What Happens to Your Body When You Workout

Whether you’ve been exercising all your life or just begun, there have always been myths and fads surrounding the fitness world. Crash diets, the ability to lose weight quickly or what foods to eat are examples of ways popular media has shaped fitness.

But really, the main reason many people exercise is to lose weight. However, many people go in blind without exactly knowing what will happen to their body. The following are things most likely to happen when you start a workout routine.

You’ll want to diet – Don’t do this.

You would think, “I’m starting to exercise, so I should go on a diet too!” It’s true that you should always try to eat healthy no matter what, but there is a distinct difference between “eating healthy” and “diet.”

Many diets include cutting out foods altogether like sugar and carbs. According to Brent Brookbush, certified personal trainer with degrees in Health and Wellness as well as a master’s in Exercise Science says, Carbohydrates are not the enemy. Excess calories are your enemy, not carbs! Carbohydrates are a source of energy for the body.

When you start exercising, your body uses sugar as energy because fat cannot be broken down fast enough to fuel high intensity activities. So, to burn the fat, the body needs more carbs to help burn it. Carbs are essential for a healthy diet and should be 45-60% of your daily calories. (Examples of good carbs would be beans, sweet potatoes and spinach. Complex carbs like multi-grain bread and rice in small quantities.)

You’ll want to eat more – Do this.

This does not mean get a second helping at dinner, it means to eat one or two healthy snacks throughout the day. As stated in the last section, your body needs more energy to burn fat. In those crash diets and instant weight loss programs they claim you can “lose 10 pounds in a week” or another outrageous number. But, those 10 pounds are not fat.

The weight loss during crash diets and low carb diets comes from muscle sugar depletion, relative dehydration and the breakdown of proteins in the muscles and liver. And it all comes down to carbs!

If you don’t consume enough carbs, your body has to find new ways to make sugar. Because of this new need, your body targets the storage in your muscles, not fat, to make sugar. Don’t detour your body’s new need to eat more when you start an exercise routine, make it up with lots of consumption of leafy greens, good carbohydrates and protein!

Your body might want to exercise – This is great!

You’ve most likely heard of “runner’s high” or the release of endorphins through the brain when a person exercises. But according to HowStuffWorks.com, researchers have found that light-to-moderate weight training or cardiovascular exercise doesn’t produce endorphins, only heavy weights or training that incorporates sprinting or other anaerobic exertion.

When your body crosses over from an aerobic state to an anaerobic state, it’s suddenly operating without enough oxygen to satisfy the muscles and cells screaming out for it. This is when the “runner’s high” occurs.

Though the sudden need for that euphoric feeling won’t get you addicted to exercising, you may start to notice you are more alert, have more energy and just want to get up and run around!

Every person is different, so when formulating an exercise routine for yourself, find your limits and find what works for you!

Ask the trainers at Powerlady to help you with your exercise routine!