As you may know, weight
loss is difficult. But, it's always
been my contention that weight loss
would be much less difficult if people
truly exercised on a regular
basis. Most statistics indicate
that about 30% of adults are
regular exercisers.
However, from years
of working in the fitness industry,
I know that number is far from
accurate. A recent stay at a
hotel once again opened my eyes to
just how little most people exercise. I stayed at
a 460 room hotel that had only
three rooms available when I
checked in, so it was full. Figuring an average
of 1.5 adults per room, there were
approximately 700 adults
staying there that night.
Pictures
in the lobby touted a beautiful exercise room,
with lots of nice equipment. The clerk also
mentioned the exercise room to me and
explained where it was located.
My point being that everyone who
checked in was made aware that an exercise
facility existed. I
went in for a short evening treadmill workout
around 7:30 that evening expecting
it to be crowded. To my surprise,
it was empty! I had a great workout and returned
around 5:30 a.m. for some weight training,
again thinking that it would
be crowded.
Surprise
again, I shared the huge facility with two
other people. As I was leaving
for an outside run around
6:15, one more person came in. I checked again
around 7:00 to find no one there, and once
more as I was leaving the hotel at
8:00.. still empty. As far as
I could tell, maybe four or five people
out of 700 exercised that morning and the previous
evening.
This bit
of anecdotal evidence just reinforced what
I have believed for years, that a very small
percentage of adults actually exercise
on a regular basis. America
is overweight because America doesn't exercise!
Now I certainly realize that diet also
plays a major role in weight
loss. However, my experience in
working with hundreds of people is that you'll
find it much easier to eat healthy
foods in healthy quantities
if you're exercising on a regular basis.
Exercise
not only has physical benefits such as caloric
expenditure and increasing your basal
metabolic rate, but it also puts you
in a "healthy" frame
of mind. My clients tell me that this helps
them to eat healthier and in healthier
quantities. The bottom line
here folks is that exercise is CRITICAL
to a successful weight loss program.
