If we were to end this blog in a single line it would be:
“Even if you started exercising as a means to lose weight, please be in the game for well-being”.
Your starting point can be absolutely anything and everything from below:
- looking good and confident for your next big reunion or for great pictures from your upcoming holidays or even for your ex’s wedding OR
- owning your body and reclaiming your health OR
- giving some attention to yourself OR
- because your doctor said so, OR
- as simple as to fit in that dress or pants OR
- All of the above
And why not! I get that. The get-up-and-go desire can come from anywhere and why be ashamed, no reason to cover up with some ‘I want to be healthy’ veil.
My push was the day I saw myself in the mirror, about two decades ago, and I saw a weak, unhealthy me looking back at me! From that point until now I have been in the game, earlier as a means to feel good and now it is a non-negotiable part of my life.
The nice thing about exercise is that it delivers good results on a lot of fronts. The feeling of joy and vitality is the first one to reach you. Frame a jog/walk as an exercise and you will find yourself fatigued and joyless but frame the same as fun and it will set a joyful tone to the entire day.
Historically the importance of physical movement was mentioned in the most holistic way and not as a vehicle for weight loss or bodybuilding. It was more about connecting to your body, to your mind and hence respecting and being grateful rather than burning mere handfuls of calories. To bring back exercise as a full component of a good life will be much more beneficial than to make it a major means of weight loss which, in the long run, would do more harm than good.
But truly, let us get our definition right. What is physical activity? A paper by Casperson et al defines “physical activity” as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure which is measured in kilocalories. Physical activity in daily life can be categorized into occupational, sports, conditioning, household, or other activities.
However, exercise is a subset of physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive and has as a final or an intermediate objective, the improvement or maintenance of physical fitness. Physical fitness is a set of attributes that are either health- or skill-related. The degree to which people have these attributes can be measured with specific tests.
If we were to ask you what is more important when trying to lose weight: diet or exercise? The answer would likely be either-or and in some cases even both. And it is obvious that we all have mixed answers because we think that what we put in our mouth, the CALORIES IN, and what we expel in a workout, CALORIE OUT, is in our complete control. And when we attain some sort of balance, we attain that desired weight on the weighing scale. A part of it is true, but only a part. Yes, you do have control over the “calories in” part, and sure, you can choose to eat fewer calories. But the “calories out” part is not under your control at all. Thanks to your energy-intensive brain, most of your calories are burned to keep you alive and functioning. Even if you are sitting all day, you are burning calories due to bodily functions which continue to happen.
So, where is the catch?
People are making conscious efforts to burn off calories, have fitter, more appealing bodies, and better endurance. There is accessibility to gyms and there are more than a dozen apps to help you meet your goal.
So, one would expect that with the consciousness and behaviors they display, the urban communities especially should be quite healthy. Right?
But, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, December 2020) reported that urban areas showed a comparatively higher burden of obesity (about 9.1%).
Indeed, the fitness industry in India is growing fast. The Indian sports and fitness goods market is projected to reach US$ 6,054 million by 2024, growing at an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.0% for 2019-2024. As per a recent survey by the “Reebok” fitness brand (Fit India Survey), around 60% of Indians now spend at least 4 hours every week building and maintaining their fitness.
But in spite of it all, we are still either sick or overweight /obese or we have identified something which we need to fix with our bodies.
How could that be?
To answer that, let’s come back to the calorie concept. It was the “calorie in-calorie out” concept that got people attracted towards exercise, thinking that the “out” in the calorie equation is in our control and so we can eat anything, and as long as we are burning that (via workouts) then it will all be fine.
Phrases like “burn that pizza off” and “get ready for weekend exercises” have become a part of normal conversations as if exercise is a license to eat something, we ourselves labeled as CRAP!
One very underappreciated fact about exercise is that even when one works out, the extra calories consumed only account for a very small part of the total physiological energy expenditure.
