by Danelle Karth

Created on: August 04, 2010

Exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Whether you are thin or in need of losing weight the benefits that exercise provides are numerous. This is the best way to keep your body working as it should, to develop muscle tone, and to aim for a heart healthy life. However, when it comes to weight loss or weight management exercise can go a long way to helping you in your goals.

Your body functions very much like a machine. It takes in fuel in the form of calories and it burns those fuels to make energy. Energy is required for everything we do in life, but there are times that we need more energy and hence more fuel. This is good because when we have excess fuel the body stores it for later use in the form of fat. If you think about it in balance like an equation or even an old fashioned weighted balance than you can help to see what you put in and the energy that you burn. To gain weight you want to eat more than you burn. To maintain weight you want to make sure that you are eating about the same number of calories that you burn and to lose weight you want to make sure that you are burning more calories than you eat. You don't have to keep track of each calorie you eat and burn, but rather just have a good idea of what you are eating and what you are doing to burn calories. You will know how well you are doing by weight loss, weight gain, or weight management.

So, today you enjoyed a donut for breakfast instead of something low in calories and healthy for you. Rather than feel guilty about this pleasure you should consider exercise as a helpful tool. When you take in more calories than normal you can use exercise or extra exercise to help burn off those extra calories. This will in turn help you balance out what you take in and what you burn.

It is important to note that this will indeed help you maintain your weight, but that if you consume extra calories on a regular basis with the idea that you are exercising a lot you may find yourself stuck in a plateau in your weight loss. In order for you to loose weight you will need to be burning more calories than you are taking in.

Exercise should be an important part of your life because it is good for your body. Additionally it lowers stress, keeps you active, and helps fight off the aging process. If you are in need of losing a few pounds than exercise is very important for losing weight in a healthy manner. However, exercise can also help you balance things out so that you don't have to feel guilty about simple pleasures in the kitchen. Just remember that you want to make sure that you are keeping the food indulgence down and you are sure to have a balance in your weight.

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