This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

You can't out exercise your fork!

After 17 years of teaching Jazzercise, several times I have heard from a participant who has noticed the scale going UP instead of down, very frustrating and disheartening.  There are several factors at play here, sore muscles tend to temporarily retain a little extra water, by volume muscle is denser then fat, 5 lbs of fat takes up a lot more space then 5 lbs of muscle, but more often then not, and unfortunately, it is diet. 

Exercise can increase ones appetite so we eat more, plus sometimes we want to reward ourselves with food, or we are so famished from a restricted calorie intake, aka a diet, and increased exercise, by the end of the day we are simply famished and out of control. Lastly, there is the mind-set of "well I have exercised so these calories don't count." 

Ahh but they do. One cannot out exercise ones fork. 1 hour of high intensity exercise will only burn 300-700 calories.  That is pretty much 1 regular Starbucks beverage, a couple of cookies, a vitamin water, a snack bar. If one were to have a little extra portion at a meal or a couple of extra snack one would have to exercise at a high intensity for at least 2 hours. Who has that kind of time? 

Calories add up super fast and it is and will always be about calories in calories out. Apps like My Fitness pal are great tools, so is a simple daily log of food. When you can see what is going in, it is easier to pin point those rogue calories. The ones that sneak in and add up. Even if you do a log for just a few days, it helps. I, personally, hate daily logging, counting, and measuring. The most successful (maintain a weight loss beyond 5-10 years) people do it, forever. I can do it for a day, maybe a week, which is still a great tool to spot check what is happening.

Good news is that exercise adds up fast too and it does not have to be all at once. Here are ways to incorporate it into things you already do: park in the last row at work or shopping, take the stairs, walk to the nearest mailbox or mail room instead of 'your' mailbox or out bin to drop out-going mail, got a 10 min break? walk around the block or building, take a long phone call on a walk too! Baby sleeping? Put them in a stroller and walk, dance, or run up and down your stairs for 5 mins. Walk the kids to the park.

The benefits of exercise are far far more greater then a smaller size from a better mood, less stress, more patience, but when one is first starting an exercise regime, we want to SEE the difference! We want to see a change. So before quitting your workout, take a quick look at what you are eating, everything, because every bite counts. 

Check out my blog next time for what I do and have had success with instead of counting, measuring and logging. It works for me and I need super SIMPLE. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?