14 DAY TRIAL // Time to set that gym membership on fire, and be happy about having turned that treadmill into an artwork using nothing but laundry. Specialists say it often happens that people who exercise not only fail to lose weight, but also start adding some inches to their waistline.
Apparently, this is because those who go to the gym on a regular basis have unrealistic expectations about how many calories they burn while sweating and panting on a treadmill.
The result is that, the moment they set foot outside the gym, they treat themselves to foods they should be avoiding.
Since these foods pack an impressive number of calories, people fail to get slimmer. Instead, they get plumper, Daily Mail explains.
Jonathan Ross, a spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise, explains this phenomenon as follows:
“There's a war between exercise and nutrition in our heads. People tend to overestimate the amount of physical activity they get. They work out a little bit and treat themselves a lot.”
Researchers working with the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation suspect that this is the reason why, despite their having become more active, Americans are still struggling with an obesity epidemic.
In a recent report, the specialists argue that obesity now affects one third of the people living in the United States.
They say that people need to learn that, although some diets focus solely on exercise and others stress the importance of eating a healthy diet, it's best to combine these approaches.
What's interesting is that, although health officials in the US recommend that people exercise at least 20 minutes per day, it takes a lot more than that for someone to actually start losing weight.
Thus, Dr. Joseph Donnelly, now working with the American College of Sports Medicine, argues that these 20 minutes only help people have a healthy cardiovascular system.
“It was never intended for weight management. People have misused it,” he explains.
According to Dr. Joseph Donnelly, people need to exercise at least 250 – 300 minutes per week if they are to lose any weight.