I just read, cringed, and re-read the article in Time magazine, "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin". And not shockingly, I have some choice words for the author to chew on.
The article's premise is that working out won't make you thinner; eating fewer calories is the only way to go about it. The author, John Cloud believes"the basic problem is that while it's true that exercise burns calories and that you must burn calories to lose weight; exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger", and feels that exercise makes us eat more, thereby reversing the effects of the workout.
I'm sorry. I must have missed the memo that being hungry and eating is a crime. I must have also been busy working out while they delivered the bulletin about eating and working out existing in the same universe.
To my understanding, exercise and eating right are equally important, and while there is a correlation between the two, they are two completely different worlds. I agree with Cloud when he says exercise does trigger more hunger than if you didn't exercise. But should the fear of overeating be a reason to get minimal exercise? Shouldn't we change that fear and use it as a teachable moment to show people how to choose the right foods to maximize the benefits of the workout? You absolutely need to replenish the electrolytes and energy burned in your workout. And you do that through, you guessed it, eating. We should be teaching people that workout aside, it's important to eat a meal consisting of healthy grains, proteins and fat in everyday life. Even the biggest couch potato knows that eating donuts and sipping mimosas after a workout isn't a healthy idea. It's my belief that if you are more inclined to workout, the importance of healthy eating increases exponentially in order to promote muscle tissue reparation, increase energy, and overall be healthier. The theory that 2/3 of our nation is obese because they workout and perform "compensatory eating" is faulty. 'Compensatory eating' he describes as the "lip-licking anticipation of perfectly salted, golden-brown French fries after a hard trip to the gym" Our nation is obese because of lack of activity AND poor diet, not because one shakes the other's hand.
I have one other 'beef' (no pun intended) with this article. It's a technical terminology one. I become irrationally angry when someone says the phrase "turning muscle to fat", as used in this article. Once again, one has nothing to do with the other. You don't replace muscle with fat, or vice-versa. Fat is fat. Muscle is muscle. You can lose fat, and gain muscle, but your muscle doesn't actually turn to fat, and fat does not magically turn to muscle. As with diet and exercise, muscle and fat are mutually exclusive.
In short, please, please, don't cancel your gym membership. Or worse, please don't stop going to the gym, and still donating money to it. As you know from reading this blog, working out is one of the most important things you can do for your mental, physical and spiritual self. Do not think about eating when you're working out and do not think about how many calories you burned on the treadmill while you're deliberating eating a muffin. Use exercise as a means to live a healthier, longer life. Use eating as a means to nourish, honor your heritage (or your favorite heritage's food), and re-fuel your energy stores.
Chew on that.
Keep Climbing,
ELD
P.S. Check this article out on http://www.time.com/ and let me know what you think.
