Losing Fat with Exercise Training, Despite Recent Trends in Women's Fitness

While good nutrition is key to any weight loss effort, exercise is equally (if not more) important.  One could argue that they are equally important because if you are not properly fueled, or within the right calorie range, the exercise portion will not be as efficient.  This is true.  However, exercise boosts the metabolism (while dieting can reduce it) and exercise causes hormonal processes to increase the efficiency of fat burning (there are no foods that do this, despite what you may hear).  If you diet, alone, you may lose some weight, but may also slow metabolism.  If you don't diet, but exercise properly (I'll get to this in a minute), you will lose weight and speed up your metabolism.  Nutrition and exercise need to work together for optimal health and weight loss.  But if you were running a contest, comparing the two alone, exercise would win (in my opinion). (Of course, I recommend both, though).

So it is surprising to me that when people need to lose weight, they always consider going on a diet before beginning an exercise program.  My best guess is that it appears easier to just change your eating habits than to start spending time each day going to the gym.  But for me, I would rather eat healthy, delicious foods all day, without being hungry, and sacrifice an hour a day at the gym, than to spend all day long thinking about how hungry I am.  

I can't stress enough the importance of exercise in weight loss efforts.  However, you must exercise properly.  In other words, you must work at a level that challenges your current fitness level.  Exercise needs to be fun and enjoyable enough for you to return to it each day, but if it is only fun, and lacks efficiency, it won't really help you lose weight.  

Over the past few years, I see this problem occuring in group exercise.  There appears, to me, to be a trend in group exercise being fun, but with little physical effort.  I have attended numerous classes where I didn't even break a sweat or even get my heart rate over 100 bpm, the entire hour.  People enjoyed the music and had fun, but the workout was so easy, it wasn't really a workout.  I'm not sure why this trend is occuring, but I'm not the only one to notice.  I recently bumped into a former collegue from my early days in group fitness and she noticed the same trend. 

If you are trying to lose weight, and you are smart to incorporate an exercise program, make sure you are challenging yourself enough to benefit.  You don't need to go crazy, and please stay within safety ranges, no one wants you to be injured.  But make sure you are sweating and getting your heart rate where it needs to be.  If you are not sure what that range is, please hire a fitness trainer.  They are worth their weight in gold.  For a $20 co-pay, you may get 10 minutes with a doctor who simply tells you to "eat better and exercise".  But for around $60 you can get a full hour with a qualified fitness trainer who will actually tell you how to exercise, what exercises to do, and will give you a program designed specifically for you (so that you can be an efficient exerciser).  Just always check for qualifications and make sure your trainer is educated (college, preferably), and holds a national certification (CSCS, AFAA, ASCM, NSCA).  

And if you attend group fitness classes, again, make sure you are getting a good workout.  If you're not sweating 15 minutes into the class, it's too easy.   Every instructor is different.  We each have a different style, personality, and class format preference.  If you have tried a class and didn't like it, don't assume all classes are the same, they're not.  You can love one class and dislike another.   Try out different instructors and find one that works for you.  

And above all else, exercise.  It's not only great for fat loss, but can be fun, and you feel great afterwards.