Just finished reading this article from Time.com titled 'Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin' and had some reflections to share. I know I haven't blogged in a month and a half, but I've been Tweeting (@carlman03) like crazy. The more I tweet, the less I end up blogging, so sign up for a free Twitter account and follow me! I was pretty skeptical at first about the whole Twitter thing, but decided to give it a try. I found that it is a great way to keep in touch with family, and perhaps the occasional celebrity or hobby (sports for me), as well as getting the latest news at it breaks.
Ok, so this article is a little depressing. It basically says that no matter how much or how hard your exercise to try and loose weight, it probably won't have any effect on your weight at all. Basically, the more your exercise, the more you eat and less active you typically are the rest of the day, which often results in a net zero change. Not only do people naturally get hungrier after working out, but they often treat themselves after a workout, with a muffin at Starbucks or something with greater than normal calories. Then, they are too tired or sore to do anything else so they just sit around the rest of the day.
I have an inkling of hope, as my legs are sore from my morning run and my stomach is rumbling after eating a salad for lunch. I believe that I usually do a decent job of balancing out these two negative bi-products or exercise. On the hunger front, I eat fairly healthy and like to think that I don't eat more after working out. I stick to a healthy breakfast (cereal and milk), mid-day snacks (a banana or apple), and after-work snacks (smoothie with yogurt, orange juice, banana, and frozen berries). As for the being tired part, its a wash, probably leaning towards the bad side. I do walk to work every day, which is a nice 25 minutes of walking built into my daily schedule. I try to walk the stairs at least once a day instead of the elevator from my floor on 10th to the cafeteria on 4th. Sometimes Christy and I go for a walk somewhere around Seattle. But I spend at least 7 hours a day sitting in front of this screen at work and then don't usually do to much once I get home, other than catch up on shows on the DVR, watch my Mariners/Sounders/Seahawks, or the latest Netflix movie to come through our mailbox. I would love to bike to work if we lived further out of Seattle (at least in Spring-Fall).
This article doesn't say much about how dietary habits affect one's weight. I've always thought of diet and exercise as having an equal impact on losing weight, but now I just don't know. So if one wants to lose weight, should they not even bother working out? Just walk more? As the article says, exercise has other long term benefits, but if I want to focus on the now and improving my physique (ok, that sounds weird) and just all around feeling better, what am I supposed to do? I'd like to think that regular exercise and reasonable dietary habits will eventually help lower one's weight. Its a great concept, but perhaps its just that.
What do you think?
