A lot of people try to argue with me when I tell them exercise is not a way to address a weight problem.
That doesn’t change the fact it’s 100% true.
I even turned down an invitation to join The Biggest Loser because of it, because I don’t believe people who are that overweight should be hammering their already suffering joints with all that crazy exercise.
I love exercise and it has a million benefits, but whether or not you exercise has nothing to do with why you’re overweight.
Exercise Lie #1: Muscle weighs more than fat. I even hear personal trainers blurt this one out.
A pound weighs a pound, whether it’s a pound of fat, a pound of muscle, a pound of feathers, or a pound of Cristy’s blue mohawk hair.
A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat. But they both still weigh a pound.
If you gain weight while exercising, it’s not because you’re putting on muscle, it’s because exercise makes you hungrier and you’re eating more without realizing it…or because you’re using the fact you’re exercising as an excuse to eat crap, since you mistakenly believe you’re “burning it off.”
Exercise Lie #2: If you burn more calories than you eat, you’ll lose weight.
Calories in, calories out is wrong, because it doesn’t take into account the quality of the calorie.
If you’re getting all your calories from Pepsi, Pringles, and gas station deli beef and bean burritos, how much you exercise won’t matter.
Those foods are full of chemicals, have very little (if any) nutritional value, and they’re spiking your blood sugar, which constantly triggers insulin.
And you can’t lose weight in the presence of all that insulin, no matter how much you exercise.
Exercise Lie #3: You have to exercise to lose weight.
If that were true, then my wheelchair bound Rebels like Holly Bergen and Yvette Price would not have been able to lose weight. Yvette lost over 80 pounds, and Holly lost 60.
Heather Centurioni, who’s missing part of one leg from the knee down, wouldn’t have been able to lose 70 pounds with zero exercise.
Rebels like Nick Gibler, who were carrying so much weight that exercise was not only excruciatingly difficult, but also dangerous, would be screwed. Yet Nick’s lost over 220 pounds (so far).
And how about Jade Gallagher, who was suffering from psoriatic arthritis so severe, she couldn’t put a shirt on a hanger because of the pain, much less “hit the gym?”
Yet her doctor was telling her she had to exercise. Can you imagine the hopelessness she felt?
Exercise is great for so many things.
But relying on it for weight loss – or worse, guilting yourself into it because you believe it’s necessary for weight loss – is a losing battle.
Watch my video below to not only learn more about why exercise is not a way to address a weight problem, but also learn the sneaky ways exercise can actually cause you to gain weight.
