If you're trying to lose weight, you'll hear the words "diet and exercise" over and over again, like broken record. Diets pay a lot of attention to what you should eat, but often gloss over exercise, merely mentioning that it's important that you do it. It's true that exercise is important for weight loss, but exercise does far more that just burn calories. It sets off a domino effect that helps your body systems work together to shed excess pounds.
Calorie Burn
Exercise helps you to burn more calories. In theory, you have to burn off 3,500 calories to lose a pound of body fat, according to Health Services at Columbia University. The "in theory" part comes in because individual metabolism, diet and current weight all determine how we lose weight. Also, as our bodies change, some of the weight we lose and gain is water and muscle in addition to fat. Still, exercise is the way we burn off those extra calories. A person who weighs 185 pounds will burn about 230 calories walking at the slow pace of two miles per hour. That same person will burn more than 700 calories per hour running at five miles per hour.
Muslce Building
Muscle burns more calories than fat according to the Mayo Clinic. When you exercise, you strengthen your existing muscle and prevent muscle loss that comes with inactivity and aging. What this means to you, in terms of weight loss, is that when you have more muscle, your workouts will enable you to burn more calories. You'll also burn more calories during everyday activities. More muscle is like a weight loss bonus program that continues to reward you long after your exercise is complete.
Increased Metabolism
You burn calories all the time, even when you're watching TV or sleeping. How many calories you burn at rest constitutes your BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate. According to Kid's Health, the more exercise you do, the higher your BMR. The higher your BMR, the more calories your body burns per day. This means your body systems help contribute to weight loss even while you're asleep.
Appetite Suppression
According to the article "10 Reasons Why Exercise Makes you Thin" published in Fitness Magazine, exercise helps your appetite in two ways. First, exercising promotes a better mood. When you have a stable and positive mood, you're less likely to eat out of boredom and less likely to eat emotionally. Second, regular exercise helps to control appetite. New diet and exercise programs can increase your appetite in the beginning as your body adjusts to the changes, but the more you exercise, the more control you'll have over your hunger.
Improved Sleep
The American Council on Exercise (ACE) points out that exercise helps you to fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer and have an overall better quality of sleep. Lack of sleep affects hormonal processes, which in turn cause you to gain weight. You'll also feel more hungry when you're not sleeping well due to an increase in hormones that make you feel hungry. ACE recommends seven to eight hours of sleep each night.
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