Should you exercise to lose weight?

Well, of course you should.

But is exercise a magic bullet? Far from it!

Nearly every day we have clients either exercise with us, in our Women's Only Fitness Boot Camp, or email us asking how it's possible that they continue to exercise daily, but aren't losing weight.

It doesn't make sense, really. When you watch late night infomercials, you might think that it takes just a few minutes a day to get 6-pack abs. But there is always that very, very fine print that says "with proper nutrition."

Why isn't exercise so magical?

If you walk 1 mile, you burn approximately 100 calories.

If you run 1 mile, you burn approximately 100 calories.

Now, you can ramp up that intensity, add some weight training, intervals, and other modes of exercise. These activities can "burn" more calories than just walking or running (and continue to do so after you stop the activity), but that calorie deficit can easily be wiped out with a medium latte on the way home, an extra piece of pizza, a hot dog from the concession stand of your kids baseball game, or even just a few handfuls of chips!

100 calories burned during exercise can be wiped out in no time.

We're not saying you don't need to exercise, trust us. There are an unlimited amount of other benefits outside of just calories burned -- in fact, exercise can truly prevent disease, but when it comes to weight loss, it's not a magic bullet.

On the flip side, it's interesting that once you do lose fat, you NEED to exercise to maintain that loss. And that is why it is so important to start today and get moving.

And of course the scale is just one measure of what's happening in your body -- there are a ton of other factors to where you can shift your focus, and some you can't even see (such as blood markers, like glucose, triglycerides, etc).

The key is to balance nutrition AND exercise. You will never reach your goals if you rationalize your eating with "I exercised for 1 hour this morning so I can eat xyz." With that approach, you'll continue spinning your wheels.

Remember, luck is indeed where preparation meets opportunity!

Would you really want to "waste" a great exercise session by eating junk the rest of the day?

PS: If you're trying to learn how to incorporate exercise into your daily routine our next Mohr Results Adventure Boot Camp is starting soon -- and nearly full. Click here to get an idea of the types of things we do in camp.

PPS: Every camp we hear from women who tried to get in to camp after it was sold out -- sometimes you just have to stretch yourself and reach for the top. Camper Denise Peskar did and now she's nearly 20 lbs lighter than when she started just two months ago -- and she was 100% physically inactive before we started. A recent email from her said just 4 words -- "YOU SAVED MY LIFE." We simply gave her the map with directions -- you too can have these amazing results. Click here to register for our next camp!

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