By James Spann

Recent Study Concludes: If You Want To Lose Weight, Make Exercise Fun

 

What is the secret to losing weight successfully? Most people will agree that along with genetics, how you eat, and how much you exercise play vital roles in weight loss. However, some people eat healthy, and exercise regularly, but still cannot lose the extra pounds. Perhaps, they look at exercise as a chore rather than as fun and enjoyment.
According to an article in New York Times taken from the journal Marketing Letter, people who make exercise fun, lose more weight and eat healthier than their counterparts who don’t enjoy exercising. I am not kidding. French and American researchers discovered that people who perceive their workout as fun, ate less and made healthier food choices after working out than those who considered exercising a boring chore.

 The researchers had two groups of mostly overweight people walk the same distance. They told one group to make exercise fun by enjoying the scenery and playing music as they walked.  The other group was simply told to walk for exercise in order to lose weight.  After the walk, each group was given tasty treats as a reward. The group who walked just for exercise ate significantly more than the group who had fun as they walked. The group who walked for the sake of exercising also expressed “feeling more fatigued and grumpy” than the other group.
Almost the same results were observed among marathon runners who were involved in a similar study; those who attempted to make exercise fun during the race ate much less than those who had less fun.

The  new finding demonstrates that people need some kind of reward for working out. The reward is fun for those who enjoy exercising.  However, the reward is heavy, unhealthy eating  for people who don’t consider exercise to be a fun experience.

Dr. Carolina O.C. Werle stated: “The more we make exercise fun, the less we’ll feel the need to compensate for the effort.”
So, the take home point is to focus on whatever you consider to be fun or enjoyable when you exercise. In other words, try to find activities in which you enjoy, and you are more likely to lose weight.