I was doing some research for an article I’m writing on incorporating massage into your exercise routine and came across this article in Time magazine entitled, “Why Exercise Won’t Make you Thin”. The article states that exercise, even though it is important for cardiovascular health, bone and muscle strength and mental alacrity, might not be the best thing for those trying to lose weight. In fact, regular strenuous exercise could cause you to gain more weight. The argument is that exercising has two effects on your eating habits.
1. Strenuous exercise makes you hungrier, so you eat more. And even if you eat good foods, you are taking in more calories and negating the work of exercising.
2. Exercise makes you more prone to cheating and rationalizing. ”I can have this milkshake because I exercised this morning.” When in fact, the calories burned by exercising are not as numerous as the calories taken in when eating junk food.
It was a very interesting article, and gave me food for thought (no pun intended). It in no way said not to exercise, because there are still benefits to getting your body moving. It just stated that exercise will not help you with weight loss.
It certainly made me think more about the food choices that I make. I need to choose healthier foods, especially to be ready for the Beach2Battleship Half in the fall. I do believe that training alone will not get me there, the fuel I choose to fill my tank is a major part of my training.
On another nutritional note, I stumbled upon a diet called “The Warrior Diet”. Here is the description from the website-
The Warrior Diet is based on a daily feeding cycle of “undereating” during the day and “overeating” at night. The “Undereating Phase” during the day maximizes the Sympathetic Nervous System’s (SNS) fight or flight reaction to stress, thereby promoting alertness, generation of energy, fat burning and the capacity to endure stress.
Not sure what I think of it. My first reaction is that it is a bunch of craziness, it just seems wrong. But is that because it goes against what has always been taught? I’m not sure.
What I do know is that both new ideas go against “the norm” however only one of them also makes some logical sense. What do you think?
