Exercising for Weight Loss Isn’t Enough on Its Own

Exercising for weight loss is a common strategy. If you’d rather get out and move around than cut back on your mid-afternoon snack or reduce the number of desserts you eat, then you may be inclined to design your weight control around physical activity. However, if you aren’t planning to combine that added activity with at least some changes in what you eat, you’re likely to be disappointed in your results.

Exercising for Weight Loss Isn’t Enough

Typically speaking, exercising for weight loss simply isn’t enough. The odds are that if your current diet is causing you to gain weight, you’ll never be able to reasonably work out enough to burn off not only what you continue to eat but also the stored fat on your body.

There are many flaws to a strategy that uses exercising for weight loss on its own. They often include the following:

Many people overestimate how many calories they’re burning through their workouts.
Many people underestimate how much they would need to work out to burn off the amount they currently eat.
It’s common for people to experience an increased appetite after completing workouts, causing them to eat more.
People often feel justified in eating more carelessly after a workout as they get the sense that they’ve earned it.

Workouts Keep Weight Off, but Aren’t Great for Burning What’s There

At this point, you may be wondering why doctors and diet experts insist on exercising for weight loss if it does such a lousy job. If it’s so destructive to your goals, why would you do it at all? There are many reasons for that as well.

Exercising for weight loss does work, just not all on its own. It’s one of several important components for healthy weight management.
Physical activity is extremely important to your overall health. It keeps your body running as it should, helps to prevent illness and helps your body to burn calories more efficiently.
Workouts are among the top strategies for keeping lost weight from coming back. It’s important to build those habits while you’re losing the weight so they’re in place to stop lost pounds from returning.

As you can see, exercising for weight loss is only a support component to a broader effort that include a number of other factors, particularly improving eating habits. That said, it sets things up to make sure that whenever you lose the pounds, they stay where you want them: gone.