Lose Weight Today

Lose Those Extra Pounds Fast

You've heard it time and again -- to lose weight, you need to exercise and watch your diet, so that your calories burned exceed your calories consumed.


But if you've been working out and your extra pounds won't budge, you may be wondering why that seemingly simple strategy isn't working.

Don't hang up your sneakers and throw in the towel. If you do, you're going to miss out on the biggest weight perk exercise has to offer, experts tell WebMD.
First, you may need a reality check about what to expect from exercise. Here are five truths about exercise and your weight.

Exercise is only part of the weight loss story.

On the couch or in the gym, there's no getting around your tab of calories in and calories out.

Robert Kushner, MD, is a professor of medicine at Northwestern University and clinical director of the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity. He says the obese patients he treats often tell him they're not seeing the results they want from exercise.

"They typically will say, 'I have been working out three days a week for 30 minutes for the past three months and I have lost 2 pounds; there's something wrong with my metabolism,'" says Kushner

Kushner says he tells patients that exercise is very good for them, but for weight loss, he emphasizes a healthy diet in the beginning.

"First, we've got to get a handle on your diet," Kushner says. "Then, as you're losing weight and feel better and you're lighter on your feet, then we shift more and more toward being more physically active; and then living a physically active lifestyle for the rest of your life is going to be important to keeping your weight off."

Kushner's strategy is "certainly one reasonable approach," but others have had success including physical activity early on, says James O. Hill, PhD, professor of pediatrics and medicine and the director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado at Denver.

It's easier to cut 1,000 calories from a bloated diet than to burn off 1,000 calories through exercise, Hill notes. "But there are many, many studies that show that exercise is associated with weight loss when done in enough volume and consistently," Hill says. "It depends how much you do."

Pamela Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP, says she emphasizes physical activity right away with obese patients, partly for its mind-body benefits.

"Fitness is my middle name," says Peeke, who is the spokeswoman for the American College of Sports Medicine's "Exercise is Medicine" campaign. "I immediately add physical activity, but I do it gently."

Peeke says she asks her patients to start walking as a way to "celebrate" their body with activity. "For years, they've blown off their body," Peeke says. "By having them actually use their body ... they can begin to integrate their body back into their life and not use it as a source of torture or torment or shame."