The True Impact of Exercise on Body Fat/Weight Loss
Structured exercise has been associated with fat and/or weight loss since long before I can remember. In fact, it’s the primary reason the health club and fitness industries exist today. Bringing to market the next P90x has become akin to finding the holy grail. The next great get-rich-quick opportunity. It’s unfortunate this mentality has resulted in the industry’s reputation for preying on people’s insecurities, spinning research to sell people on magical solutions, and failure to deliver a more lasting solution to the weight issue in America. The fact is exercise IS an essential part of any weight or fat loss journey. We are here to help correct what the fitness industry has failed to do, educate consumers so they can make informed decisions. Below are some truths to help you understand how exercise impacts your body and efforts to lose fat/weight.
Exercise acts directly on the “Calories Out” side of the prevailing theory for fat or weight loss; Calories-In-Calories-Out (CICO). At this point, although the exact mechanisms and factors involved may vary widely, there is virtually no scientific disagreement on this theory. It’s like gravity. If you want to lose fat or weight you must expend more calories than you consume, period. Exercise can help facilitate calorie expenditure.
The most direct effect of exercise on calorie expenditure is a result of increased demands for energy during movement. Our body needs to supply energy (i.e. calories) to support increasing demands by the cardio-respiratory and muscular systems during exercise. As exercise intensity increases the increase in caloric expenditure is relatively predictable. This is why your fitness tracker or watch is able to report on the number of calories you burn during your workout. There are algorithms that allow for the calculation of calorie expenditure when heart rate, age and body weight are known.
Since movement generates calorie expenditure, if you move more frequently then you will expend more total calories and create more potential for fat/weight loss. This is why some experts advocate for 10,000 steps a day. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends 30-60 minutes of moderately intense activity 5-7 days a week. This could be the equivalent of a brisk walk for 60 minutes or a 30-minute interval bike ride that produces the same calorie expenditure. Hence, frequency and consistency are of the utmost importance to anyone with a fat/weight loss goal.
Certain forms of exercise (i.e. strength training) can increase the amount of lean muscle tissue you possess, which increases the number of calories you expend at rest. It’s not as significant as some professionals advertise. For example, its often stated that every pound of muscle you gain increases daily calorie expenditure by 50 calories. This is illogical. It’s more likely somewhere between 10 and 25 calories, so it still has an impact. More valuable, however, by increasing muscle you increase your capacity for more intense exercise, which allows you to more effectively expend calories during future workouts.
Exercise also indirectly affects the “CICO” equation through its direct and indirect effects on hormones. Catabolic (break-down) and Anabolic (build-up) hormones are released in direct response to your workout. During exercise, you first get a surge of catabolic hormones, like cortisol, to aid the release of energy to support your workout. Afterward, as long as the workout was appropriate for you in duration and intensity, cortisol will reduce, and the anabolic hormones will increase above normal to rebuild your body.
Exercise can help increase the duration and quality of sleep, which helps your body more effectively regulate hormones. Recent research has begun to shed light on the value of sleep for body fat/weight loss. In effect, if you fail to get 7-9 hours of sleep, hormones that increase your hunger and break-down lean muscle become more prevalent.
Exercise can also modulate calories in through its effects on hunger. Some people are prone to increased hunger following certain types of exercise, while other people feel increased satiation following the same type of exercise. If you tend to eat more after you exercise, it might be necessary for you to reconsider the type, intensity, or duration of your workouts.
Exercise, when used at inappropriate intensity and duration or in excess, can also have undesirable effects on “CICO.” Too much exercise, either in one session or over weeks and months, can result in acute or chronic increases in inflammation and catabolic hormones, which can in turn reduce sleep quality (which helps regulate hormone balance), impact appetite (increasing or decreasing depending on the individual), loss of lean muscle, and reduced-calorie expenditure both during exercise and at rest.
One of the biggest, often unmentioned benefits of Exercise is that it is known to facilitate intentions to make complimentary behavioral changes. Such changes, including a desire to make improvements to nutrition, pursue opportunities to manage stress, and to get adequate sleep have an arguably larger impact on CICO than Exercise in general.
I hope you can begin to see that understanding how exercise fits into your fat/weight loss journey can be complex, but essential. To simply the solution, here are a couple of points of value to take from this information:
1. You need a progressive approach to optimize the benefits of structured exercise. You can’t just jump into an interval training class with a friend because she/he is having success. You need to start where you are and build gradually.
2. You need to be conscious of the effect exercise, or the type, intensity, and duration are having on you, your recovery, your sleep, your hunger, etc. The more “in-tuned” you are to your body, the better you can communicate to your Coach, who can adapt your program based on feedback.
3. You need to appreciate exercise is like a drug. The perfect dose produces the desired outcome, whereas an excessive dose can result in illness.
4. You need to be consistent. There isn’t an effective exercise program you don’t have to commit to on a semi-regular basis. You don’t have to go to a gym to train vigorously 7 days a week, but you need to do something regularly to hit your goals.
5. If you don’t know where to start, or need someone to guide you through this process you need to seek out a Coach who understands that there is no magic pill, but there are scientifically supported methods to achieving your ideal outcome.
The most important thing to understand is you are unique, and thus need to determine what will work best for your lifestyle, your time, your preferences, and your body. There is no one-size-fits-all approach that will result in long-term transformation.
If you need help figuring out how to integrate an effective exercise program for fat/weight loss, we are here to help. Marino’s fitness has been helping members of our Chester County community for over 10 years. Click HERE to schedule a FREE Strategy Session to determine if we’re a good fit to help you!