Exercise, Weight and Mindset

While waiting at my hairdresser’s last month, I read an article in the August 17, 2009 “Time” magazine on exercise and losing weight which highlighted an element that I find is missing in many equations for change…one’s mindset. 

The article basically states that despite urgings from health professionals to add exercise into one’s routine in order to lose weight effectively, as a culture we are exercising much more and still aren’t losing weight.  The reason?  The author states two issues.  One is that exercise actually increases the appetite so although you are burning more energy, your body then gives you a cue to eat more to make sure you have enough fuel for these higher energy activites.   And the second is that after exercising, many people feel like they’ve done such a good job that they think deserve a treat and give themselves permission to eat a bigger meal, a gooey piece of dessert, or indulge in whatever dream food item they’ve been putting off in their efforts to lose weight.

The problem is that exercise, while great for the body and an important part of whole health, doesn’t burn as many calories as one thinks.  Therefore, that twenty mile bike ride may feel like you’ve achieved a lot, but it has only burned maybe 700-1000 calories depending on how fast you’re riding.   Couple that reality with the fact that much of the food we eat today is quite calorie dense (lots of calories in small amounts) and it becomes clearer why treating oneself after exercise doesn’t work to lose weight.

I even had a client comment about this very fact yesterday.  He had completed a 100 mile bike ride on Wednesday and noted that according to his bike computer, he had only burned 5900 calories…not even two pounds worth of energy.  This is a man who doesn’t need to lose weight and wasn’t overly concerned about the exercise for such a reason; yet I could still hear a slight amount of disbelief and annoyance that so much work didn’t get as much as he was hoping for.

Mindset, or how one perceives a situation, is a critical element in this example of weight and exercise as well as in most other situations of change because your beliefs are the container in which you are creating your reality.  Trying to adjust or alter the outward behaviors without understanding the underlying beliefs, usually won’t get the job done because it’s only one piece of the puzzle.  And this is why in my coaching, much time is spend exploring the unconscious beliefs and patterns in order to really see where the behaviors are coming from.  And once you understand the underlying thought process and try out and expand the beliefs, changing the behaviors actually becomes easier.

Bringing this example back to the article, if you are now armed with the knowledge about eating after exercise, you can pause the next time you go to eat your “well deserved treat” and ask whether your goal is weight loss or whether the exercise is a good outlet to allow you to eat your treats while keeping your weight in check.   If the goal is still weight loss, then you might find a different way to treat yourself that is more aligned with your goal yet still gives you the reward satisfaction you’re looking for.  By changing your mindset about your treats and getting clarity on your goals, your success will be greater.