MYTH- IF YOU EXERCISE YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT NO MATTER WHAT YOU EAT⠀
The way to lose weight is to take in less calories than you burn.⠀
Still, that weight loss may not occur as quickly as you want. If you go on an extremely strict calorie reduction plan, you may not lose much weight for days — or even a week or two.⠀
That’s because severely reducing calories triggers the release of more cortisol, which typically increases the amount of fluid you retain. So you are losing fat; you’re just retaining more water. But it all shakes itself out after a period of time (which is why some people will suddenly lose several pounds over the course of a couple days). ⠀
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So with all that said: If you want to lose four pounds in a month, you’ll need to burn 500 more calories per day than you consume. ⠀
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You can do that by eating 500 calories less than you normally do, or burning 500 calories more than you normally do, or a combination of the two.⠀
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Either way, do that for a month and you will lose four pounds. If you don’t lose four pounds, that means you either undercounted the amount of calories you took in, or over-counted the amount of extra calories you burned.⠀
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If you find that — no matter what diet you’re following — you aren’t losing weight, then you need to eat a little less and move a little more.⠀
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It really is that simple. You won’t find a single scientific study that argues otherwise.⠀
