by Susan Kristoff

Created on: November 10, 2009

The weight loss plan outlined by the Weight Watchers system is a comprehensive life management plan that includes both a healthy eating strategy as well as exercise for health and fitness. Changing your eating habits to lose weight makes sense, but why is exercise so important?

Exercise for Weight Loss

At its simplest, any activities that you perform during the day burn calories. The more intensely that you exercise, the more calories that you burn per unit of time. Exercise helps you to burn more calories than you take in through eating, and encourage your body to burn its fat stores, resulting in your weight dropping over time. The Weight Watchers program allows you to add Points to your daily Points target based on activities you perform, so you can actually eat more when you exercise regularly. In fact, you'll need to eat more to give your body the fuel it needs to exercise effectively.

Some people may see a short term weight gain when they begin an exercise program as they begin to build muscle mass. Muscle tissue is more dense than fat tissue, so it can temporarily add to your weight. However, muscle tissue burns far more calories than fat tissue, so over time your increased muscle mass will go to work and you'll begin to lose weight. Your body will burn more calories all of the time, even when you're resting, due to your increased muscle mass, making your weight loss goals even easier to achieve.

Exercise for Improved Health

Exercise has far more benefits than just boosting your weight loss. Regular exercise increases your cardiovascular health, helps to reduce your cholesterol levels, decreases your potential for Type 2 diabetes. Exercise gives you the energy to enjoy your weight loss by engaging in activities with your family and friends that just weren't possible for you when you were overweight. You'll be able to keep up better with your kids and live a more vibrant lifestyle.

Exercise for Fun

There are so many ways to be active, so there are likely many activities out there that you'll love to do, just for the sheer joy of doing it. Hiking with your family and enjoying the view, cross country skiing, river kayaking, or just walking on the beach are a few activities that will raise your happiness level as well as your activity level. Exercise should be something that you enjoy and look forward to doing, so experiment with activities until you find a few options that you love.

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