Exercise for Fat Loss
Exercise and fitness
programs have long been marketed as weight loss and "body transformation"
programs. Many fitness professionals and slick marketing salesmen who sell
exercise books, machines, DVD's, etc. have INCORRECTLY shaped the public's
expectations about what exercise can and cannot do for them. The problem is,
exercise by itself is an extremely ineffective weight loss method. The public
then buys into this, have high expectations, and then are very disappointed in
their results. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at the
realistic contribution of exercise to the fat loss picture.
Cardiovascular
Activities, on average, burn about 10 calories per minute. A beginner
with a very low level of fitness and poor work capacity will burn less. A
trained individual can withstand intensities which will burn more (up to 20
calories/minute). But, let's call it 10 calories per minute on average.
Weight training burns roughly 7-9 calories per minute. I should note that there is huge variability here. The type of exercise you are performing (multiple joint vs. single joint), the loads you are using (heavy weight vs. light weight), the overall volume of the workout, your momentary effort level on each exercise, etc. all will influence how many calories are burned. Also, keep in mind that strength training workouts are basically interval workouts: you do a set, rest a minute or so, do another set, etc. So, while you may be in the gym for an hour when you strength train, probably only 30-40 minutes of that is actual metabolic work.
Ok, so let's say you were to exercise 7 days/week for an hour: 3 strength workouts (perhaps Mon/Wed/Fri) and 4 cardio type workouts (Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun). Let's assume the strength workouts, on average, burn 7 calories/minute and you are performing actual work for 40 of those 60 minutes (this is generous). Let's also assume you are doing 60 minutes of continuous calorie burning work at an average of 10 calories/minute on cardio days. Again, this is generous. So...
Weight training burns roughly 7-9 calories per minute. I should note that there is huge variability here. The type of exercise you are performing (multiple joint vs. single joint), the loads you are using (heavy weight vs. light weight), the overall volume of the workout, your momentary effort level on each exercise, etc. all will influence how many calories are burned. Also, keep in mind that strength training workouts are basically interval workouts: you do a set, rest a minute or so, do another set, etc. So, while you may be in the gym for an hour when you strength train, probably only 30-40 minutes of that is actual metabolic work.
Ok, so let's say you were to exercise 7 days/week for an hour: 3 strength workouts (perhaps Mon/Wed/Fri) and 4 cardio type workouts (Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun). Let's assume the strength workouts, on average, burn 7 calories/minute and you are performing actual work for 40 of those 60 minutes (this is generous). Let's also assume you are doing 60 minutes of continuous calorie burning work at an average of 10 calories/minute on cardio days. Again, this is generous. So...
- 3 strength training workouts: 120 minutes of work @ 7 calories/minute=840 total calories burned
- 4 cardio workouts: 240 minutes of work @ 10 calories/minute=2400 total calories burned
Grand Total for the Week: 3240 calories.
The reality
is it's not all that much. 3240 calories is less than 1 pound of fat (3500
calories roughly).
This is why people who don't change their eating habits (which doesn't require any actual time I might add...beyond planning) and try to "exercise off" body fat fail miserably, become discouraged, and say "screw it".
This is why people who don't change their eating habits (which doesn't require any actual time I might add...beyond planning) and try to "exercise off" body fat fail miserably, become discouraged, and say "screw it".
Think about it this way: It can take up to 6 hours-based on the
calculations above-to burn 3240 calories. How long does it take to eat an extra
3240 calories each week? How long does it take NOT to eat 3240 calories each
week?
I should
also mention that the majority of information regarding EPOC, the "after
burn" is drastically over stated and misinterpreted. If you look at the
research on post workout calorie burn and metabolic rate elevation, it's not
significant enough to even be considered. I'll be generous and give you an
extra 10% (based on what most research has shown).
So, someone hitting the gym EVERY day for an hour, after a
month's time, assuming they are not ingesting more calories than they are
expending, may lose 3 or 4 pounds. This is isn't exactly motivating for the end
user, especially when the experts have made exercise out to be a great stand
alone weight loss method. What typically happens is the well meaning exerciser
who has been making a huge time commitment will say "screw it" and
abandon exercise all together because they think they are not getting anything
out of it. I mean, who can blame them when guys like me have been telling them
otherwise?