In previous blogposts, we have
underlined how being overweight can hinder a patient’s recovery and that weight
loss is an integral part to their treatment plan. Whenever
discussing weight loss, two things often come to mind: nutrition and
exercise.
Now ask yourself this: which factor
(exercise or nutrition) is the main determinant for weight loss success?
For those of you who guessed nutrition, you’re right! Our society puts a
huge focus on exercise as a tool for weight loss, and while exercise is
essential to overall health, diet is the overwhelming key to weight loss. Getting one’s nutrition on track (by using www.myfitnesspal.com or utilizing a top-notch nutritionist/dietician) is, hands
down, the most critical component in order to achieve your weight loss goals.
Here at Lake Washington Sports &
Spine, we are huge advocates of exercise, consistently championing its overall
health benefits. However, if your
specific goal is weight loss, we find that patients often prioritize exercise
over diet, which is a mistake. We understand this. Frankly, exercise is more fun than dieting. Studies have shown that diet is 10-20 times
more important for weight loss success than exercise. Many patients will
counter with “I always was able to maintain my weight with exercise in college”.
For people under 25 years old,
exercise is often the “go to” in order to lose weight, which allows for sloppy
eating to continue. However, after 25,
this method is no longer sustainable and easily leads to weight GAIN. This is because, as a person ages, the amount
of exercise required in order to lose weight (without changing their diet) is unrealistic.
In order to lose weight via exercise, a person has to do as much as 90 minutes
of intense cardio per day (yes, that means seven days a week)! For most people, this is clearly
unsustainable, for a couple reasons: either a person does not have an extra
hour and a half per day to devote to intense exercise or their bodies break
down and physically cannot handle the demands of such a workout regimen. The
only realistic way to achieve one’s weight loss goals is to concentrate on
one’s diet and make sure they are eating clean.
Now, before you go off and think
that losing weight requires becoming a gluten-free, lactose-free, vegetarian,
it doesn’t need to be quite so drastic (unless you have specific medical
requirements, of course). There are even relatively small changes to one’s diet
that can make a monumental difference and lead to weight loss success.
One pound is equivalent to
approximately 3500 calories. That means
that if a person removes 500 calories from their diet per day, every day,
they’ll be down one pound after a week! Now that’s some serious progress made!
What this comes down to is
TRACKING. Every morsel that goes into
your mouth needs to be documented, for instance in an app such as www.myfitnesspal.com. Just keeping this
information in your brain is not enough.
First of all, humans forget things.
It happens. Without proper
documentation, a person will forget that tablespoon of peanut butter they ate
or the several handfuls of trail mix that was scarfed down during their break.
Second, people have a tendency to
drastically underestimate how many calories are in different types of
food. That tiny cake pop from Starbucks?
That can’t be more than 50
calories. Wrong! Those will put you back
about 170 calories. Myfitnesspal is the
diet buddy that keeps people honest about their diet choices and can make the
difference between weight loss success and failure.
Here at Lake Washington Sports &
Spine, our goal is to help our patients stay active and become the best possible
versions of themselves. If weight loss
is part of a patient’s journey to staying fit and healthy, we want to make sure
they are given the best tools and recommendations for success. For those wanting to lose some pounds, diet
changes are essential in order to attain that goal and, as always, our team is here
to offer advice and encouragement on your path to weight loss success!
No comments:
Post a Comment