One of the top reasons why people start an exercise routine is mainly for weight loss. However, there are many misconceptions and misinformation when it comes to exercising for weight loss. And oftentimes, people are left discouraged and unsatisfied when they do not see the results they desire from their daily workout routine. This is not surprising given all the misinformation circulation on social media and the internet. This makes weight loss strategies one of the most confusing aspects of health and wellness. Therefore, it is important to educate ourselves and truly understand what exercising is for weight loss before investing time and efforts.
According to health experts and trainers, there are certain areas where people tend to get wrong when it comes to exercising for weight loss. In this article, we will discuss these issues and also what it truly takes to see positive results according to health experts.
Here are some of the myths about exercising for weight loss:
1. Exercise Alone Helps Weight Loss
Oftentimes, most people get on with a workout routine in hopes of losing weight, while adopting no other changes in their life. And unfortunately, this is particularly not the case as far as weight loss is concerned. According to Parker Condit, a lead trainer at Modo Bio, rather than focusing only on exercise, he believes that one must be in a calorie deficit to effectively lose weight. This means that one must consume less energy-producing foods than they use. Exercise can help shift that balance but is not the most effective way.
Exercising daily for one hour all through the week only accounts for less than 5% of our total time in a given week. What we do during the other 95% of the time is what truly matters. Besides nutrition, keeping active throughout the day- walking, standing instead of sitting, etc can play a major role in weight loss.
2. More Sweat = Effective Workout
One of the most common misconception when it comes to exercise is that the more you sweat, the more effective the workout is. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. It is crucial to know that sweating is merely the body’s way of controlling the body temperature and not an indicator of how much fat or calories you are burning. No matter how high the AC is inside the gym, you would still be burning as many calories as you would inside a warm gym.
Walking, lifting weights, etc are some effective ways to keep your metabolism high and burn high calories without necessarily dripping with sweat. It also helps you build lean muscle mass which is crucial for positive weight loss.
3. No Pain, No Gain
We are often led to believe that if we are not feeling sore after a workout, it means the workout is ineffective and that we are simply wasting our time. This might stem from the misconception that muscle soreness means you have effectively burned fat. However, this is simply not the case. Whether or not you feel sore after a workout does not have anything to do with how much fat you burn but rather how your muscles adapt to being challenged in new ways. In fact, you are more likely to feel sore when you incorporate new routines or increase the weight or resistance you use while exercising.
The key is to workout smarter and not use soreness as an indicator of how effective your workouts are. Focus on increasing the workload and not the pain, and you will achieve your weight-loss goals eventually.
4. Work It Off
Trying to make up for the unhealthy meals you had with workouts is nothing but a myth as far as weight loss is concerned. According to experts, this is not only unhelpful but also ineffective. A typical, intense 1-hour workout burns around 300 to 500 calories and we are quite aware of how easy it is to consume well over 500 calories in a single meal. Therefore, it is not only unhelpful but also exhausting to constantly burn off the calories consumed with gruelling exercise.
It is better to enjoy your meals, then move on and find a better strategy to help you maintain a healthy relationship with exercise.
5. More Exercise = More Weight Loss
More exercise does not always lead to effective weight loss. Our body and muscles, in particular, needs time to rest and recover. Giving enough recovery time for your muscles will make them stronger, higher muscle mass and therefore more calories burned daily. Moreover, too much exercise results in overtraining and stress, which result in the production of the hormone called cortisol. While this may be a good thing for the most part, but too much cortisol production due to excessive workout can backfire, causing you to eat more and sleep less and making your weight loss efforts much harder.
Make sure you get at least 1 to 2 rest days each week to give your body a chance to recover.
6. Targetting The Areas Where You Burn Fat
One of the most common misconceptions when it comes to exercise for weight loss is that one can target a certain area in one’s body to reduce fat. This is not true and is simply impossible to spot-reduce fat in any area of the body. This means, doing crunches will not reduce the fats in your belly. In reality, the more active muscle tissues you have in your body at one time, the more you burn fat. Therefore, it is crucial to train your whole body and not one specific muscle group where you want to target weight loss.
Supplement Your Routine
As mentioned above, exercise alone cannot help with effective weight loss. It is important to get the essential nutrients needed to boost your metabolism and improve your overall health so that you can get effective results when it comes to weight loss. Supplements are a great way to help you in such cases. Preserva’s Turmlitegold Capsules and Nutrixgold Juice are the perfect solutions for weight loss. They both contain potent Ayurvedic ingredients, including 95% pure Curcumin extract from turmeric which is especially known for its potent weight loss benefits. Boosting metabolism and improving issues relating to the digestive system has never been more healthier. They are 100% vegetarian and are completely safe to consume without any side effects.
Apart from weight loss, there are many health benefits to exercise and it is worth the pursuit whether or not weight loss is on your mind. And hopefully, with the above-mentioned list, you can now incorporate and adopt what is and isn’t effective so that you can effectively achieve your ideal weight goals.