What the gym won't tell you

So you've decided to join the gym for New Years, congratulations, you've done the right thing.  I've watched a number of resolutionaries come and go over the years, and have learned there are a couple of things the gym folks would rather you didn't know which are in fact fairly important.  Since they won't tell I will.

Exercise is important, it's necessary for health, it's necessary for maintaining weight loss.  It's good for your brain and better for your body. It is also a lifetime journey. If you've been away for a while, leave your phone, IPOD, tablet and book in the car and become reacquainted with the sound of your body at work. The inner silence and lack of distraction is rewarding.

Most resolutionaries stop going to the gym within 3 weeks.  They are physically sore, disappointed and have gained weight.  While exercise is a necessary daily ingredient for most it is a lousy short term weight loss tool.  If your reason for joining the gym is to drop 10 pounds by Mardi Gras quit and join Weight Watchers instead.  Then come back. You'll be happier you did.

In the short run you are unlikely to lose weight at the gym. Here's why. Newbies often join with a not overly motivated friend, gym time becomes social and neither of you is likely to work very hard.  Friends become tired or sore, talk themselves and you into leaving early (it's dark out and cold in January).  Exercise will also make you hungry, so feeling virtuous you stop on the way home for coffee and a snack, or begin eating as soon as you hit the door and unexpectedly consume more calories than you had just burned.

So why go?  As Oprah taught you, those who know better do better. The only one way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you burn. If you stick with your new exercise regime, and use it as one of several tools, you'll see body fat converted to lean muscle.  Vigorous exercise burns calories. Weight training, using low weight levels, sculpts flab into lean muscle mass. Women won't bulk up lifting weights.

I urge you, please GO TO THE GYM, regularly.  Stick with it, it's not a 30 day fix despite what the commercials say, it's a journey that begins each and every day.  Some day you'll even begin to like going.

Toad