We cannot rely single-handedly on physical activity to lose weight. There are other factors such as calorie intake, metabolism rate, and total energy expenditure which majorly derive the process of weight loss. But the common myth regarding weight loss is to churn up the heat and spend the whole day in the gym, sweating like hell and in no time, you’ll be shredded like that Calvin Klien model you despise about.
1) How Calories are Used Up in Our Body
Research proves that the energy expenditure by westerners is almost on equal levels with tribals, who are far more active than a westerner. The tribals expend the same amount of energy during daily activities and are leaner than anyone living in Europe or America.
2) Don’t Take It the Wrong Way, Exercising is Great for Your Body.
Physical activities ramp up our health and reduce the risk of ailments like blood pressure, Cardiac arrest, Diabetes, and also saves us from cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. Exercising is not the way to lose weight but it can surely work wonders for your health.
3) Exercise Alone Will Never Help you Achieve Your Weight Loss Goals
Weight loss depends upon the number of calorie intake coupled with energy loss during physical activities. Exercise alone does not benefit until the ‘calories in‘ and ‘calories out’ rule are followed, which states that you had to burn more calories than you consume.
4) Exercise Holds a Very Small Percentage of Your Daily Caloric Burn
Physical activity plays a very small part in cumulative energy expenditure. It majorly depends on basal metabolic rate, the energy used to break down food, and then comes least dominant, physical activities. The metabolic process is responsible for 60-80 percent of our cumulative energy expenditure, Which leaves a range of about 10-30 percent for physical activity to chime in on the process.
5) Exercise Cannont Create a Caloric Deficit, Much-Needed for Weight Loss Program
Exercise may come as a handy tool to maintain weight for someone who is already in great shape. But it is rather a hard process when it comes to losing weight for an overweight or obese person by only the means of exercise. It is possible to do so but will take a suitably large amount of time and dedication, which is hard to continue for the much-required longer duration of time.
6) Exercise Can Ruin Your Weight Loss Goals Subconsciously
We gobble up on more than required food after working out as we feel deserving or hungry, after putting in the hours. We also reduce our regular physical activities such as us taking a lift instead of stairs, eventually cutting back on our overall energy expenditure. This ‘compensatory behavior’ can affect our weight loss.
7) Exercise May Also Produce Physiological Changes So We Expand Even Less Energy
‘Metabolic compensation’ is our body’s response to saving ourselves from losing excess energy. It fights against us and slows down our basal metabolic rate, resulting in less expenditure of energy throughout the day.
8) The Upper Limit of Energy Expenditure
Herman Pontzer, Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University formed a hypothesis stating that the human body has an upper limit as to how much energy it can expend at a time regardless of one’s level of activeness.
9) Malicious Practices by the Food Industry
The companies and governments back each other due to economic reasons and fool the common people into believing that eating packed products is not doing any harm and the only thing wrong is their inactive lifestyle.
10) The Ultimate Solution for Weight Loss
One has to continuously monitor their progress, stay away from unhealthy food, and have a regulated diet along with proper exercise to achieve their weight loss plan. The exercise is combined with a lot of different things and it’s not the sole solution for weight loss.