Words from Ron Hollis

Every year, scores of folks set new years resolutions. Most of them include something about losing a ton of weight by joining the gym. Great revenue opportunity for the gyms each year. However, most folks only go a few times and then quit…..possibly, this is better than those that try to stick it out and keep going to the gym…how, you ask?

Is it possible that by joining a gym and actually going can make one fatter? I have be diligently working out everyday for the past year. A major part of my routine is to go to my local fitness club (LA Fitness) every weekday morning at 5:15am. Just this experience is interesting in that it turns out that for the most part, the same group of folks go to the same place on the same routine at this crazy early hour. They are what you would expect from a discipline group of gym rats, hard working, fit and trim. Then, there is the later arrivals, around 6am and on that begin to change the physical demographics of the group. These are the ones I have been observing lately and noticed an unexpected phenomenon…..these folks are getting fatter.

I watch some very large folks come to the gym. There are several (greater than 10) I have watched that have been committed enough time and effort to come to the gym most every day and be there for an hour or more. After several months of watching these folks, I have also noticed no significant change in their body. They are still as fat as they were as when I first started watching them. Actually, I think a few are even bigger than when they started.

In observing their routines, I noticed that they spend very little time on the cardio machines (stairs, treadmill or bicycles), but love to hang on the equipment. They get in place, take a drink from their jug, and then push or pull for 10 or so reps. Stop, rest, take another drink and then wipe the imaginary sweat from their brow. It can be humorous except they are doing themselves a disservice. They think they are doing the right thing, they are doing good for themselves, when in fact they are killing themselves. When they leave their early morning “gym workout” and hit the local Mickie D’s, they end up a loser. They justify their diet for the rest of the day as being acceptable since they “worked out” this morning.

Unfortunately, they don’t realize they only burned 200-300 calories and that donut has 400, so before they hit the office, they are on the wrong track. Here comes lunch, with the self-talk of “who needs a salad, I worked out this morning!”, so they slam the burger and fries. Then there is dinner. I need a good dinner to build up my energy for my work out tomorrow. Of course a good dinner must be followed by dessert….again, I worked out today, I deserve it.

So, if they did not go to the gym OR for the folks that were smart enough to be quitters in the first place, then they would not have the false sense of reality about their fitness and would eliminate the rationalization of indulging. They would eat their salads and keep planning on heading to the gym next week.

Why this blog..well, there is a great article in August 17 issue of Time (http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html) or the PDF is at www.ronhollis.com. This article is challenging the concept of exercise and its overall value to weight loss. The author is right on here in challenging the perceptions of reality. Essentially, she is writing what I have been observing. Folks that go to the gym feel vindicated to eat whatever. My observations show that even going to the gym is a compromise in that the exertion is very limited but the overall experience is that “I worked out this morning, so let’s eat”.

Per the Time article, there are 45M gym members in the US, which is up from 23M in a $19B gym industry…..good size industry. One would think there must be some good in all of these memberships.

Recently I experienced a hydrostatic body fat analsyis. Very interesting results that are quite daunting. At the end of this test, I was 24.5% body fat and needed to be at 20%. Of course obese for men is 30%, which would appear to be practically every person I see in life, especially if they are over 40. It seems impossible to not be obese in today’s world. Even with my recent investment in fitness, I am struggling to lose this last 4.5%.

However, the guy that gave me the test was very candid and told me that body fat was 80% DIET and only 20% exercise. Meaning, you have to manage the calories you consume more than just the calories you burn. He’s right. When I started tracking all the food I consumed, it was quite amazing how fast you would ADD calories. Reality is a muffin is 350calories or the ranch dressing for the healthy salad is 100 calories. For me, I can consume 2000 calories to break-even for weight (my standard living caloric burn is 2000 calories per day). So, if I want the glass of wine or ice cream, I have to account for that in the diet and be sure to work those calories into the day by exercise. If I can work out for 60-90 minutes to burn 500 calories (which is mostly running), then I get 2500 calories to BREAK-EVEN…but my goal is to lose body fat, so I still have a problem.

At the end of the day, losing or maintaining weight is simple arithmetic. Calories consumed less calories burned equal your caloric surplus/deficit for the day. For every 3500 calories you accumulate a deficit (net burn), then you lose one pound.

That’s it…use the gym as a resource to burn calories that are actually counted toward your daily numbers and NOT as an excuse to eat whatever.

Besides weight control, why else should one be interested in exercise. It does appear to be positive for cognitive skills, especially as a person ages. There may be a reduction in the risk of cancers or illnesses. But very fit folks get cancer too, so it’s a combination of life experiences.

Exercise or not, one thing seems certain…..you don’t see very many fat old folks walking around. So they don’t exist OR they are confined in their domicile.