There are a few reasons why more exercise doesn’t always lead to more weight loss.
1. Your Body Adapts to Burn Fewer Calories During Exercise
“As you keep exercising and losing weight, your body often becomes more efficient with energy,” Todd says. This effect, known as metabolic adaptation, means your resting metabolism (how many calories you burn at rest) and overall calorie burn can drop, she says.
This can make your body more resistant to weight loss, slowing your progress over time. One study of overweight women found that those who experienced a bigger drop in metabolic rate took longer to reach their weight loss goals than those who experienced a smaller drop.
2. Your Appetite May Increase Alongside Your Activity Level
It’s often not the exercise itself that’s the problem but what happens afterward that can sabotage weight loss goals.
“Science is still at the beginning of understanding how hormones impact weight loss and weight regain and the role of exercise in this process,” says Lynn Grieger, RDN, CDCES, a registered dietitian-nutritionist in Prescott, Arizona, and a medical reviewer for Everyday Health.
How much you enjoy your workout could play a role in your diet choices as well. One review aimed to outline effective strategies for weight maintenance, and found that people with overweight or obesity reached for calorie-dense foods when they viewed their workout as unenjoyable and difficult.
3. Overtraining Can Affect Metabolism
Intense exercise can signal to the body that it’s in a state of distress. “When our body senses low energy due to excessive exercise and not eating enough, it starts to burn fewer calories at rest to conserve fuel,” Oparaji says.
Overtraining often comes with persistent tiredness, decreased performance, sleep and hormonal changes, and frequent injuries or illness, Oparaji says. While true overtraining syndrome mostly affects elite athletes and military personnel, everyday exercisers still run the risk of overdoing it, burning out, and ditching their workout regimen altogether, Todd says.
You know you’re overtraining if you wake up feeling tired, find yourself getting sick more often, your heart rate increases to more than 100 beats per minute or decreases to under 60 beats per minute at rest, or your mood changes to be more irritable, less motivated, or more anxious.
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