The gym is (unfortunately) full of people who want to lose weight. Only many of those people also experience that losing weight often fails by exercising a lot. How is that possible? Do not get me wrong. There are certainly people who lose weight when they start exercising, but there are certain reasons for this. And all reasons can be traced back to that they in one way or another create a negative energy balance. And if you do not waste, you do not do that. I will tell you a few thoughts and patterns that I have often heard/seen so that losing weight does not work.
“I can have treats and/or extras after exercise”
You have a nice training session on it. Whether it is the gym, running outside or a boat sample. You have done your best again. So as a reward, you can give yourself something tasty. Think of an extra large piece of cake on that birthday, that snack on the terrace because the weather is nice, that wine, etc. Of course, it is all fine and if you enjoy it, it is absolutely fantastic. Only you get more calories so you do not get into that negative energy balance.
“I have already played, so I take the elevator/car / I go to the bank all evening”
When I run a lap myself, I catch myself that I move less afterward. And I’m sure this also applies to others. By making different choices than you would normally do, you make sure that you do not burn more calories at the end of the day than you would on non-sports day.
You went to eat more
If you have started to exercise more, you use more energy. The body wants this energy back again. The only way this can be done is by eating more. And the common thing is that this often goes unconsciously. You get more appetite so you eat more. You make your portions a bit bigger, you eat 2 more bites or you pick up an extra snack. And yes, this is really unconscious. Your body is really smart enough to make it an automatism. So the first step is to become aware of these automatisms.
You make muscle mass
It is always said that muscles weigh heavier than fat, but you know that joke from before. What weighs more 1 kilo of feathers or 1 kilo of iron? Of course, both weigh the same only the space that it occupies is different. This is also the story with muscles and fat. Only the difference is (really, unfortunately) not as big as many would have us believe. Bret Contreras has a nice image last year placed on his Instagram with how much the difference actually is. The density of muscles is 1.06 kg / L and that of fat is 0.9196 kg / L. So fat only takes up 15% more space than a muscle. So yes, you can create muscle mass and therefore not lose weight. You will become tighter if you stay at the same weight. The number on the scale says nothing about your body proportions.
So what do those people do who lose weight by exercising?
They ensure that they are in a negative energy balance and also in a way that can be sustained in the long term. They make conscious choices about nutrition, they make sure they exercise enough during the day and they take care of that balance. And exercising helps to make conscious choices because exercise is one of the ways to train willpower. You can then better keep your focus so that you can make your (nutrition) choices more consciously.
Make your unconscious behavior aware
Do you have to continue exercising? Yes, please. It is clear by now that sports are good for you for several reasons. Only do not commit yourself to a sports activity that you do not like. And do you still want to lose weight? Then look at your behavior and make this step by step. 95% of the behaviors go automatically. Moving and eating is also part of this. I know that not everyone believes this, but if you can get something complicated like driving a car automatically (have you ever driven home automatically while you planned to stop at the store?), You can certainly do that with food and exercise. And that is why it remains important to work step by step and not want to change everything in 1x, because otherwise, you will quickly fall back into those automatisms.
Add comment