Does Code Red hate exercise?

If you’re confused about Code Red’s stance on exercise, I get why.

You’ve been told for decades you “have” to exercise to lose weight.

Then along comes Cristy Code Red insisting you don’t need ANY exercise to lose all the weight you want.

People hear me say that and leap to conclusions that I hate exercise, don’t think you should ever exercise again, or that you should stop exercising.

Let’s clear these up one at a time.

1) No, I do not hate exercise.

I studied exercise physiology in college and was a professional athlete for several years. To this day I LOVE to exercise. When Code Red Rebels reach maintenance, I encourage them to start an exercise program and stick with it.

What I don’t love is the LIE that you “have” to exercise to lose weight. It is absolutely 100% WRONG to say you “have” to exercise to lose all the weight you want. Weight loss is 100% nutrition.

I harp on that a lot in order to bust through the lies and brainwashing that have you conditioned to believe you can out-train your fork, because you cannot.

But don’t mistake my determination to cut through the lies and brainwashing as me hating on exercise. I LOVE exercise!

2) Yes, I think you should exercise…but only for the right reasons, and only with your eyes wide open.

Here’s what I mean by that.

Eating for weight loss and eating for performance are as far apart as the east is from the west. Exercise also makes you hungrier.

If you join the Code Red Lifestyle™, do not add in exercise thinking you’ll get your weight off faster.

If, for some reason, you do decide to add in exercise, be prepared for an increase in appetite that you’re just gonna have to live with, because you do not get to eat more just because you exercised. That is the EXACT kind of bull crap thinking that leads to fat athletes. You’re trying to LOSE weight, here, and your eating needs to be on point with that.

Once you reach your goal weight, exercise away (be safe about it, obviously) and enjoy it for the million other benefits that have nothing to do with weight loss.

3) If you’re already exercising when you join Code Red, yes, you can continue…BUT…

Be aware of the factors I mentioned above. You’ll be hungrier, you don’t get extra calories, and depending on how hard you train, your performance may be less than optimal (especially the first couple weeks).

If you’re not exercising when you join Code Red, it’s fine to walk or do bodyweight exercises like I talk about in my book, The Code Red Revolution IF you want, and especially IF it’s not gonna distract you from your weight loss. Priority #1 in weight loss mode is to focus on following the program so you can get off the weight loss mountain once and for all.

Plus some exercise may actually stall your weight loss, so don’t go crazy with it.

Bottom line: I do not hate exercise. It’s great for a million reasons.

But it absolutely 100% is NOT necessary to lose all the weight you want.