There are three main components to energy expenditure, 1) basal metabolic rate, or the energy used for basic functioning when the body is at rest; 2) the energy used to break down food; and 3) the energy used in physical activity. What is important to understand is the fact that while we have very little control over our basal metabolic rate, it actually is our biggest energy hog. It is generally accepted that for most people, the basal metabolic rate accounts for 60- 80% of total energy expenditure while digesting food accounts for about 10%. That leaves only between 10- 30% for physical activity, of which exercise is only a subset (remember, “physical activity” encompasses all bodily movements, including walking around, fidgeting, etc.).
The implication here is that while food intake must provide 100% of the energy that your body needs, exercise will only burn off, way less than that (~10%). That’s a pretty big discrepancy and it definitely means that erasing all your dietary transgressions at the gym will be a lot harder than the peddlers of gym memberships make it seem.
Before we go further and deep dive into the matter, it is important to note that only a few generations ago, and for millions of years back for that matter, starvation was the problem, not obesity. Getting food was a challenge and most certainly not keeping it away. So, our bodies have developed a multitude of ways to fight against weight loss.
Let‘s look at the infamous energy balance equation,
Body fat= Calorie in – Calorie out
In this massively oversimplified version of fat loss, if the calorie out factor goes up (exercising more) it will simultaneously increase your calorie in (i.e., boost your appetite)
So here ‘calories in’ means what we eat and drink and ‘calorie out ‘means what we burn in metabolism and motion. Motion can be a structured physical activity or a leisure time walk, home activities or walking in our office or in supermarkets and malls. Sadly though, the motion only accounts for 5% of our daily energy expenditure and the rest, up to 60%, is used by our Resting Metabolism Rate. If you look at the pie chart below, 70% of your calories are burnt through basal metabolic rate and 20% via various physical activities (5% by exercises and ~15% by non-exercise physical activity) and 10% is burned using food by your body.
FIGURE – ADOPTED FROM GOOGLE IMAGES
And so, the above equation now becomes,
Body Fat = What we eat and drink – Metabolism- Exercise – Other movements
The sad truth is, even if we remain seated at the same place, we still burn immensely more calories for basic functions such as thinking, breathing and even more so to sustain our rigorous metabolic cycles, than we ever would through exercise.
Let’s say tomorrow you go for a nice brisk walk in the morning for an hour and over the rest of the day your activities remain the same, you eat and sleep and work. Your body is in an approximately 300 calories deficit but the body does not like this ‘red zone’ at all. So now your body might nudge you in both directions: increase your appetite a bit and also ask you to slow down so that it can cover the loss. This is why so many exercise programs fail.
Trying too hard one day and switching off for a week! Relatable? But, let’s assume that you keep repeating that morning walk every day. Those calories would start compounding and your body would be forced into using your body fat stores to keep up. So, is there a magic workout routine that will allow you to overcome your body’s attempts to undermine weight loss?
The point is, we need to reframe and reformulate our thinking about exercise. By improving blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels, bolstering sleep, energy and mood, and doing so much more, exercise has indisputably proven itself as the world’s best drug. Better than any pharmaceutical product any physician could ever prescribe. Sadly though, exercise is not a weight-loss drug, and so long as we continue to promote exercise primarily (and sometimes, exclusively) in the name of preventing or treating adult or childhood obesity, we’ll not only continue to short-change the public about the genuine health benefits of exercise while simultaneously misinforming them about the realities of long-term weight management, but we shall also create many disillusioned individuals.
The evidence is therefore now clear: while exercise is excellent for health, it’s just not that important for weight loss. So, don’t expect to lose a lot of weight by ramping up physical activity ONLY. We also have to stop blaming a lack of exercise and diet as equally responsible for the obesity problem in this country. Public-health obesity policies should prioritize fighting the over-consumption of low-quality food (ill-nutrition) while improving the food-production environment.
The message here is: any amount of exercise is good but consistency is better than one-off marathon participation or a spin class. And if you are a beginner, find a coach who can help you to ease in, have fun and teach you the technique. Overall, exercise is a win–win; adding years to your life and life to your years!