Benefits to Exercise

Benefits to Exercise Beyond Weight Loss

Are you exercising because you want to lose weight?  Great!  One of the many benefits of exercise is to lose weight. 

Many people add exercise to help with their weight loss program, including me. But this is just one of the many benefits of exercise.  

Exercising helps you boost your metabolism, allows you to eat more, relieves stress, gives you energy, boosts your brain power and has many health benefits as well.

Benefits to Exercise Explained

Boosting Your Metabolism

If your weight loss program includes exercising, then one of the key benefits to exercise during your weight loss is increasing your BMR and burning calories. When you exercise you are burning fat and calories and boosting your metabolism.  Staying active sends a signal that tells your body you have excess energy and so therefore starts burning up excess fuel.  

Aerobics are the best form of exercise to get the highest calorie and fat burn. These types of exercises get your heart and blood pumping and releases oxygen to your muscles.  Fat needs oxygen to burn so you are more effective at burning fat.

Strength training is also great for increasing your metabolism.  By increasing lean muscle mass you are increasing your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).  Your BMR is the rate at which you burn calories while at total rest and accounts for 60% to 70% of the total calories you burn during the day.

Eat More

If you are trying to lose weight, then you need to create a calorie deficit – meaning you must consume less calories than you burn. 

You can create this calorie deficit by reducing the amount of calories you eat. But if you find yourself wanting more food, then one of the benefits to exercise is the ability to eat more food while dieting. 

 When you add exercise to your weight loss program, you are burning more calories allowing you to eat more food and still lose weight.

Stress Relief

Feeling a bit stressed?  Exercise!  This is a great stress reliever.  Studies show that stress may even cause weight gain.  When a person is stressed, the body releases cortisol, known as the stress hormone. 

You can read the more scientific explanation on this at medicinenet.com, but for a shorter version, here goes. When cortisol is released into your body, it stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism and stimulates insulin release and maintenance of blood sugar. 

End result; increase in appetite.  So, when a person feels stressed, their appetite is increased, leading to consuming more calories and potential weight gain.  Don't panick!  You don't have to do a 4 mile run to relieve some stress. Your exercise selection can be something fun!  Check out this aritcle on fun activities and calories burned.

Reducing stress is even more critical for diabetics.  Read more here on stress and diabetes.

Get Energized

Exercising will give you more energy throughout your day.  So, start your day with a quick workout.  You will feel more energized and alert.  While exercising, endorphins are released into your bloodstream, giving you that energy boost that can last the whole day. 

Although you may feel exhausted after your workout, this is a good kind of exhaustion and not the same as feeling fatigued.

If you are short of time try an interval training or circuit training exercise. You can get more bang for your buck, or time in this case, with these exercises that combine both aerobic and anaerobic exercises into one routine.  

Get Smart

Do you know what 4,875 times 9,327 equals?  Neither do I without using my calculator.  But what I do know is that exercising can help improve your brainpower. 

When a person exercises it increases the serotonin in the brain, keeping you mentally sharp.  People who are active and exercise also tend to be more productive at work. 

So impress your boss with your witty remarks and high productivity level.  Never thought that one of the benefits to exercise was a potential promotion now did ya?

Side Tip:  Don't forget to eat breakfast to start your day and your brain. Studies show that kids who start their day with a healthy breakfast perform better at school.  Just think what exercise and breakfast can do for you at work!



Health Benefits to Exercise

There are many health benefits from working out and getting active. Exercising gives us strong bones, wards off diseases, let's us age gracefully and so much more. You can read more about these health benefits to exercise for more details.

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