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If Weight Loss Is Your Only Exercise Goal, Its Time To Rethink Your Priorities

Weight Loss Is Your Only Exercise

By Bindu BhardwajPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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As an aesthetic society, we often display body fat and stigmatize people who have it. It is often assumed that people who are overweight do not exercise and must have poor health. But it's not true: You can be fat and fit. As we age, low fitness can be more harmful to our health than high amounts of fat. For those considering starting to exercise, look for inspiration beyond weight loss.

Whatever your weight, exercise always has benefits. Exercise actually does a really bad job of making us expend enough extra energy to lose weight. This is partly due to the compensatory effect on our appetite, which increases after exercise.

Exercise changes the composition of our bodies, the amount of fat we have compared to the amount of lean tissue (muscle) we have, but it doesn't always lead to major changes in mass. Here are five ways exercise improves our health, no matter what our weight.

1. Better Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Cardiorespiratory fitness is a measure of how far and fast you can run without stopping, or how many stairs you can climb without holding your breath. Running longer or climbing more stairs means that you have absolutely better cardiorespiratory fitness that cannot be improved by weight loss alone.

Having a higher body mass index (BMI) can reduce the absolute intensity at which you can exercise, but that doesn't mean it's less effective.

For example, you can run between every third traffic light, but not run 1 km in a row. While it may seem like intermittent jogging isn't that effective, it all depends on your baseline and any exercise is better than none.

If you're very overweight, you can choose to do weightless exercises such as swimming or cycling to reduce stress on your joints, but it's up to you and what you prefer to do. After all, you're more likely to keep exercising if you enjoy it.

If you're thinking but I hate running, swimming, cycling, dancing and I want to lift weights, lift weights! While weight lifting doesn't have the same effect as cardio training, the benefits are great for maintaining mobility, joint function and muscle mass as we age.

2. Lowered Riskiness of Heart Disease and Stroke

Exercise reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke, even in people with chronic conditions such as diabetes, regardless of body fat.

Regular exercise helps lower blood pressure, improves blood flow throughout the body, and also reduces inflammation in people with a high body mass index.

3. Reduce Bad Fat

Exercise improves our body's ability to use energy. We store large amounts of energy in the form of fat, which is quite difficult to break down because it takes up a lot more oxygen than the "cheap" fuels used by the body, such as glucose.

This doesn't mean that more exercise equals more fat loss, but it does mean more fat turnover and less fat accumulation in and around your organs in general ('bad' visceral fat).

4. Mental Health Benefits

Research has consistently shown that people who exercise (regardless of body size and shape) have better mental health and have less stress, depression, and emotional problems.

It does this by increasing blood flow to the brain, increasing the release of endorphins that make us happy, and controlling the brain's response to stress.

Often the hardest part is starting or exercising, but once you move on, the mental health benefits begin.

5. Prevent Weight Gain

While exercise won't help us lose a lot of weight in a big way, it is a good way to keep the weight off and on.

Regular exercise continues to encourage the body to use stored fuel and remodel tissues (such as muscles) to become stronger.

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About the Creator

Bindu Bhardwaj

I am blogger crafting engaging content on diverse topics. Informative, relatable, and thought-provoking posts that connect with readers. Explore and learn through my words.

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