after a good workout.

It’s just a excuse to make not losing weight OK when exercising

Sure there are lots of people who work out because they know they health benefits of working out and not because they want to lose weight but in our present situation where over 1/4 of the population is overweight or obese the majority of gym goers are people trying to shed of fat pounds.

And when they aren’t seeing progress they want someone or something to blame and that’s where I think this article is coming from.

If you’re not losing weight from working out it’s likely because:

1. You don’t know how to workout properly, for example the treadmill isn’t going to help zap fat lbs like you want.
2. You’ve plateaued with progress. You might have seen some results at first but now you’re body as adapted to the current workout program and so your results have stopped.
3. You’re gaining lean muscle. Lean muscle really does weigh more than fat so if you’re fitness includes strength training (which I recommend) you can be getting great results but the scales could be saying a different story. This is why it’s important to forget the scale and go by the mirror.
4. You’re working out too much or too little. There is a happy medium so you get great results!
5. Nutrition (clean eating) and exercise go hand in hand. Ok, sure you can exercise all day long and lose weight but if you do go home and eat a chocolate cake then it’s not going to happen. Proper nutrition goes with proper fitness. Period the end.

Excuses, Excuses:

Instead of giving excuses and helping people to feel better about dissapointment, it’s Time’s job to give helpful information to get them showing off results. This article only works to convince people to stop working out, after all it’s not helping anything right?

Want to read the real article? Here ya go.