As the new year approaches or summer approaches, many people ambitiously sign up for a fitness center. However, even if you exercise for several months, you rarely see dramatic results, and instead, you only end up with muscle pain that never existed. In particular, excessive exercise that causes degenerative arthritis, which has recently become a trend among young women in their 20s and 30s, can be a factor that harms health, let alone diet. Why am I not losing weight as much as I want even though I exercise?

Can I lose weight in the desired area through exercise?

Diet books sold in bookstores, DVDs containing celebrities’ exercise methods, fitness centers ubiquitous on the streets… Everyone agrees that you can lose weight and have a body like a model just by exercising. However, achieving the desired body shape through exercise alone is not as easy as you might think. You must engage in intense exercise for at least three months and, of course, follow a strict diet. If you ask models, singers, or actors how they exercised to get in shape, everyone will know that they say they worked out for 3 to 4 hours a day with a personal trainer. In addition, it also includes strictly following a carbohydrate-free diet that focuses on chicken breast and salad.

But in reality, is it possible for ordinary people to have an environment where they can exercise like this? It is questionable whether most office workers can hire a personal trainer just for exercise and exercise for 34 hours a day. No, first of all, you need to check whether you have the stamina to do such a rigorous exercise. This is because for most people, just climbing the 34th floor of stairs can make them out of breath, and maintaining a posture for strength training for more than 10 seconds can feel unreasonable.

Of course, let’s assume that all of the above conditions are met and you start exercising. But how long can you continue exercising on this schedule? Most trainers say at least 3 months is the period for members who exercise to address partial obesity, not severe obesity, to lose about 5 to 6 kg of weight.

Is it possible to design the body type you want just by exercising? The answer, of course, is ‘possible’. However, before questioning whether you can lose weight through exercise, shouldn’t you first consider whether you can meet realistic aspects such as the time, effort, and cost involved in exercising?

There is no exercise just for six packs.

Many people exercise to lose weight. In particular, focus on exercising specific areas to solve your own problem areas, such as belly fat, thighs, and forearms. However, it is known that exercises that focus on local areas do not actually have a significant effect on reducing body fat in those areas.

Sit-ups are helpful in strengthening abdominal muscles, but they are ineffective in reducing visceral fat. Also, doing squats to lose thigh fat will not make your thighs thinner in a short period of time. Squats only make you look thinner because they strengthen your thigh muscles and increase their elasticity. Even if the exercise method is known as local area exercise, body fat reduction is ultimately achieved at a similar rate throughout the entire body.

So, does exercise for each part have any effect? Not necessarily. Exercises that train a specific area have little effect in directly reducing body fat in that area, but they help build the muscles in that area to create a more elastic body. If you are concerned about bulging buttocks, you cannot reduce the size itself, but you can achieve the effect of making your buttocks look firmer through hip-up exercises. If you are concerned about flabby forearm fat, you can benefit from arm exercises such as push-ups.

There was a case where a person appeared looking old, making many people laugh while also raising awareness about excessive exercise.

Exercise prevents aging if done in moderation, but if exercise is done excessively, it blocks cell regeneration and causes an increase in free radicals in the body. Free radicals damage our body’s cell membranes, chromosomes, and proteins, causing or promoting aging. Excessive exercise ages the skin and, in severe cases, causes arteriosclerosis or heart disease. Recently, research results have shown that diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and varicose veins are closely related to free radicals. In addition, intense exercise causes lactic acid to accumulate in the body, causing symptoms of amenorrhea in women and causing frequent fatigue. If fatigue continues to accumulate, the lifespan of cells may be shortened. Exercising to get healthy can actually harm your health.

In addition, women should be more careful about excessive exercise. Recently, it has been revealed that excessive exercise is also the cause of degenerative arthritis, which is increasing among young women in their 20s and 30s. Dr. Zachary Vaughn, an American orthopedic surgeon, Prevention“We often treat women in their 20s who show symptoms of late-stage arthritis,” he said. As the number of women doing high-intensity interval exercise increases compared to the past, joints such as the knees are receiving a great deal of impact due to movements that require high speed, high jumps, and quick turns. In particular, high-intensity interval exercise is effective for dieting because it burns a lot of calories, but if done excessively, it can cause serious injury to the joints.

