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Is exercise enough to lose weight?

February 24, 2020
  • Fitness
  • Healthy lifestyle
  • Nutrition
  • Sport
  • Weight loss
Is exercise enough to lose weight?

Almost everyone probably knows how it feels like to not be completely comfortable in his or her skin and to have the desire to lose some weight. Since it is not so easy for everyone to change the diet from one day to the next or to do without their beloved chocolate bar or chip bag, many of us ask ourselves the following question: Is exercise alone enough to lose weight?

In order to answer this question, one has to take a closer look at how the body works and examine a number of issues in more detail. Therefore, in the course of this blog post we will not only take a closer look at the importance of sport, but also at the nutrition. Of course, tips and tricks that make losing weight easier than expected are also covered.

Why is exercise good for the body?

The purpose of doing sports is not only to help you lose weight, but actually has a number of advantages. It not only helps you get closer to your feel-good figure, but also promotes a number of other physiological factors. Sports can help you to get your circulation going, strengthen your immune system and you are not only more efficient when working out, but also in everyday life.

What sports alone cannot achieve, however, is weight loss. A certain mechanism of the body is primarily responsible for this – the calorie balance.

How do I calculate my calorie requirement?

The calorie balance serves as the basis for calculating your daily calorie requirement. It consists of the following components:

  • Active Metabolic Rate: This is the amount of extra calories burned during everyday life & sports. Depending on how much you exercise, the daily calorie requirement increases. As a rule of thumb, you can use the following table to add your activity metabolic rate to your basal metabolic rate:
% of basal metabolic rateType of movement
10-20 %for little exercise
30 %for light physical activity
50 %for moderate physical activity
70 -100 %for strenuous physical exercise
  • Calorie intake: This is the amount of calories ingested through food.

The formula for your daily calorie intake is as follows:

Basal metabolic rate + active metabolic rate = daily requirement

Now that you know your daily requirement, you only need to compare it with your calorie intake. As long as you are in a calorie deficit – i.e. you consume fewer calories than you need – you will lose weight.

So much for the theory. In practice, however, it means one thing above all else – track, track and track again. And a little bit of calculation.

It is therefore not surprising that very few people maintain this over a long period of time. It may be true that you can tend to control your calorie intake better if you track it regularly – but who wants to spend hours counting calories?

Counting calories – is that necessary?

We have a question for you: Have you ever seen an animal in the wild that was overweight? Except for the overfed neighbour’s cat probably not. There is a simple reason for this. Every living creature – yes, including humans – has a mechanism that sends out signals when we are full. However, many people have forgotten how to perceive the signals of their body.

How you can rebuild trust in your body and prevent possible attacks of ravenous appetite is explained in the following life hacks:

4 simple tips to fight food cravings

1. Make sure to drink enough

Many people mistakenly confuse hunger with thirst. This may sound unusual, but it is the rule rather than the exception. One reason for this is that your stomach cannot distinguish between solid and liquid food. Therefore, reaching for water can prevent possible ravenous hunger attacks.

2. Consciously take time to eat

If you consciously take your time and enjoy every single bite of your meal, you can not only take speed out of your everyday life, but also listen more to your body and its signals.

Of course, this only works if you can actually enjoy your food. For breakfast we recommend our porridges, as they do not only keep you full for a long time, but also taste delicious. And isn’t it wonderful to start the day with a fruity, warm porridge?

3. Include healthy foods that satiate you into your diet

In addition, healthy foods with a high fibre content, such as oats or various seeds (chia seeds, linseeds, etc.) can ensure that you feel sufficiently satiated despite smaller portions. It is particularly easy to integrate such superfoods in your diet in the form of toppings for your yoghurt or fruit bowl. Our porridges are also rich in fibre and help you to start the day full of energy.

4. Choose healthy snacks for in between

For many people, snacks are a taboo during a diet – but this does not have to be the case! What is important is that the snacks are foods with a high nutrient density. After all, if you only eat “empty” calories, you will have a hard time losing weight. Nuts are particularly suitable as a snack between meals, as they not only provide valuable nutrients but also contribute to a long-lasting satiety. At Verival, we not only ensure that our nut mixes are well-balanced, but we also combine them with dried fruits to create a unique taste experience.

The role of nutrition for losing weight

As we found out earlier, the calorie deficit is essential for successfully losing weight. Since the body is now “fed” with fewer calories than it consumes during the day, it is particularly important to fall back on nutritious foods.

Above all, foods with a balanced ratio of carbohydrates, proteins and fats are important during a calorie deficit. But also, a variety of essential micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc.) should be present in as many of your daily meals as possible.

This is particularly easy with the products from our porridge range. Porridge is a great source of nutrients – not only because of the almost perfect ratio of macronutrients, but also because the freeze-dried fruits provide many essential vitamins, secondary plant compounds and other micronutrients.

Haferbrei ist nährstoffreich
Porridge has very important nutrients

The role of sports for losing weight

Now that we have dealt with the topic of nutrition in detail, we should return to the origin of the blog post – sports.

Even if sport alone does not lead to weight loss, it can still be beneficial in various ways. For example, we not only burn calories during the training itself, but can also increase our daily requirement in the long term. This happens above all when we convert our fat tissue into muscle mass.

Regular strength training can work wonders here, as muscle tissue requires more energy than fat tissue and thus increases the basal metabolic rate. It is well known that anyone who wants to build muscles needs plenty of protein. That’s why we place particular emphasis on a sufficient but purely vegetable protein content in our Verival Sport Range, in order to provide you with the best possible support for your sporting ambitions.

However, if you don’t want to invest time or money in a gym membership, you can of course do your body some good without training equipment. Exercising in the fresh air not only strengthens the muscles, but also the immune system.

But regardless of whether jogging, hiking, cycling or weightlifting is your favourite, it’s best to do what you enjoy. After all, the goal should be to integrate exercise into your everyday life, because – as we have already stated – sport can not only help you lose weight but can also have many other positive effects on your body and your life.

Wandern Bewegung Alltag
Hiking is currently the number 1 trend sport (picture by @lieblings_momente)

Movement in everyday life

No matter how many advantages the above-mentioned sports may bring – the inner couch potato sometimes is stronger. But don’t worry, even for “anti-athletes” there are a lot of possibilities to increase the daily requirement without having to sweat in the strength chamber.

For example, instead of taking the escalator, the good old steps can be used as a training tool. Instead of waiting for the bus, you can simply walk from one station to the other. Or, on warm spring days, you can simply take the bike instead of the car – this is not only good for the body, but also for the environment!

Through all these additional everyday activities your calorie consumption can increase significantly, giving you a little more freedom for your diet. Of course, you can also be appropriately rewarded for these efforts – how about our Berry Crunchy for dessert, for example? 😉

Protein Porridge Cocoa-Banana

The perfect warm-up The gluten-free porridge base is blended with a mix of...

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  • #breakfast
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