Can you lose weight by exercising in the gym?

The answer is not necessarily - it may be the most efficient aid on your journey to lose fat, or it may make you gain 3 pounds after practicing for two months, and then turn around and say that applying for a card is like paying an IQ tax.

My colleague Xiao Zhou applied for an annual membership card last spring. In the first two weeks, I was so fresh that I did it every day. I did 40 minutes of exercise on the treadmill and skipped a spinning class. Every time I was sweating, I would go to the nearby night market to show off the grilled skewers and ice powder.

In fact, this is really not the fault of the gym. The core of losing weight is always a calorie deficit. To put it bluntly, you eat less than you burn out. The function of the gym is to help you make the "consumption" pie bigger. If you turn around and stuff more into the "intake" side, then all your training will be in vain.

My girlfriend lost weight a while ago. She used to dance with Pamela at home. After two minutes of training, she would lie on the sofa and check her mobile phone for half an hour. She didn't do anything for half a month. Then I went to the gym and found a reliable trainer. Each time, she would do 20 minutes of strength training for shoulders, back and lower limbs, and then 30 minutes of elliptical training. Yuanji, I didn’t feel hungry during my diet. I just replaced the full-sugar milk tea in the afternoon with sugar-free oolong tea, and replaced half a bowl of white rice with brown rice at dinner. I lost 7 pounds in a month and a half, and my waist circumference shrank by 4 centimeters. Now I go there 4 times a week without anyone urging me.

Someone must be trying to argue, saying that my friend did not lose weight but gained weight after going to the gym for two months. Isn’t that training in vain? Don’t just focus on the number on the scale. The volume of muscle of the same weight is three times smaller than that of fat. The muscle on your waist feels tight. The jeans that you couldn’t put on before can now be zipped up easily. Even if you gain 1 pound in weight, you have really lost weight. You can’t just lose muscle but not fat just for the sake of the number on the scale, right?

It’s not that you have to go to the gym if you want to lose weight. A runner I know runs 5 kilometers in a park near home every day. He keeps his mouth shut and lost 20 pounds in half a year. It’s just that the equipment in the gym is more complete. There are corresponding equipment for any area you want to practice. And the atmosphere is there. You are embarrassed to stand in the strength area with dumbbells for 5 minutes and check your phone, right? Most people will start moving as soon as they enter, and the efficiency is much higher than fishing at home.

If you really want to go to the gym to lose weight, there really aren't that many twists and turns. Don't regard exercise as a "coupon" for eating and drinking, and don't be anxious about squatting on the scale after three days of training. After a month of training, you can feel whether your arms and legs are tight or whether your old pants are loose. All data are more realistic.