Exercise ≠ weight loss

Exercise does not equal weight loss. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard clients say they haven’t lost weight because they haven’t been doing their workouts.

It doesn’t matter.

Exercise does not equal weight loss. It is a very inefficient way to burn calories. We are so beautifully designed to store calories and save them for later, exercise will not result in weight loss. Just in case you missed it – exercise does not equal weight loss.

Exercise is the best way to stay healthy.

Exercise helps prevent certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression, osteoporosis and more. Exercise is an effective treatment for high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, menopause, chronic pain, asthma… well you should be getting the point. Exercise is a critical component of your health. But for weight loss? It’s not so great.

However, if you google “exercise for weight loss” you get something like this…

8 most effective exercises for weight loss, the best full body workout for fat loss, lose your belly fat with just 2 exercise moves, the best workouts for weight loss, 16 best exercises for weight loss, 5 minute fat burning workouts, slimmer in 7 days, lose 10 inches in 10 days

Recently the British Medical Journal suggested that food labels should include activity equivalents, in other words, this is how much exercise you need to do to burn off these calories. Huh? Talk about mixed messages. Shirley Cramer CEO of the Royal Society of Public Health says,

“Giving consumers an immediate link between foods’ energy content and physical activity might help to reduce obesity. We desperately need innovative initiatives to change behaviour at population level.”

She is right, we do need innovative initiatives. This isn’t one of them. Confusion is not innovation. The Society also found that 44% of people find food packaging claims confusing. If we know that exercise does not equal weight loss how would this help people be less confused about weight loss?

I can also tell you that education about the benefits of weight loss doesn’t matter when it comes to helping people lose weight. Knowledge doesn’t change behaviour. How you feel changes behaviour. If you don’t like how you feel, you will change. If you don’t care, nothing will change.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla