Weight Loss Myth: Working out Causes Weight Gain in Women

There are a lot of misconceptions about the relationship between working out and gaining weight, especially concerning women.  Many women believe if they work out with weights, they will gain weight and become bigger and bulkier.  This is just not possible if you are eating properly and working out enough.

Women do not have enough testosterone to build and maintain big muscles.  What is true is muscle burns more calories than fat.  It is very important for women to maintain muscle mass when trying to lose weight.   Problems arise when it comes to understanding how many calories our bodies actually burn during exercise.  Many women (and men too) significantly overestimate how many calories are burned during various exercises.  Because of this, we may think it is OK to eat higher calorie foods after exercising.  For example, you may think I worked out really hard today; I deserve an extra slice or two of pizza.   However, this is basically just an excuse to pig-out and it can ruin your diet and weight loss and even cause weight gain.  You may have only burned 200 calories in your workout, and then in eating two slices of pizza consumed over 900 calories.

There are simple ways to avoid this happening and help keep you on track.  You can easily find calculators online that estimate calorie burn rates for different exercises.  A couple of good resources are the websites for Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig type programs that offer advice and information regarding exercise and weight loss.  To make sure you don’t blow your diet, use these tools and know your body and what it needs to lose weight.