I find the age-old discussion, "Should I eat back my exercise points?" an interesting one. We go around and around on this on every message board and mailing list I belong to. If you're on a weight loss program, should you eat back your calories you burn? You will find a TON of "opinions" out there, but like well...elbows, we all have them and they don't mean a whole lot unless they are based on science in this case.

Yes. That's the answer. Yes. If you are on Weight Watchers or CalorieKing or another weight loss program, your program has already determined a loss level for you. That means that if you're given a target of 22 points a day and your body is normal, you'll lose weight at 22 points a day (or 1250 calories, whichever program you're doing). So if you burn a bunch of calories in the gym, you have to fuel that exercise. "Oh," but people argue, "It will help me lose weight FASTER if I eat only 1200 calories AND I burn 500 calories in the gym!"

No, but you do risk:

1. Catabalism: When the body is burning a lot more than you're eating, it will store the fat for emergencies and burn more lean tissues--muscles, organs, etc.
2. Lowering of your metabolism: When the body senses it is in a state of starvation, it will slow your metabolism.
3. Injury: When the body isn't getting enough nutrients to support exercise, you risk injury

As one woman then asked, "Well then what's the use of exercising?"

Honestly, in this day and age how can anyone NOT KNOW that exercise is important for more than just burning calories?? Hang on a second...I need to go find a wall to bang my head against.

Okay, I'm back.

The use of exercising:

1. Exercise reduces all cause death...in other words, even a little bit and your risk factors for early death go down
2. Exercise increases bone density, so important in women
3. Exercise can help balance the hormones
4. Exercise reduces your risk of Cardiovascular Heart Diseaes (CHD)
5. Exercise improves joint movement
6. Exercise increases lung capacity
7. Exercise increases your metabolism LONG after you have stopped working out BUT ONLY IF YOU EAT ENOUGH FUEL TO SUPPORT IT. If you don't, you'll lower your metabolism.
8. Exercise increases balance by helping your proprioceptors, which is extremely important as we age.
9. People who get regular, vigorous exercise live an average of 14 more years, and have more life in those years
10. Exercise aids in digestion, which can help reduce colon cancer.
11. Exercise improves skin tone
12. Exercise improves self esteem and self perception
13. Regular exercise improves back health
14. Strong women stay young isn't just the title of a book...
15. Exercise can increase immune function
16. As we get older, our metabolism naturally slows down. Exercise can help combat that.
17. As we get older, our muscle strength naturally reduces. Exercise can help combat that.
18. Exercise is an absolute NECESSITY for optimal health

This is not just "stuff I made up." There are numerous studies out there to support each of these claims, even the self esteem one. What's the use of exercise? Well, if you want to live to be a healthy old age, you simply HAVE to exercise. It's a no brainer.

And if you truly want to be healthy, not just SKINNY, you need to exercise...and if you're going to exercise, you need to fuel your workouts. Everyone should aim for "30 minutes a day most days of the week" for weight loss. For optimal health the suggestion is 60 minutes a day, with at least three days being high intensity cardio.

Not everyone loves exercise. Just ask Oprah! How many times do I scream, "Oh grow UP!" at the television when she claims she HATES to exercise. But everyone can LEARN to love it. After all, how can you not love something that does so much for your body. No amount of weight loss, supplements, doctors, health gurus, or self help books can do for your body what YOU can do for your body! Embrace it, and if today you can't embrace it, at least just go out and DO it.