Don’t fall into the app trap for weight loss goals, focus on food versus exercise

We have all heard of calories in and calories out but is this really the case when it comes to weight loss? It would be fair to say that most people would think that time on the treadmill, road runs, laps in the pool and cycling would mean that weight loss was a given and they are on the right track but many of these people can also end up very frustrated.

Over my years of being a practitioner I have had so many clients come into my clinic showing me all these different apps where they enter their food and exercise. The app would display that they have still more calories to consume because the exercise has cancelled out the food calories consumed that day.

For the record, while these patients choose to use these apps I pause my own treatment plan because I needed the patient to see these apps never ever worked for healthy weight loss that focuses on fat loss only or ketosis.

Other new patients who came for weight loss support, who are already doing regular exercise, really questioned the role of exercise with weight loss. When I give them their healthy weight loss program they question the need for more food given they are doing regular cardiovascular exercise and or weights.

Generally they are worried they will be hungry and feel their body needs more food because of their training. I explain to them that if they do my weight loss program properly they will be in ketosis so using their excess stored fat for fuel and when in ketosis they will not be hungry because they are “dining in” and using their stored fat for fuel.

Then I get the patients who come to me telling me all the nutrition advice from their personal trainer, I hear things like “my trainer told me I must eat protein 30 minutes before and after training” and “my trainer told me I need carbs for energy before training”.

This is advice being generally given to someone middle aged, moderate exercise and over weight. I also tell these people the only instance where food really needs to match exercise is if you are a professional athlete and generally I ask them to choose health advice from one professional only, crossing over with a bit of advice from here or there never works.

So as you can really see there is a strong view point out there that exercise and weight loss work hand in hand so what is the evidence?

The research shows that exercise can certainly help with weight loss but you need to be burning more calories than you are consuming, not energy in. You need to be in a caloric deficit.

Aerobic exercise such as swimming, running and cycling help to burn fat as well as calories. Resistance training will build muscle but this is excellent and what you want because muscles increase resting metabolic rate which really means you are burning calories when rested.

There is a lot of research showing aerobic exercise when combined with the right healthy weight loss program will significantly contribute to weight loss plus if you add in resistance training you will increase fat loss and improve metabolic health.

Plus there is excellent research that shows those who reach their weight loss goal with exercising and continue to exercise will have a 90 per cent chance of permanently maintaining their goal weight.

When it comes to exercise versus diet, diet does have a bigger role in weight loss compared to exercise . Just exercising and not dieting will only give a moderate if any weight loss around 3 per cent of your body weight but with diet as well the results are significant.

The other added benefits that people need to consider when exercising is exercise will lower blood sugar and make you more sensitive to insulin, increase fat loss and especially the dangerous visceral or abdominal fat and this one is my favourite. Exercise is so good for a wonderful mood and feeling motivated.

So the takeaway is that exercise will help with losing weight, maintaining weight and all around good health, but when combined with a healthy weight loss diet plan is where you will get the best results.