The Biggest Mistake When Losing Weight
I hear it every single day. “I can’t lose weight because I don’t exercise enough.” But it’s not the exercise, it’s what we are all eating.
Exercise to help lose weight is a big fallacy. We as a civilization are exercising more than ever over the course of the past few years. Your parents likely did not belong to a gym, and they did not go to Pilates or yoga. Our parents did not go to spin class or OrangeTheory to work out. Jazzercise and jogging first became popular in the 1970s (the best decade of all time, but I digress).
I was excited to try to lose some weight when I signed up to run in the Honolulu Marathon years ago. Guess what? I gained weight at the end of my training. I realized later that all the carb-loading, “energy bars” and celebratory beers I consumed certainly did not help me at the time.
I worked out consistently at least 4 days a week at OrangeTheory for many years and never lost weight. OrangeTheory is an hour of grueling strength and cardio. I got really strong and have terrific cardiovascular health, but no, it did not help me lose weight. You may work out at OrangeTheory or probably know someone who does. I actually chose my last residence based on proximity to OrangeTheory because I loved rolling out of bed and walking across the street to work out without having to drive there. I gained weight despite living across the street and working out consistently for several years.
My husband is a cyclist. He rode 10,000 miles on his bicycle 3 years in a row. He never lost a pound with this grueling cycling schedule. He’s an athlete, very strong, but he still has to watch his diet very carefully to keep his trim figure despite exercising hard and regularly. I know you can think of many people who are athletes that work out hard every single day and cannot lose weight.
One scoop of Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream, my favorite, is about 580 calories and 48 total carbs. I often hike Powell Butte, the nature preserve near my home in Portland. A typical hike takes about 1.5 hours, a little over 4 miles with around 575 feet of elevation. My average heart rate is 112 BPM, and I burn about 350 calories, but when you do the math, I still haven’t “earned” that one scoop of ice cream. And guess what? I can’t eat just one scoop anyway…So I pretty much try to never eat Haagen-Dazs because I cannot control my consumption, because I’m a sugar addict.
Exercise makes us hungry. We “work up an appetite” with vigorous activity. Think about people you know who do hard physical labor for a living like farm workers, factory workers or those in construction. They all have physically demanding jobs and consistently exercise in the course of their work, but guess what? Most of them are overweight. That’s because their activity makes them tired and hungry and they often consume a high carbohydrate diet including sugary drinks.
To lose weight, I recommend a low carbohydrate diet, between 20-100 grams of net carbs. Avoid sugar, flour, bread, rice, starchy vegetables and even fruit. We must continue to exercise, but for other reasons, like improving strength, preserving brain health and simply for enjoyment, but don’t count on exercise to help you lose weight.
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Low-carbohydrate diets lead to greater weight loss and better glucose homeostasis than exercise: a randomized clinical trial https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34185279/