The answer, in a word, is “No, exercise is not the best way to lose weight”.
You can burn calories by exercising, and it can help to lose some weight. But, for many people, including ones I have spoken to, after a strenuous workout you are usually extra-hungry, and it doesn’t take much extra food to erase all of that effort. Here’s an example: If you weigh 180 pounds and you run for 30 minutes on a treadmill, you will burn up around 368 calories. But if you eat only 2 Oreos, you will gain back 320 calories!
Health writer Julia Belluz examined more than 60 studies related to exercise and weight loss and spoke to nine exercise, nutrition and obesity experts for a feature in Vox’s “Show Me the Evidence” series. See more here: www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories
Her research led her to the startling realization that exercise is not helpful for losing weight. That’s not to say that exercise isn’t good for us: as she writes, “exercise is hugely important for overall health,” it just doesn’t seem to have much to do with weight loss, “how much and what you eat has a much bigger impact on your waistline.”
You can learn more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXTiiz99p9o
In addition, many studies have shown that “diets” are not the way to lose weight either.
While dramatic weight loss is great for ratings, it may be a killer for metabolisms. A study in the journal Obesity followed 14 participants from “The Biggest Loser” and found that all but one gained back much of the weight they’d lost — and no wonder. They experienced massive metabolic shifts: To maintain their weight, they had to eat up to 500 fewer calories than similarly sized peers who hadn’t been on a reality-TV crash diet. Another weighty issue? “The Biggest Loser” contestants experienced a massive drop in leptin, a hormone that controls hunger.
If Dieting Isn’t the Answer to Weightloss, What Is?
What you do need to do is to eat healthy foods in the proper amounts. The reason I say that you don’t need a weightloss program is because what you need isn’t a weightloss program; it’s a healthy lifestyle. It’s the one we should all naturally be living.
Here’s some more good news: you’re not going to have to go hungry! To some degree, you’ll be able to eat as much as you want. You’ll just have to change what it is you’re eating. So instead of having those pork chops and a baked potato with about a ¼ pound of cheese and a stick of butter on it (just kidding), maybe you’ll have a grain dish like barley or quinoa with lots of yummy veggies in it and a tasty and healthy sauce. This is my summary: Eliminate sugar as much as possible, drop junk foods, replace them with healthy foods and exercise mainly for health, not for weight loss.
One thing I strongly suggest is portion control. Even though my weight is pretty good, I still use a digital scale to control the portions I eat, unless I can control them by numbers. For example, for dinner, phase 1, I might eat Morningstar Farms Chick’n Nuggets (vegetarian). My portion is 4 nuggets. But when I eat barley for my phase 2 dinner, about 2 hours later, I limit my portion to 8 ounces, or even perhaps only 6 ounces if I’m not feeling that hungry or it’s later in the evening.
