This is the second column in a two-part series. Achieving and maintaining desirable weight is as much a matter of exercise and activity as it is a matter of controlling calories. Regular exercise is the edge that helps assure the 250 calories you're eliminating from your diet come off as fat.
Exercise benefits weight control in at least three ways.
First, is the obvious benefit of the extra calories expended during exercise itself. Secondly, and perhaps as important, a 20-minute bout of exercise is thought to raise resting metabolic rate for some period after exercising has stopped. Resting metabolic rate refers to the energy or calories needed to stay alive with minimal activity. Thus, even after the jogger or cyclist has showered and gone on to other things, he or she may be expending more calories per hour as a result of the exercise program. A third way exercise is thought to improve weight control is by improving our appetite regulating mechanisms so that we're more in tune with our actual calorie needs.