Weight loss with no exercise- An Analogy

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miracole
miracole Posts: 492 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I become very philosophical while running, particularly in the early morning and the following analogy occurred to me this morning so I thought I'd share.

Losing weight based on diet alone, with no exercise, is like attending every class for an entire year but never cracking your textbook, doing assignments, or studying for the final. Sure, you'll learn something, you may even learn enough to pass the test, or depending on how much the test is worth, to do well in the class (i.e. lose quite a bit of weight) but you'll never get the full benefit of the materials. Applying them to real life will likely remain a challenge.

Weight loss without exercise is much the same, you will lose weight, you may even reach your goal weight, but you'll never reach your full potential. You likely won't be strong, or fast, or fit. You may have to settle for excess skin or no definition, and may have trouble sprinting for a bus or keeping up with your friends.

In the school analogy, putting in no effort outside of class may result in you being a C student. If you're bright you can probably even get a B, but to get that A you must go above and beyond simply being there. Same goes for weight loss, to lose those last inches and truly be trim and healthy requires a lot more physical effort.

So, like school, it comes to what kind of effort you're willing to put in outside of class. (which sucks if you're still a student, because, let's face it, you may be trading off your exercise time for study time!)

Replies

  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
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    Haha... I have traded my exercise time for study time this week... 3 exams :(
  • rems2012
    rems2012 Posts: 33 Member
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    well said!
  • juliesmithdiet
    juliesmithdiet Posts: 33
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    As a disabled person losing weight with no exercise is pretty much as much as I can do. I'm pretty sure I will reach as high a potential as I can though luckily I don't see it quite like the OP or I might just give up and I have come too far to do that.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    I was an A student who never studied. :blushing: I just retain things well. It's a gift and a curse. :laugh:

    But I also realize that while doing well in tests came easily to me, physical fitness did not. It was something I had to work at. I had to learn to run... learn to control my breathing and pace. I had to learn proper form when lifting, and start out light. I learned I can't just "listen to my body" when it comes to food, because my body is pretty stupid and would happily eat cookies and milk for three meals a day.

    There's some people - those with a physically demanding lifestyle - who probably don't "need" exercise. But the rest of us benefit from it. Someone who regularly tosses around bales of hay and bags of feed at a farm probably doesn't need to lift weights the way a desk jockey would.
  • mandypizzle
    mandypizzle Posts: 633 Member
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    I agree... like eating whatever you want but exercising daily (what I'm more likely to do:/ ) . Or just staying in your calorie deficit while eating terrible foods.
  • mandypizzle
    mandypizzle Posts: 633 Member
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    Ya. Just focusing on your diet is definitely better than nothing. Do what you can according to your abilities. :)
    As a disabled person losing weight with no exercise is pretty much as much as I can do. I'm pretty sure I will reach as high a potential as I can though luckily I don't see it quite like the OP or I might just give up and I have come too far to do that.
  • miracole
    miracole Posts: 492 Member
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    As a disabled person losing weight with no exercise is pretty much as much as I can do. I'm pretty sure I will reach as high a potential as I can though luckily I don't see it quite like the OP or I might just give up and I have come too far to do that.

    as with all analogies there are always exceptions.
  • CristinaL1983
    CristinaL1983 Posts: 1,119 Member
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    I was an A student who never studied. :blushing: I just retain things well. It's a gift and a curse. :laugh:

    But I also realize that while doing well in tests came easily to me, physical fitness did not. It was something I had to work at. I had to learn to run... learn to control my breathing and pace. I had to learn proper form when lifting, and start out light. I learned I can't just "listen to my body" when it comes to food, because my body is pretty stupid and would happily eat cookies and milk for three meals a day.

    There's some people - those with a physically demanding lifestyle - who probably don't "need" exercise. But the rest of us benefit from it. Someone who regularly tosses around bales of hay and bags of feed at a farm probably doesn't need to lift weights the way a desk jockey would.

    My first 2 years of college, I never studied and carried a 3.8. It wasn't until I hit my upper division courses (Calculus 4, Diff Eq, Physics 3, Linear Algebra) that I realized how much I would have to pay for never having developed good study skills. It was a pretty brutal awakening.

    I like this analogy because my weight has been like this except that I always exercised, played tons of sports, etc... but never learned how to eat well until I had an ankle surgery and couldn't exercise and my weight rose exponentially. I'm having to learn how to eat well (rather than just work off all the calories). So I'm paying for never really having learned good eating habits and that was also a pretty rough awakening.
  • tricksee
    tricksee Posts: 835 Member
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    If you manage to successfully reach your goal, you get an A* in my book
  • BrownEyeAngel
    BrownEyeAngel Posts: 331 Member
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    :ohwell:

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