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Why Does More Exercise Sometimes Lead to More Weight Gain? No, It's Not Muscle · Doctor Turned Health Coach

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  Good morning, people. Welcome to the doctor-turned-health-coach podcast.
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  My name is Dr. Ashuri, family medicine doctor-turned-health-coach.
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  Have you ever started a workout routine, some sort of an exercise regimen,
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  just to find yourself gain a lot of weight,
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  actually go the other direction?
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  How frustrating is that and why is that?
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  In today's episode, I'm going to dive into this topic.
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  And there are two components to
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  this paradox now there's a lot of paradoxes out
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  there and the reason is that sometimes when we have a
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  certain mindset about something we might miss the important details of that
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  concept the fitness paradox is mostly about the amount of energy that we put
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  out that our body subconsciously tries to resist. It comes in two forms.
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  One is the exercise, the fitness part of it, and two is the nutrition part of it. Let me explain.
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  So the fitness part is people who tend to start running or weightlifting,
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  they actually will subconsciously spend more time not exercising.
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  They'll spend more sedentary time.
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  So the classic example is somebody who maybe has lost their routine.
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  They haven't been exercising for a while. They start a gym membership.
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  And suddenly, when they go to the gym on those Mondays, Wednesdays,
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  and Fridays, on those days, they are completely sedentary.
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  They're not doing anything. They just stay home.
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  They, as soon as they finish their exercise, they just, boom,
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  plop in front of the TV and they're just watching stuff.
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  And that happens because in many ways, we're just so exhausted. it.
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  But in many ways, we also think subconsciously that I got a lot of exercise,
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  therefore I don't need to do a lot of movement.
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  And for some people, this can carry over into the next few days.
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  I did my exercise on Monday.
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  I can be pretty chill today on Monday. I can be pretty chill on Tuesday.
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  I'll just save all my energy so I can work out on Wednesday.
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  This effect is often much more pronounced for people who tend to exercise more
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  intensely with a lot more intensity or where the exercise is just not that pleasant
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  and they have to use a lot of emotional and mental energy to get themselves to do the exercise.
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  The second paradox is the nutrition paradox and this happens because when we
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  exercise we also tend to get hungrier.
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  For some people this is going to be much more pronounced i actually did a poll
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  of all of my friends and half said that the more i exercise the more hungry
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  i get and half said that when i exercise i lose my appetite so it's a good thing
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  well i guess for them if they're trying to stay more calorie neutral.
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  With exercise, especially intense exercise, sometimes what will happen is the
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  insulin and glucose kind of go on a roller coaster.
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  For a lot of people, that can result in quite a lot of hunger,
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  which can be difficult to overcome, especially if you already have some difficulty managing hunger.
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  For other people, again, it's that subconscious idea that, well,
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  I exercise, therefore I can eat a little bit more.
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  I can afford to have more calories. Now, both of these require a little bit
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  of that consciousness, some level of tracking, so that I know,
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  like, oh my gosh, look at this.
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  Every single time I go to the gym or every single time I go do this surfing
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  thing, I end up having this huge meal afterwards. And that's kind of an interesting concept.
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  And the classic, classic fitness paradox. The solution to this,
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  of course, is to track how much you exercise, is to track how much you eat.
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  Not that tracking is the right option for everyone, but it can be effective
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  for some people and it is worth trying.
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  You don't have to be a perfectionist about it, just trying it out a little bit.
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  Monitoring, especially those days when you do engage in some sort of fitness, can be effective.
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  Number two, I recommend starting very slowly with your fitness just so that
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  it's not so intense that you want to flop down on a sofa or have a giant meal afterwards.
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  And number three, engage in the kind of fitness you really enjoy.
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  Enjoying your fitness activity is a great way to ensure that you're not going
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  to try to compensate for it consciously or subconsciously.
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  As always, thank you for listening. subscribe to this podcast if you find this
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  content helpful and please share it with one other person that you think would
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  find these podcast episodes interesting take care.