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Exercise supports multiple functions in the body, and is a long term investment in your overall well being. From improving heart health, to boosting your mood and energy, and even reducing the risk of things like heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, exercising regularly has lots of benefits. It can also be a helpful tool when embarking on a weight loss journey. However, there are lots of misconceptions about what role exercise plays in weight loss, and what types of movement will maximize your benefit. Aimee Nicotera, MS, a certified personal trainer, exercise physiologist, and fitness coach, is sharing some of her top tips on how to use movement as a tool to achieve your health and wellness goals.
First of all, when embarking on a weight loss journey, it’s important to understand how exercise contributes to weight loss. While it is an important part of any healthy lifestyle, movement alone will not automatically provide results. “Generally speaking, our body accesses stored fat as fuel, when other fuel sources are not readily available. When we exercise, we create more of a demand for fuel,” Nicotera says, “When we avoid consuming more calories than we need, we force our bodies to use fat as fuel. While this is a very simple explanation, most people consume more “fuel” than they need, so they store it.”
Ultimately, if you want to lose fat, you have to limit your caloric intake so that your body burns more calories than it takes in, which will allow you to dip into your stored fat as a fuel source. Being in this state, which is known as a calorie deficit, is the simplest and most effective way to see weight loss results. Exercise is a helpful player in this because it allows you to burn more calories, which means your body will enter a caloric deficit quicker.
However, this logic doesn’t necessarily mean that the more exercise you do, the more fat you’ll lose. In fact, when taken too far, this mindset could be counterintuitive. “Like most things, some of us are stuck in the mindset of “more is better”. This is not the case with exercise and fat loss,” Nicotera says, “Quality counts, and making sure we are engaging in workouts that actually help us meet our individual needs and goals [is important].” For example, doing a lot of cardio and no weight training is a mistake if you want to see a change in your physical appearance. The most important part of any weight loss journey is balance.
While any movement is better than none at all, some types of exercise are more productive than others. According to Nicotera, any exercise that you don’t enjoy is pointless if you want to see sustainable results. “Most people won’t stick to doing something that isn’t enjoyable long enough to make a real change. So, first, find something you like.” Additionally, picking exercise that targets multiple parts of the body may give you an extra boost, “Exercises that integrate the whole body generally pack more of a punch. They get your heart rate up, require more energy and tend to be more time efficient.”
We often think that exercise should be a grueling experience if we want to see results, or that we have to suffer to look and feel our best. On the contrary, there are lots of simple ways you get in more movement each day. One thing that may play more of a role in weight loss than you realize is NEAT, or Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. “[This] is the energy expended for everything we do that does not include sleeping, eating or formal exercise sessions,” Nicotera says, “It can range from the energy expended walking to work, doing household chores, performing yard work, gardening, to taking the stairs at the office.” Finding simple ways to be more active is an underrated way to burn more calories each day. “Making a commitment to be less sedentary and make more choices to be active overall, can significantly impact weight loss.”
There is no one size fits all approach to fat loss. It’s all about finding things that make you feel good and align with your schedule. While being in a calorie deficit is the most straightforward way to achieve sustainable weight loss, how that is applied may look different for everyone. Eating a balanced diet, staying in a calorie deficit, and regularly moving a body in a way you enjoy is the best strategy to achieve fat loss.
