There’s More to Losing It than Just Moving It

Can you lose weight with a broken foot?

Sure, it’s a ridiculous question but the truth is many people think that if they’re not losing weight, it’s because they’re not exercising enough. Toss in an injury that limits exercise or a lifestyle that makes a gym visit prohibitive and we’ve concocted a perfectly reasonable explanation for why weight loss has slowed or halted. I hear it all the time.

Truth is, it’s actually easier to reduce caloric intake through changing your habits than exercising. (I said easier people, not better… I’m a firm believer in the magic bullet of exercise.) Most research supports creating a 500 calorie a day deficit to lose one pound a week. For me, it would take about an hour of jogging to burn 500 calories. How quickly can I eat an extra 500 calories? Oh, you just watch me… a handful of candy corn there (140), a fourth of a basket of chips at El Dorado’s (210), the free sugar cookie at the grocery store (60), and the oh what the heck 2nd glass of wine at dinner (100) and I’m there. And then some. Calories are a sneaky thing. It’s easy to tack on an extra 500 cals through food and it takes a heckuva lot of time and sweat to burn off those 500 calories at the gym.

Should you exercise? You betcha. It’s going to expedite your weight loss, preserve your lean muscle tissue and do all sorts of amazing and wonderful things to your cellular insides. But if you can’t (or really reaaaaalllly don’t wanna), there’s no reason to think you don’t have an equal opportunity to shed pounds.

And contrary to many people’s beliefs (or maybe just what we’d like to believe), the reverse just ain’t true. If you’re sweating it out at the gym and telling yourself “I earned this” as you bite into that McGriddle, chances are you aren’t going to see the results you want. Unless you like seeing that same digital blue number week after week after week…..

Food For Thought: Check out the calories in a few of your favorite indulgences here. Then pop over to this calculator and see how long it would take you to burn that off through exercise. My personal fave? An hour of ironing earns me a on the rocks margarita. Toss me those wrinkly shirts, hubby!

Tags: calorie counting, calories, weight loss