Embracing Exercise for Stress Relief
You feel tired and stressed out, and you’re wondering if exercise can help. Can adopting a regular exercise regimen really help you to reduce your stress levels, and to feel happier and more at peace on a daily basis?
You also want to lose weight, and you might be wondering if exercise alone can help you to lose weight and keep it off if you struggle with obesity.
In this blog post we’ll walk through these questions together.
The Dual Benefit: Weight Loss and Stress Relief Through Exercise
Regular exercise is a powerful tool to help you feel better in your body, reduce or relieve certain medical issues, and live a longer life. However, exercise is not a stand-alone tool for weight management. In fact, studies have shown that by itself, without other changes, exercise does not result in any significant or sustainable weight loss. The reason is that even regular vigorous exercise will only burn a few hundred calories per day, and many people who are struggling with obesity or overweight can struggle to push their bodies that far. An hour of brisk walking on a treadmill can burn around 500 calories, but all of those gains can be erased with a single slice of cheesecake. And your brain and body work together to simply replace the calories that have been burned through your hard work. This is why, if you want to lose weight and keep it off, then it is essential to pair regular exercise with dietary modifications.
Or as Dr. Donald Hensrud of the Mayo Clinic puts it, “For weight loss, diet seems to be more effective than physical activity. You have to do huge amounts of physical activity to lose weight, but you can get a better energy deficit just by cutting down on calories.”
To be clear, exercise is still very important for your long-term physical and mental well-being. Why is exercise good for mental health? One reason is that exercise is a powerful stress-relief tool. When you exercise, your body produces endorphins, which are your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters. Endorphins improve your mood and can reduce stress. Exercise also reduces levels of adrenaline and cortisol, often called the body’s stress hormones. Studies show a very clear link between exercise and stress relief. Exercise also increases neurotrophic factors that over time can make you smarter and slow down age-related mental decline.
Exercise can also help you to improve your focus, sleep better, and forget the minor irritations and struggles of the day–all of which can also improve stress reduction.
Beyond Exercise: Considering Bariatric Surgery As A Weight Management Solution
The unfortunate truth is that, if you suffer from obesity, then diet and exercise alone are unlikely to help you lose weight and keep it off. Many of our patients describe trying to lose weight before surgery as like trying to climb a sheer rock wall without a rope. They would diet and exercise for months, and lose 50 or even 100 pounds; only to watch helplessly as the scale slowly crept up again after they returned to their former habits. When you suffer from obesity, your body is hardwired to maintain its current weight, which makes lasting weight loss very difficult.
If this describes you, please know that there is a way out. Bariatric surgery can help you to level the playing field in your battle with obesity. Many of our patients lose 100-150 pounds or even more and keep it off. Imagine how that would feel.
Taking the Next Step On Your Weight Loss Journey
At the BMCC we take a holistic approach to your weight loss. Bariatric surgery is a powerful tool, but it is not a magical cure. You will need to adhere to a strict diet and exercise regime after surgery in order to maximize your long-term weight loss and get your life back.
Even though it is not a stand-alone weight loss solution, exercise is still essential to a healthy life. It can help you to feel better in your body. Exercise and stress relief also go hand-in-hand. After surgery, our bariatric team will work with you every step of the way to craft an exercise regime that works for you; and this regime, in conjunction with dietary changes and bariatric surgery, provide a holistic weight loss solution that can help you to stop feeling like a prisoner in your own body and get your life back.
Our patients routinely say that surgery was the best decision they ever made.
“I feel like I have won the lottery and have been given a second chance in life! March 25, 2014 was the first day of the rest of my new life and I can’t even start to express in words how grateful I am.”—Rochelle Goforth, patient.
If you’re suffering, don’t wait. Contact our Denver office today.
