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Just Rewards

The headlines scream: WHY EXERCISE WON’T MAKE YOU THIN. Listen carefully and you can hear the sighs of thousands of women (and men) as they bypass the gym and head straight for their favourite restaurant.

But is it true? Based on the headline above well yes it is true. Because the main factor in weight-loss is diet. Now there’s no need to go on a crash diet or invest in pills or skip meals but take a look at what you’re eating. Is it healthy? Is it low GI? And most of all, is it natural?

A trainer once told me that 70% of weight-loss is due to diet. Think about it. How many times have you rewarded yourself with an extra piece of cake because you went to the gym that morning and will work extra hard at the gym tomorrow to burn it off?

“That’s how the celebrities get their figures: through strength training!”

Here’s the scoop: exercise alone will lead to weight-loss as long as the energy in is higher than the energy out.

If you eat a low-fat meal at each meal time your body will have an easier time processing the food, your blood sugar will be stable and you will feel good. But if you eat high-fat meals all the time you will feel sluggish and not in the mood for exercise.

Time Magazine ran an article in April 2009 about this very topic. It found that many gym-goers rewarded themselves with treat foods such as doughnuts after their workout. Now does that sound like something a Fernwood fox would do?

Exercise does a multitude of things. How many times have you admired someone’s figure and found out that it came about through only healthy eating? Celebrities the world over are forever telling us they’ve put in the hard hours at the gym or with the trainer to achieve those splendid legs or well-defined arms. And it’s true. Eating right will set you on the right direction for weight-loss. But exercise will also define and shape your figure so you can show it off. A fabulous toned figure cannot be achieved through diet alone.

Regular exercise prevents weight gain and in turn will lead to extra muscle tone which allows the body to burn kilojoules all the time. It has also been shown to improve your cognitive ability. But that’s no reason to binge on unhealthy food.

It doesn’t need to be cardio-induced heart-wrenching exercise. Studies have shown that low-intensity workouts are better for losing weight as there is less chance of injury.

Osteoporosis is a disease that is prevalent amongst women due to the fairer sex’s lack of strength training. Women need to do two to three strength training sessions a week to strengthen their bones to prevent the onset of the disease. That’s how the celebrities get their figures: through strength training! By Marianna Thomson.

Get the results you want through a combination of exercise and food coaching with the Get Foxy Challenge.

Marianna Thomson lives in Sydney, has just completed uni and is looking for a job in publishing. Marianna is half-Filipino, loves her dogs a bit too much and prefers even numbers to odd ones.

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