What We Eat Matters in Weight Loss – Exercise Not So Much

It was a real treat to take our  time and focus on everything I write about. One of the things I learned over the years is that it is not necessary to train like a maniac in order to receive the benefits of a fit body that can do what you need it to do. I am not opposed to working like a “maniac” when it is called for, but too often I see people training in quiet desperation thinking  they will lose weight because of exercising. Of course exercise is great for all of us, but the intent of why many people exercise is old school thinking: to burn calories, lose weight, or punish oneself for overeating. I want to help people change this kind of thinking.

P.S. The picture above is not me training at the hotel  but it motivates me because I cannot imagine someone looking like that and eating well…crap. I imagine she got her muscles from working out , but got her lean body composition from eating  like a champ! Which is exactly what today’s news is  about.
One of the concepts that I want people to understand  is that  fitness is part of health – yes, but that weight maintenance/loss, and being lean is a matter of what you eat.

How many people do you know that train in the gym, or run and bike miles daily yet are overweight?

I am not about not exercising. Exercise is extremely important in aging well and changing the physiological responses in the body positively. The problem is that the mindset that many people have regarding movements effects on weight loss is incorrect. The mindset being  that exercise will cause us to lose weight is the real reason people are not losing weight. By having this mindset we deny the real reasons we cannot lose weight and obtain the body we desire. The fact is – food matters.  What we choose to eat and not eat is extremely important in weight loss. This understanding is so central to being able to lose weight that in my 30 Days to Lean Program, I do not even discuss exercise other than to say… do something you enjoy a few minutes a day. No pressure. Just enjoy.

There is a direct correlation in what we eat and how much weight we lose!  There is little correlation in how much we exercise and weight loss. It’ s a tough realization for many, but for those who are up to the challenge, it makes all the difference in living well. As one member who lost 24 pounds in 8 weeks said, ” I used to exercise like a nut. 90 minutes everyday in the gym for 20 years, and for that I have gained 20 pounds in 20 years. Now, I am sensible. I eat well and I exercise moderately. I am not deprived and I love my daily eating practices. I do not feel deprived either. And most importantly, no one could have told me I would love my new eating and exercise life. I never believed it myself! The words freeing and liberating come to mind.”

The next time you go into the gym, take a walk, run, bicycle ride, improve your strength, stretch your body, practice balancing, or implement any of the exercises in the  Totally Tone newsletters,  exercise not because you are aiming to burn calories and  lose weight, but because it is part of being a healthy person. Say to yourself,  “This exercise is designed to improve my physical conditioning but it will not cause me to lose weight.”  This realization that  it is not exercise that will cause one to be trim looking is central to going at the root cause of why one may be overweight.  No longer can one  use exercise to atone for poor eating practices. Instead one will have to make the needed mind shift that exercise is for conditioning the body and that it is separate from the ability to lose weight.

Food matters not only in bringing health to our bodies, but in ridding the body of excess fat. By de-emphasizing training like a maniac, one  can focus on what they eat  as a means to transforming their bodies and their lives. You can have the awareness that there is a direct correlation in what you  eat and how much weight you lose!  Yes,  it’ s a tough realization for many, but for those who are up to the challenge it makes all the difference in living well.