I exercise for what my body can do, not as a punishment for what my body isn’t.
I exercise 5-6 times per week. But I never exercise to punish myself for what I ate. I lift weights, power walk (and hike) and do HIIT workouts. But I never count those “calories burned” and “eat them back.” I don’t “reward” myself by eating off my plan because I exercised. I’m not a dog–I don’t eat treats for behaving in certain ways!
I also don’t exercise to lose weight. That’s what your eating plans are for. Exercise alone is actually terrible at making you lose weight. Put bluntly, exercise cannot solve a fatness problem, and food cannot solve a fitness problem. We don’t expect to get sculpted shoulders by eating salad. And we shouldn’t expect exercise alone to burn all the excess fat on our bodies. You can google how many hours it takes on the treadmill to burn off your dinner. It’s not pretty. Losing weight is *almost* entirely about your nutrition.
I exercise for sculpting muscles, improving cardiovascular health, helping me sleep and improving my mindset. I eat what’s on my food plan to maintain a natural, healthy weight. The two are intertwined, yet solve different problems.
What is the best exercise? The one you love. When working with clients that want to begin an exercise program, I always start with the question: What exercise do you enjoy? All exercise is good and valuable.
Love swimming? Do that.
Love lifting weights? Do that.
Love spin biking? Do that.
If you really aren’t sure where to start, my advice would be walking. It’s free, it’s easy and it’s completely underrated.
Want to step it up? Add in some weights. Heavy weights. Women benefit greatly from strength training–improve bone density, increase lean muscle mass (which is more metabolically active at rest than other body tissues such as fat), lowers risk for Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Working with a coach can greatly increase your consistency in healthy behaviors, exercise included. Jump on a free call and we’ll chat about your goals.
