This article on the relationship between exercise and weight loss was just emailed to me (hat tip: Susie). It argues that regular, vigorous exercise may not actually help us lose weight. The main reason is that when we drag our sorry bottoms to the gyms and force ourselves to slave away on the treadmill, we are more likely to indulge ourselves before and after. Because we are planning to go to the gym later, we may choose to spend the entire day slumped in our cubicles allowing ourselves to eat whatever our heart desires. Equally, after a tough workout, we will probably be tempted to indulge in a bit of junk food or something chocked full of sugar. The bottom line is that when we push ourselves so extremely in one area of our life (exercise), it is only natural that we would want to slack off somewhere else (diet).
It should not be surprising that the recommendation of this article was the middle path: not too slack and not too intense. In other words,try and include moderate exercise in your daily life, this could include walking to work, using stairs where they are available and even trying to be more aware of your posture as you sit at your desk for hours and hours. A similar sort of moderation should be applied to your diet: indulges shouldn't become a twice-daily part of your life but at the same time there is no need to eat like a rabbit and deprive yourself. Basically, we should all try and live like the French, the Spanish and the Italians. These cultures include walking as a basic part of a normal day. In their diets, they also indulge in small quantities occassionally and the rest of the time they eat moderately.
I find my diet obtains its happiest medium when, before I ingest anything, I ask myself whether an Italian would eat this. Its a constraint that is happy to bear.
