Eggplant & Chorizo Supper recipe here.
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Did you notice that throughout the whole program so far we haven’t talked about exercise?
It wasn’t a mistake.
It was a deliberate choice on my part.
Lets discover why…
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN TODAY:
- The number 1 myth about exercise.
- 7 benefits of moving your body.
- What type of exercise is best?
- My current exercise habits
- Resource
The Number 1 Myth About Exercise.
There is lots of research that shows that exercise does not help people lose weight. It does help weight maintenance but not loss.
The study that really drove this fact home to me was conducted by Danish researchers. They took a group of sedentary, overweight people and over 18 months trained them to run a marathon.
The findings were very telling. Of the men, there was an average weight loss of something like a few pounds but the women in the study averaged no change to their weight.
Imagine running 42km and not losing anything.
This is consistent with my own experience.
In 2005, I decided to run the Sydney marathon. At the height of my training I was running over 90km a week. Which is a lot of running, trust me.
And while I certainly felt a lot fitter and had more energy, my appetite was enormous. Even though I tried to eat a normal amount of food, I couldn’t help myself.
So my weight stayed about the same.
But before you start thinking it’s good to be a couch potato there are plenty of other reasons to use physical activity to help meat your health goals…
7 Benefits of Moving Your Body
1. Helps manage your blood glucose.
This is huge! When you exercise, the first energy you burn is your short term glucose stores called glycogen.
Then when you eat and your blood sugar rises, the glycogen stores are empty so your body can quickly fill them up again, bringing your blood glucose back down quickly.
If you haven’t exercised and emptied out your glycogen the new glucose from the food you eat gets stored as, you guessed it, fat.
The other way exercise helps is that muscles store and use much more glucose than fat.
So anything that builds your muscles increases your sensitivity to insulin and helps manage your blood glucose.
2. Improves mood
Exercise promotes positive brain chemistry which means you’ll feel better and be more likely to make healthier choices.
Which means you’ll feel better and make better choices – a positive feedback loop.
3. Decreasing depression
My Dad has suffered from depression most of his life. These days thankfully, he has it under control.
And while the medication helps, he says when he is walking every day he feels so much better than if he isn’t.
4. Combat chronic disease
Exercise helps improve your blood pressure and cholesterol levels which decreases your chances of suffering from things like heart disease and certain cancers.
5. Energy levels
It’s funny but so true. The more energy you use, the more you have.
6. Better sleep
Exercise not only helps you get to sleep more quickly, it also improves the quality of your sleep.
And sleep in turn helps balance your hunger and satiety hormones which makes it easier to balance your appetite and avoid over eating.
7. Improves your sex life
Both men and women experience more enhanced arousal when they are more physically fit.
8. Stimulates appetite
My Irishman always says ‘hunger is a tasty sauce‘ and he’s absolutely right.
I find things always taste better when I’m hungry and there’s nothing like physical activity to stimulate your appetite, well apart from point 7. 😉
What type of exercise is best?
So running marathons is off the list (unless of course you love running long distances, in which case keep going for it!).
I also recommend avoiding other cardio that makes you really hungry like swimming.
So what should you do?
1. Anything you love
If it’s going to be a long term habit for you, you’re going to be much more successful if you build your habits around activities you love. Walking, gardening, surfing, playing tennis or lawn bowls.
Find something that you love to do and would want to do even if there weren’t any health benefits.
You’re looking for internal motivation, activities that you do because they make you feel good.
Because (a.) you’re more likely to do it and (b.) the you’re less likely to undo all your work by ‘rewarding’ yourself with a muffin because you’ve been so ‘good’ and gone for a run.
Exercise moralizing is off limits just the same as the food moralizing we covered on Day 23.
2. Incidental Exercise
This includes all the activities you do that don’t involve getting into your gym gear or other formal exercise.
It’s walking around the house, doing the gardening, moving fire wood. These activities are powerful because they burn glucose without increasing hunger.
3. Anything that builds muscles
After age 30 our muscle mass decreases every year. This is part of the reason why our blood sugar and weight get harder to manage with age. So the older we get, the more important it is to actually build muscle by lifting heavy things.
4. Anything that raises your heart rate.
This includes short bursts of really high intensity activity. Like a 30 second sprint or 15 seconds of pedaling as hard as you can on a bike. Or kettle bell swings. For more on this see the resource video.
My Current Exercise Habits
To give you an idea how I apply this in my own life, here’s what my ideal week looks like.
Every morning (apart from Sunday)
50 Kettle Bell Swings (high intensity)
Run for 30 minutes (because I love it)
Every afternoon or evening
10 minutes ab exercises like this (build muscles / fix post-baby belly).
Sundays
20-30 minute arm workout (build muscles)
I was following an app to lift weights and do pushups etc. but am now just making it up myself.
Mondays
20 minute leg workout (build muscles)
I was following an app to do step-ups and squats but am now just doing 3 sets of 25 Kettle Bell swings.
Sundays
Some sort of incidental exercise / things I love like gardening or moving fire wood.
I don’t always get everything done every single day / week but most weeks I go close.
Resource
Watch this documentary on the Truth About Exercise by one of my favourite authors Dr Michael Mosely. His books are worth checking out as well.
SUMMARY
Here’s what we’ve covered:
- Exercise doesn’t directly cause weight loss.
- The benefits of exercise include better blood glucose control, improved mood, decreased appetite, better sleep and more.
- The best exercise is something you love.
- Try and include incidental exercise, something to build muscle and something high intensity.
ACTIVITY
1. Watch the video in the resources section.
2. Think about your current exercise activities. What’s working well for you? What could you improve?
3. Choose one exercise habit you want to change or build and work out a plan to achieve this.
Cheers,
Jules x
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IMPORTANT NOTE: The Low Carb Love 28-Day Program is where I share my personal journey of managing my blood sugar eating (mostly) Low Carb. I am not a doctor and this information is not intended as specific advice. Please discuss with your doctor or dietician before changing your food intake. Especially if you’re on medication or have any special medical concerns.
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