Today, we live in a microwave society. Even those of us in the health profession can get sucked into this mentality. If it is quick and relatively pain-free, we have a much greater propensity to gravitate toward this than toward things that require sacrifice and discipline.
Exercise, while hard work, often leaves us feeling better and feeling energized. The elevated heart rate and sweat are clear indicators that we have partaken in an activity that has burned some calories and hopefully moved us one step closer to health.
Being disciplined with eating however is a different story. Reducing our portions and/or eating something healthy as opposed to partaking in our favorite calories-ridden, heart clogging dish can seem downright sinister. There is no real immediate gratification. You generally don’t jump for glee knowing that you have just deprived yourself of your favorite dish. There is that feeling of being denied something that you really like and that is quite a bit different from the physical and emotional high you receive after exercise.
Yet – again to quote Mike Boyle – “overweight people overeat”. The next time you go to your favorite restaurant, take a look around you and observe the crowd. Observe their physical condition and the portions they are eating. That “experiment” is not meant to be condescending – it is simply a fact. We consume so much food that all the exercise in the world is going to be hard pressed to make nary a dent in our condition. I have been that person in the booth across from you eating those gargantuan portions and then wondered why the weight just continues to increase.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have had bouts of exercise where I would exercise 5 days a week in addition to my officiating and maybe lose a few pounds here and there but never really make any significant progress. Why? Because I was still jamming my mouth full of food at just about every turn. I was that overweight person who continued to overeat.
The equation remains simple. Burn more calories than you consume and you will lose weight. Consume more than you burn and weight loss will escape you.
So yes – refereeing can be good exercise at times – but if I remain a bottomless pit, that exercise will not be enough to overcome my dietary deficiencies.
Exercise is an important part of the equation but it starts with what and how much we consume. I use my example of trying to exercise my way to weight loss with little to no success. I know of others that have really tightened the belt on how much food they consume with little to no exercise and have been successful in weight loss. Diet truly is the hammer when trying to make gains in the weight loss battle.
A balance of both is really the best solution and in the next post, I’ll give some of the tips that I have followed over the last few months. Combining diet and exercise to accomplish something that I have spent the last few years trying to be successful at.
In closing, I love this video by Craig Ballantyne demonstrating how diet can completely sabotage exercise. This clearly paints the picture that exercise cannot overcome poor dietary choices. So eat less -eat better – and those two combinations along with exercise will help you on the way to losing weight.
Photo credit by suneko
I feel that Diet, while a critical piece of the puzzle, is not 100% at fault. There are several pieces that make up the entire “body-weight balance” that many people forget about. For instance, what about a hereditary predisposition? Obviously we live in a generally sedentary world, with poor health habits that get worse generation to generation, but how much of being overweight is attributed to heredity?
Exercise is definitely a key ingredient for weight loss, but the real question is: If I do cardio all day, every day – am I going to lose weight, or will I hit that plateau and become bored with it? You will probably lose weight if you are eating “right”. But, the best scenario is to incorporate multiple types of exercise: both aerobic and anaerobic. Different types of exercise will do different things, let alone keep you interested while you overcome that plateau. This will help you control your body weight and lean mass, not let the body weight control you. The main objective is to take pride in our health….that’s something that I think we all forget about in the long run.
Good article, keep the good thoughts comin!