Because correct balance and posture are important in bee exercise, even the slightest disruption in posture can cause significant damage to the knee joints. Also, when walking, a load of twice your body weight is usually carried, whereas when running, a load of 3 to 4 times is carried, so be careful when running on a treadmill.

Exercising is more difficult than starving; the key is to continue.

In October 2014, 365mc Obesity Clinic analyzed ways to improve the eating habits of customers who received dietary and nutritional counseling at liposuction centers in Seoul, Daejeon, and Busan for weight loss. Out of a total of 665 customers, 629 (95%) are practicing ‘improving drinking habits’ to lose weight, 588 (88%) of customers responded ‘reducing spicy and salty foods,’ and ‘snacks and late-night snacks.’ ‘Reduce’ was surveyed with 584 people (87%). Additionally, ‘Eating three meals a day regularly’ was followed by 478 people (72%), and ‘Eating enough protein’ was followed by 323 people (49%). Among them, ‘exercising regularly (30 minutes or more of aerobic exercise)’ had the lowest practice rate with 152 people (23%). We know that consistent exercise is the answer to a healthy diet, but it is very difficult to actually put it into practice.

Kim Woo-jun, director of 365mc Obesity Clinic, said, “If you don’t have enough time to go to the gym or exercise, we recommend ways to increase your daily activity, such as increasing your walking distance from the office, avoiding taking the elevator, and taking a walk for 5 to 10 minutes after lunch.” He advises. However, it is difficult to exercise consistently and there are clear limits to achieving noticeable diet effects and losing weight in desired areas by simply improving lifestyle habits. Dieting is ultimately a race against time, so you must continue to do so even if there is no immediate noticeable effect. However, you must be careful because excessive greed can cause a yo-yo effect by fasting or exercising excessively.

Why you don’t lose weight even if you exercise

01. Ignore your heart rate
When doing cardio exercise, your heart rate must rise to about 75% of your maximum heart rate to be effective. Maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. When you increase the intensity of your exercise to the maximum, you can roughly determine your maximum heart rate by measuring your pulse by placing your hand on your wrist or neck.

Sometimes exercise intensity is measured based on the amount of sweat, but since sweat output varies depending on body type, it is inefficient to use this as a standard for exercise intensity. Rather, it is more effective to control the pace by increasing the intensity of exercise until breathing becomes rough and heavy, and then lowering it.

02. Mistaking a walk for exercise
Wearing sneakers and training clothes and taking your dog for a walk may make you feel like you are exercising, but exercise as low intensity as walking is not very helpful in losing weight. It is better to run lightly enough to sweat a little.

03. I don’t move much except during exercise time.
If you spend most of your time sitting or lying down, except for designated exercise times, your energy consumption will decrease as your activity level decreases. Even when you are not exercising, you must move your body frequently to improve blood circulation and ensure that the effects of exercise last for a long time. When climbing a building, try to use the stairs and often stretch while sitting at your desk.

04. Exercise on an empty stomach
Exercise should not be done on an empty stomach. If you exercise on an empty stomach, you will lose more muscle than fat. Losing muscle is not good for your body and reduces calorie consumption. If you don’t have time to exercise or eat right after work, eat something simple like a banana, milk, or yogurt at least an hour before.

05. Binge eating due to compensation mentality
After exercising, you rationalize that you can eat more than usual. Additionally, as a reward for exercising hard, you may unconsciously increase the amount you eat or become more tolerant of the types of food you consume. But if you want to lose weight, you need to be more strict with yourself. Rather than seeking pleasure through binge eating, you should enjoy the feeling of refreshment and satisfaction you feel after exercising.

06. Not taking time to recover
Exercise is also a factor that causes stress on the body. If you apply moderate stress and take time to recover, you can actually burn fat while resting, reducing body fat and making your body healthier. If you exercise your entire body all day, it is a good idea to allow sufficient recovery time the next day.07. Muscles increase
If you continue to exercise, you will lose fat but gain muscle instead. Muscle tissue is much tighter and denser than fat tissue, so it doesn’t take up as much space as fat lumps. If you’re upset that you can’t lose weight even though you exercise, check your waist circumference, chest size, and butt shape. Even if you haven’t lost much weight, your body shape may have changed and you may be able to wear clothes that are smaller than before.