False. For years, we have been throwing money away on treadmills, yoga lessons, personal trainers, you name it - all under the pretense that exercise is going to somehow magically make all our fat disappear as long as we are willing to put in the hard work. Well, personally, I have exercised rigorously almost every day for the past three years or so, and I can tell you that I haven't shed a single pound. I have always been petite and never overweight, but everyone has those areas that he/she can use some work on. I worked hard on those "problem areas" but nothing really ever changed. That is not to say that exercise is completely useless. Sure, I have toned up some areas and definitely lost an inch or two on my waistline. Also, I have a fantastically healthy heart and not a single problem wrong with the overall health of my body. But three years of endless toiling at the gym and this is all that I have gotten? Fortunately I am still somewhat active in my everyday routines. What about those who are suffering from obesity? How long are they going to take to lose say 50 lb? 25 years? Something is definitely not working right.

I have heard this too. A lot of people have told me, "Oh you're just impatient. Have some faith. It has worked for so many others!" Question is, HAS IT?

At first, I really thought that I was doing something wrong. Maybe I was running too slowly.. or too fast.. or not enough.. or too much? Perhaps my crunches weren't reaching the "fat burning" spot. What is exactly is the "correct" way of exercising? If I were doing it wrong after so much research and careful calculations of how much calories each exercise can burn off for me, then who can do it right?

So I went on the good old internet and started looking around at some articles. Turns out, I'm not the only abnormal one out there! It seems like there is a whole bunch of people who exercise religiously and see no positive results. For some, it has actually worked the complete opposite in that they were gaining weight instead. Some say that this is because muscle mass is heavier than the adipose tissue (fat), and therefore through exercise, which converts fat into muscle, one can find oneself weighing more than before. These people started in the first place to LOSE WEIGHT, not to pack on more! If it's really true that all they have are muscles now, then they shouldn't look the same or worse than before, and the muscles should be helping them burn off calories faster, in which case, they would still be losing weight.

Other articles outrageously tell me that perhaps I am being too impatient, and that my expectations of quick weight loss are maybe too high. Yes, I understand that weight loss is a slow process, but isn't three years quite some time already? How many three years do I get in life? When am I going to shed all this fat? When I'm decomposing in my grave?

And that's when I realized: It's not the exercises that have the problem. Weight loss also includes another major component: FOOD.

After some searches on Google, I found that the general conclusion is that exercise causes an exercise-induced energy deficit which will make me even hungrier than before these exercises and therefore increase my calories intake. FACT IS: Exercise makes you hungrier! The more you exercise, the more likely you will eat more. Thousands of experiments have been conducted on men and women who regularly exercise, and the result is that while there is a portion of people who did lose weight, there is another portion that even gained weight.

We generally believe that after exercise, we need to replenish ourselves. This "post exercise fuel" is usually considered as important since we need to rebuild our muscles and basically feed them glucose to replenish the glycogen. However, unless you are a body builder, most of us don't necessarily grab a cup of tasteless yogurt or a dry protein bar right after a rigorous hour of running. We want the GOOD stuff, the foods that are coated with salt, sugar, or fat. We crave for that slice of chocolate cake, or that Oreo cookie, or that juicy hamburger layered with grease. After all, don't you feel like you deserve it? You just worked your butt off, shouldn't you get a little reward? It's only a few bites!

Wrong! In case you haven't yet realized: burning calories is not that easy. Did you know that playing basketball in an intense gaming mode for a straight 30 minutes only burns off about 170 calories? Running straight for 45 minutes burns off only about 260 calories. That's not enough to even off 3 Oreo cookies, and I don't know about you, but once I start eating Oreos, I don't want to just stop at 3.

Of course, some say that a snack after exercise is essential since we don't want to injure ourselves due to the muscle tear after exercising. Also, a snack in perspective of the whole day really doesn't matter that much, right? Especially since they are done after exercising. Wrong again. While a healthy snack is necessary for recharging the body, sugary and greasy foods should be avoided at all costs. The exercise that we do is not merely enough to burn off the extra calories that we have just consumed. This will in turn, either keep your fat in place or make you gain even more weight. Who knew? Exercise can make us fatter!

Then of course there are those who say, I CAN FIGHT THIS CRAVING! It's just a matter of willpower right? After exercise, I will not eat or I will only eat stuff that will be good for me. You might think that now, but wait till you actually exercise. For those that can actually keep this trend, you are truly admirable, because you can defy evolutionary trends that have made us this way. Some of you may be able to hold this self willpower for a while, but it is nearly impossible for all of us to keep it forever. The second you let go of this ultimatum, however, those pounds will slowly creep back on making you feel ashamed and like you have just wasted all your hard work and determined efforts. After exercising, especially, you have even less self control. For each day that you control this craving, it will just be that much harder for you to control yourself the next day after exercise. This is the same thing as a diet in which you starve yourself. It will eventually lead to a binge and then all your efforts and suffering trying to control yourself not to eat... gone!

After exercising, we often feel entitled to a good meal and some well-deserved rest. This is especially true if you don't usually move around during the day, meaning you wake up in the morning, drive in your air conditioned car to work, sit still for another 7 hours or so in an airtight office, and then maybe hit the gym after for some "good exercise", then indulge yourself in a big, delicious dinner followed by a restful 8 hours sleep. You exercised right, so why aren't you getting slimmer? To my surprise, I have found that perhaps if I didn't exercise so crazily for 2 hours, I would have had enough energy to cook a healthy meal and maybe spend some time taking a evening walk at the park with my dog and boyfriend instead of eating that two slices of pizza that I just ordered with that can of soda.

By this point, you're probably furious with me. I have just shattered all your beliefs not to mention claiming that the 2000 dollars you just spent on that new gym equipment in your garage is a complete waste of money. But wait! It is not totally hopeless! Keep reading!

My best weight loss tip for you is to: get active. Stand up, go outside, breathe the fresh air. Continue your exercises but do a little less and do not rely on it to help you lose weight. Rely on it to keep you healthy. Also, if you want to choose a much cheaper way to get healthy and lose some weight without squandering all your savings on a gym membership, I suggest either play with your children if you have kids or call up some friends and go outside and have some fun. Also, invest in a good healthy cookbook so you can cook up some healthier meals instead of buying fast food on your way back from work. I know that we are all busy, but shouldn't your health be your number one priority? If you go outside and play a little, you not only lose weight, get a healthy body, but you're much more likely to be happier as well.

Rigorous exercises don't necessarily make any difference than a simple walk up and down the stairs to and from work or walking to the restaurant than choosing drive-thru so long as you do it often. In fact, the latter might actually be better for you because your mindset changes when you're not exhausted. You will have more energy and willingness to cook that meal for the family or go outside and play basketball with friends for an hour. Instead of making exercise a chore, why not get some fun out of it? A century ago, obesity was not a problem in our society, and no where did you hear people complain about spending too much on exercise equipments. We just need to get off our butts, and MOVE. Remember to eat healthy beyond anything. It's our diet that determines our weight, not the amount of exercises that we do.

Don't get me wrong with the goal of this article. I'm not telling you to stop exercising because it is a waste of time. It most certainly is not! The real reasons experts and doctors encourage their patients to exercise regularly is because the people who do exercise are at a much lower risk for heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, and other health problems. They are often much more aware of their surroundings and often has greater concentration in their work and studies. They feel less tired and happier, leading to less risks of depression. People who exercise also tend to have stronger bones and usually live longer due to their healthy heart and lungs. As for getting rid of obesity and making sure those pounds disappear, however, exercise is pretty much useless.