If you also run, train, swim and pedal madly to burn more and more calories, thinking that this way you will increase your caloric expenditure (and then the caloric deficit) in order to lose weight, then you are probably wrong.
Let's start from the beginning: physical activity is essential for our health.
The World Health Organization recommends that adults do at least 150-300 minutes per week of moderate aerobic activity or 75-150 minutes of vigorous activity, in addition to a minimum of 2 additional strength training sessions per week.
We also know that if we do more of this, the benefit will be better - but not without limit: too much physical activity can also injure or harm us in different ways.
Even the instructions alone are not enough, and not everyone manages to achieve this, so if you have not yet reached this amount of activity, you can be calm - it is highly recommended that you train.
Moreover, we also know today that physical activity plays an important role in weight loss processes.
Training is important, but it is not the only solution to weight loss, photo: Getty Images
According to various studies, it was found that when physical activity is combined in the process of losing weight, there are greater chances of success, and a better chance of maintaining the weight for a long time, compared to the situation where no physical activity is performed and the subjects only dieted - even though they were supposed to be in a caloric deficit every Situation.
But does it happen due to the good feeling that is created after the workout, or maybe due to the feeling that "we trained, let's not ruin the day by overeating"?
From another study, which examined women who added walking to their diet, it was found that there is significant variation between people, and that some of us tend to compensate for this additional caloric expenditure by reducing the daily caloric expenditure, which is called NEAT, meaning - our daily activity level that does not include physical activity.
On average, it was found that the group of women who tend to compensate by reducing NEAT not only did not burn more calories, but on the days they walked, they actually burned fewer calories than on the days they did not walk at all.
It's not always like that and it's very individual.
There are studies that also showed no change in NEAT as a result of adding physical activity, or a small change.
But wait, that's not the only problem.
In another study, in which the researchers sought to understand the mechanism responsible for overcompensating for eating after physical activity, 198 subjects (of which 171 "survived" subjects) at different levels of excess weight (with a BMI ranging from 25 to 45) were divided into three different groups of physical activity : The first was a control group that did not exercise or hardly did any exercise at all.
The second group performed normal physical activity as recommended by the health organizations for every person, which the researchers estimated to be worth about 700 calories on average per week.
The third group performed a lot of physical activity, one that is recommended for weight loss, and which the researchers estimated at about 1760 calories per week.
The researchers examined the energy consumption of the participants, their level of activity and their resting metabolic rate (RMR), all in order to examine the compensation that takes place as a result of physical activity, how and why, and of course how this actually affects the final result - did they lose weight as observed or No?
Don't forget to eat right, photo: Getty Images
This study is notable for its quality because it lasted about six months, during which the participants were tested on many high-quality tests.
For example, their caloric intake was checked by monitoring eating, which was measured and meticulous, and caloric expenditure was checked by "water double marking", a method considered the gold standard in the field, which measures exactly how many calories a person spends per day.
The researchers monitored their activity level by using smart bracelets that the participants wore at all times (which also gave the researchers data about their sleep), their body composition was measured using the iDXA method which is considered the best, and this alongside extensive questionnaires about every detail of the process - hunger levels before and after Meals, on a weekly average, eating preferences, cravings, sleep, activity and mood questionnaires and more.
After the data was analyzed in detail and statistical corrections were made as required, the study shows that the group that performed "normal" activity was supposed to lose about 2 kilograms, but in fact only lost about 0.4 kilograms on average, meaning that they compensated by eating about 1.5 kilograms.
The group that performed more physical activity was supposed to lose about 4.3 kg (each person on average) - without the compensation mechanism, but because of it the members of the group only lost about 1.6 kg, which means that the compensation was equal to 2.7 kg. The control group The one who didn't exercise at all lost weight, but the figure was so low that it is not statistically significant.
The results depend not only on training, photo: Getty Images
The researchers came to the conclusion that the caloric compensation is the result of increased hunger - and not of a decrease in the level of physical activity.
It turns out that our body knows how to resist weight loss in different ways, and the ways to deal with these resistances must be considered (the researchers in the study suggested a medicinal intervention to balance hunger levels), because if we just add more and more activity to "burn" more and more calories, we may not necessarily get the results we expect to see.
As mentioned, this does not mean that it always happens this way, and in some cases we will have no choice but to add more aerobic activity to achieve certain desired results - for example, athletes in certain sports who need to perform a cut-off before a competition, bodybuilding competitors and in general, or when we have exhausted the The caloric restriction and we have to continue creating a deficit.
But if we initially use aerobic activity as the main and primary tool for creating the caloric deficit, well, research shows us that this is probably a poor strategy that is doomed to failure in many cases.
Training is actually a kind of "supplement" to proper nutrition, photo: Getty Images
Our caloric control should first of all be in eating, in putting together a balanced nutrition menu adapted to us and our goals, one built by a suitable professional (registered nutritionist), and that is the main thing.
The physical activity that is so essential to us - and really is also beneficial and helpful in the process - we must do not for the sake of "burning calories", but to be healthy, strong and capable, and to enjoy our health from an enabling and positive place.
Avi Israeli is a certified fitness trainer who graduated from Wingate
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