The recent Time story in which the author leads readers to believe exercise is really not beneficial for weight loss has certainly garnered its share of criticism. Health and fitness professionals are weighing in and sharing their thoughts. This past week, Registered dietitian, Keri Glassman offered some insight about weight loss and exercise on the Early Show .

“Exercise is important, but it may negatively affect your weight loss for three main reasons: Exercise makes you hungrier, causing you to eat more. Exercise causes feelings of entitlement and exercise does not necessarily burn the calories you think it does. Thus, people may be eating more than they burn.” She went on to demonstrate the calorie intake versus exercise principle. Read it and weep:

Elliptical training for 44 minutes/500 kcal burned=1 Honey Bran Raisin Muffin from Dunkin Donuts
Kickboxing for 25 minutes and 272 kcal burned=Grande Starbucks café late with whole milk
Jogging for 60 minutes and 470 kcal burned=1 slice (1/6 of cake) of Sara Lee Cheesecake, chocolate swirl NY style
Pilates for 30 minutes and 119 kcal burned=5 pieces of hard candy

O.K., my turn. First, when are people going to stop exercising simply for weight loss? We KNOW that only exercising for the weight loss benefits is short lived. Hence, we need to start exercising for all the RIGHT reasons, a healthy, strong mind and body. Remember, our lifestyles have vastly slowed down and we NEED to exercise so the body can do what it was designed to do, MOVE.