Have you ever looked for the miracle pill that will help you lose weight with nothing to do other than remembering to take your pills? However just about every time you did you found a little disclaimer on just about every website telling you that maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine are crucial ensure results. Kind of frustrating to say the least when all you want is to just lose a couple of pounds, but here they are telling you that their pill is less than perfect.
Let’s take a look at why exercise plays such a critical role in the weight loss arena. I mean couldn’t you just restrict what you eat and still lose weight?
Well for starters there was a recent 6-month study done in which one group simply cut their calories by 25% and the other group only cut calories by 12.5% but then burned the other 12.5% of the calories through exercise. Surprisingly what was discovered is that the two groups surprisingly (researchers originally guessed that the diet and exercise group would lose more weight) both groups lost the same amount of weight (https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/AN01619). Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that you should just work to cut out calories and totally disregard exercise.
The first reason why this doesn’t mean that you should just worry about diet and totally disregard exercise stems from the fact that in many cases it is easier to burn calories rather than exclude them from your diet completely. Exercise could mean the difference between having dessert on that special occasion and having to do without. So for starters a regular exercise program can help you have a less restrictive diet as you only have to cut out the calories you aren’t burning from exercise.
Besides just the obvious dieting benefits in allowing you to eat a little more than you usually would without exercise or even just supplementing your cut calories it also provides many far reaching and important health benefits. Among some of them are just an overall increase in well-being, plays a strong role in the prevention and reducing the risk of several diseases (including: type II Diabetes, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Osteoporosis, and Certain types of Cancer), as well as strengthening your heart and lungs.
While exercise is not essential to lose weight it is important enough to the other aspects of your life and it will help you lose weight and live a healthier life.
The American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (think brisk walking or swimming) five days a week or at least 20 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity (such as running) three days a week, plus strength training exercises twice a week. Of course, the more active you are, the greater the benefits. If you can’t set aside time for a longer workout, try 10-minute chunks of activity throughout the day.