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"To Exercise or Not To Exercise"

By Shondelle Solomon-Miles

Every once in awhile I still encounter individuals who feel they don't need to exercise in order to lose weight. Here's what I say to those who embrace the "no exercise" philosophy?

Good Luck

Not only is exercise not an optional if you're committed to transforming your body and losing body fat permanently, but you must also exercise almost every day if you have a difficult time losing weight or if you have a lot of fat to burn and/or weight to lose. Period. Don't worry - this doesn't mean you have to go to the gym everyday, but you must "move with vigor" everyday.

Here's why.

Exercise burns calories, burns fat and speeds metabolism. Additionally, exercise will improve your quality of life and self-esteem. Exercise prevents heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and other life threatening conditions. Exercise also serves as an efficient and effective stress reliever. The best part is that you can achieve all of these positive benefits without having to spend a single dime (Okay, maybe you have to invest in a good pair of sneakers). Despite these truths, too many of us, when endeavoring to lose weight and improve our bodies, neglect exercise in favor of a fad diet or even worse, starvation.

The National Weight Control Registry is a database of 4,000 individuals who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept if off for at least a year. One of the common characteristics shared among these individuals is that 89% of registry participants used both diet and exercise to lose weight, only 10% used diet alone and 1% used exercise alone. Not only did these individuals regularly exercise, but also they did 60 to 90 minutes of moderate intensity exercise every day.

Can you lose weight by changing your diet alone?

Yes, you can but strict dieting with no physical activity will cause you to lose fat and muscle. You may be thinking, "That's okay. I don't mind sacrificing a bit of muscle to lose some fat." My response to that is "You should." Why?

Muscle is your metabolic engine and by losing it, you significantly slow down your metabolism.

In addition, earlier I mentioned that one pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. Therefore, to lose the recommended one to two pounds per week, you'll need to expend an additional 500 to 1,000 calories per day. (500 x 7 = 3,500 or 1 lb, 1,000 x 7 = 7,000 or 2 lbs) You can do this by eating 500 to 1,000 calories less per day, but that's very difficult to do and chances are you'll be starving every day. On the other hand, it's more tolerable and effective to decrease your food intake by 250 to 500 calories per day as well as burning an additional 250 to 500 calories via exercise each day.

So what kind of exercise should you do?

You should combine aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise includes activities like running, stair climbing, dancing, biking and swimming. Essentially any exercise that makes you sweat. Anaerobic exercise includes activities such as weight training, sprinting or any short duration, intensive exercise that makes your muscles "burn."

Aerobic exercise burns calories and fat in the short term and anaerobic weight training burns fat in the long term by significantly turbo charging the metabolism. The most effective exercise program and the one that will yield permanent results is one that combines both aerobic exercise and weight training.

About the Author:

Shondelle Solomon-Miles is the owner of Synergize Training Studios in Hollywood, FL. She is also the author of The Ultimate Fat Loss Guide. Her website is www.Synergizeweightloss.com