I bet you have said this to yourself….”I’ll have another cookie, glass of wine, or scoop of ice cream, and just work it off with a little longer workout tomorrow.” I know I have. Though it makes sense, it actually doesn’t work that way.
First, “calories in” all come from food. Very little of our “calories out” come from exercise. In general, only 10-30% of our daily calorie burn comes from physical activity. The rest are burned through our daily activities like talking, simple movement, and fidgeting. But the largest amount of calories are actually burned by just keeping the vital functions of the body running such as generating heat, blood circulation, and digesting food. The calories needed for these functions are your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR. They account for 60-80% of your daily calorie burn.
Our BMR is determined by our size, age, and muscle mass. As we age, our muscle mass decreases, so our BMR lowers as well. To keep our BMR up, we need to build muscle mass through strength and resistance training – one of the many benefits of working out.
But when we workout, we often feel “entitled” to eat more not realizing how few of calories were actually expended. For example, the average person weighing 150 pounds burns 200 calories in 30 minutes of walking. You can undo that in a hurry by having 4 chocolate chip cookies, less than 2 glasses of wine, or a scoop of ice cream.
There are a lot of reasons to exercise beyond the calorie burn – strength, better mental health, maintain muscle mass, and endurance to name a few. But using exercise to control your weight is a losing proposition.
You are far better served watching your portion sizes, eating a well-rounded whole food based diet, and eliminating processed foods from your menu. Also monitor your weight frequently. An extra 5 or 10 pounds can sneak on pretty easily!
So the next time you want that extra cookie, go ahead but plan for it. Work it into your overall calorie intake for the day by making an adjustment in your food intake later in the day. Don’t plan on “exercising it off” and keep it as just that, a treat.
P.S. Finding he right balance of all the right foods is hard in today’s world. I can help though. I have two different nutrition plans that use two different philosophies to help you eat real food in the right portions whether you want to lose weight or just feel better. Take a look and if you want in, message me and I can help get you started AND support you in your journey!