Getting Guys to Balance Eating and Exercise

Situation:  My husband knows that he needs to lose weight but he thinks that all he has to do is exercise and the pounds will disappear. I told him that he needs to change his eating habits, too, but he says that’s not necessary.  Is there anything I can do to help him see the light?

Strategies: You are wise to encourage your husband to think in terms of both eating and exercising.  Exercising is a great thing, but exercising alone will not get your husband to the place he wants to be. He needs to limit his intake of calories if he wants to have a sub- stantial weight loss.Why not have your husband do some how-much-exercise-does- it-take math—it might help him change his mind. Here are the facts: A person needs to exercise enough to burn about 51⁄2 calories per pound of body weight per day in order to maintain his or her body weight. For a man weighing 200 pounds, that means burning about 1,100 calories, which is roughly equivalent to walking 11 miles, shooting hoops for 21⁄2 to 3 hours, or hitting balls at the driv- ing

range for 4 hours. To go beyond maintaining and lose 1 pound of fat solely through exercise, a person needs to burn an additional

3,500 calories. That means that the same 200-pound man would need to walk or run an additional 5 to 10 miles per day to lose 1 to

2 pounds per week! The bottom line: Although it is theoretically possible to lose weight through exercise alone, the amount of daily exercise that it takes is not realistic for most people.