Does Weight Loss By Itself Equal Fitness? Does Exercise By Itself Equal Weight loss?

A Tale Of Two Friends

A close friend of mine told me a story I love sharing because it really illustrates the message of this blog post.


Growing up she had a best friend (who we'll call Mary) who was very tall and thin while she herself was built more on the rounder, curvier side.

Everyone assumed that Mary was really fit because of her super "lean" appearance, but the truth is she could hardly walk a flight of stairs without being out of breath.

On the other hand, my friend had no difficulty at all walking the same flight of stairs because she had a greater work capacity and overall level of fitness. So appearances can often be very deceiving.

The reason I felt compelled to write about this is because there is such an obsession with "weight loss in and of itself" with thinness often being equated with fitness. This has created an obsession with thinness as the ultimate goal.

The Diet Conundrum

For as long as I can remember, I've been hearing about "experts" who have produced one fad diet after another. There are also a host of fat loss products such as fat burning pills, creams and all sorts of other "quick fix" promises that "cash in" on America's quest for a leaner appearance.

It's probably obvious but I'm going to say it anyway:



"You cannot achieve safe or effective, short or long-term weight loss, (and definitely not fitness), through a pill, cream or any other supplement!"



There is no doubt about the negative health effects of excess weight (i.e. body fat), but contrary to popular belief, weight loss all by itself does not equate to overall physical fitness.

The Power Of Exercise

In fact you can actually create noticeable fitness through exercise without significant weight loss. On the other side of the spectrum someone can lose a noticeable amount of weight, without acquiring much in the way of actual physical fitness.

Exercise creates a positive "training effect". For example one can find they'll have increased strength fairly early in a resistance training (i.e. "weight training") program as they start to "awaken" their muscles. This is primarily a neurological effect of being able to "recruit more motor units".

Aerobic training will create a stimulus which helps the cardio-respiratory system to become more efficient.

Even a relative simple aerobic based exercise such as walking will not only give cardiorespiratory benefits, but it can also help create some degree of lower body strength and neuromuscular coordination. This is especially true in a deconditioned individual.

These adaptations enable an individual to do more physical "work" with much more efficiency and less perceived effort. This is referred to as "work capacity", and that is definitely a strong indicator of physical fitness.

In fact, I have seen pretty much all of my clients start to feel better in a matter of 3 or 4 sessions (less pain, more physical vibrancy and even improved posture) despite the fact that there certainly wouldn't be any noticeable changes in body composition (the ratio of fat mass to lean body mass) that early on in an exercise program.


Though the more noticeable physical adaptations take much longer, this first step is very important and necessary in order to continue to progress with a fitness program.


The Power Of Nutrition

As I mentioned above, one can certainly lose significant amounts of weight by simply cleaning up their nutrition program. There is no doubt that the nutritional component is the MOST powerful weight loss tool available because you can cut calories MUCH easier than you can burn them through exercise.


I always tell my clients that 80 percent of weight loss has to come through diet, it's nearly impossible for most people to burn enough calories through exercise to compensate for poor nutrition. No matter how good a fitness plan any trainer can create, if you eat more than you are burning off (energy balance) then you are limiting your ability to lose weight.


Making It "Work"

While loss of body fat purely through "diet" can make a major contribution in terms of lessening health risk factors, one's actual fitness (in terms of "work capacity"), may change very little, if at all, if they don't combine it with an exercise program.


Not long ago, there was an article in a major magazine that basically said that exercise wasn't necessary for weight loss.


While "technically" this is true, they missed the boat and neglected the fact that if one isn't actually physically fit then they have only won half the battle.

The "diet-only" mindset exemplifies the foolish notion that "It's better to look good than to feel good"!

 This is because thinness by itself doesn't equate to a better "quality of life" in terms of being able to perform what fitness professionals refer to as the "Activities of Daily Living".


My one caveat is the case of an extremely morbidly obese person. In this case weight loss will improve a significant degree of function since they are so encumbered by their body mass, but that is an extreme case.



We Are Meant To Move

For most people, to forego exercise is to ignore the fact that the body is a machine that is built for movement. To be sedentary is to go against it's design! 

"Optimum performance" in everyday life requires some form of regular exercise. It doesn't even have to be very intense, but it should be fairly regular (at least 3 times per week is a good minimum to shoot for, though even 2 times can have life changing positive effects!).




Of course I don't think people should have to choose between the two, ideally it's best to combine a clean eating plan with a sound fitness program. Merging these two elements truly lets you "have your cake and eat it too!" (Pun intended!)


The Two Groups

The reason I have treated these as separate elements is because I have noticed over the years that people typically seem to fall into one of the two groups mentioned above.




You have your committed exercisers who often don't want to change the way they eat, and the committed dieters who don't like to do anything resembling exercise. Physical exertion and sweat are not in any way appealing to them.



This is not a criticism of either group, just an observation I've made over many years.



The first group often can actually get quite fit in terms of their work capacity, but they often don't really get great changes in their body composition (ratio of body fat to lean mass) or weight. The problem here is often the mistaken notion that if they exercise enough then they can eat all they want, a common misconception.




The second group will often be able to accomplish excellent weight loss and some body composition changes, but because they don't exercise they usually aren't very fit and they also don't have the greatest of body composition either.




"Skinny Fat????"

Skinny fat is the description used to describe folks who may "look" thin but aren't fit. This isn't meant to be an insult but is actually based on the fact that their body composition isn't as favorable as their outward appearance might imply. So from a body fat percentage standpoint they really aren't in very good shape.

The Third Group?

Now of course it's better to be in one of the above two groups than the 3rd group of people who don't eat well or exercise (a group I once belonged to a long time (and 45 pounds) ago!

I was very sedentary and the only real exercise I got was walking to my car to drive to a restaurant or store (or even worse a "Drive thru").  I guess if you consider chewing exercise then you can add that as well.

I definitely had the "physique" to show for it. I wasn't morbidly obese, but I had quite a gut, almost no "work capacity", and I was in pain a lot of the time from my muscles being so unstimulated (which also impacted my posture which was part of a vicious cycle).

I tried the "dieting only" part of the weight loss solution and again, it helped a little, I looked better but I still felt mostly sluggish and weak.

There have been other times over the years where I worked out but didn't eat great, so I gained a little extra weight. While I certainly didn't love carry those extra pounds I still felt pretty good from the exercise but not nearly as good as when I was at a more suitable weight. Still, I would have to say that was still MUCH better than the "dieting alone" scenario.

Conclusion

Ultimately, true fitness is a complete lifestyle encompassing both nutrition and exercise. Having this type of fitness is the closest thing I can think of to a true "fountain of youth", and unlike Ponce de Leon, you don't need to go very far to find it!




Scott Fishkind





http://www.time4youfitness.com/