how often should you work out?

I think one of the biggest mindset shifts I went through after I had hit my weight goals was understanding that losing weight is mainly about the diet and not exercise. I gotta admit wrapping my head around that was kinda mindblowing. I mean my whole life growing up as the overweight fat kid everyone around me (friends, family, magazines, TV etc) all pointed to workout and exercises as the main solution to losing weight.

It was the obvious answer everyone knew, but somehow only a very small percentage succeeded and out of that small percentage that succeeded, an even smaller percentage of them kept it off permanently.

I remember super vividly during one of my routine health checkups I had to do for work (I was around 123kg at that time) and the doctor told me, “Y’know? At this weight you’re medically classified as morbidly obese.” I nodded, I mean it wasn’t like that was news to me. “You should really do something about it,” he continued, “like do some sports or go running.”

Yep. From a medical professional the advice for weight loss was the same as everyone else around me back then, workouts and exercise. But...

... that’s simply not true.

Yes, working out can help you lose weight as it’s an activity that burns and spends calories, but if your diet isn’t in check you could be working your ass off at the gym but still continue to gain weight. Gaining or losing weight comes primarily from your diet. The fact is you could do zero workouts and lose weight, and you could workouts like an Olympic athlete and still gain weight. How your weight moves is based primarily on your diet, not your workouts.

So the question becomes then why bother to workout?

Well, working out has a ton of health benefits. It also is an activity that burns calories so if your diet is in check and you add working out on top of that you would technically progress a tad faster than losing weight through diet alone. Working out also means likely there’s some form of muscle being gained in you over time, the more muscles you have the higher your metabolism is which means your TDEE(maintenance calories)is higher which means the more you can eat while still being in a calorie deficit. Not to mention how working out shapes your body into more curves and lines over time if you have any aesthetic goals.

So then... how often should you work out?

The answer to that depends on your goals. If your goal is primarily just weight loss, I’d say as often as you can to the degree where you can still comfortably live life and stick to your diet. As often as you can doesn’t mean you hit the gym 5x a week and become a walking zombie cos you’re physically stressed all the time, and mentally stressed from life and work while being on a diet. No no, that’s not the goal. As often as you can to your lifestyle and diet goals means maybe it’s doing 15min workouts at home 3x a week. Maybe it’s taking yoga/pilate classes 2x a week. The goal of workouts when losing weight is the finish line is to do it as often as possible for as long as possible cos that ultimately means you realistically burn as much calories as possible during the course of your journey.

Now if you have muscle gaining goals, or health goals as well then the answer will be different. You’d need a more structured program and how often depends highly on the type of goals you have. A marathon runner’s muscle gaining goals will be very different to a body builder’s. Someone that just cares about overall health wouldn’t have the same program as a powerlifter getting ready for their first meet. How often you should workout for goals outside of weight loss depends on the specific goals itself.

Ahh man, it feels so good to be able to write down everything on my mind and not have to hit the delete button. I know a lot of these topics I’m writing about you’ve likely heard me talk about it in my IGTV videos or on one of my post captions previously but I think this is the first time I really felt I got to go into more details without restraint. Feels so free! I hope you’re enjoying this format as much as I am!

I got a lot of replies from the last email I sent out (which I wasn’t expecting) it was truly super heartwarming. I tried to reply to as many as I could, but I know I missed out some and I apologize but do know that I definitely read every single one. It really meant a lot. Thank you! Remember if there’s anything unclear to you in these emails, my posts or Q&A feel free to reach out! Reply here, drop a question on my daily Q&As or slide in my DMs. I’d be more than happy to help!

I hope this mail helps you get a better view on how to set your workout goals and stop feeling guilty that you’re not running miles & miles & miles everyday to lose weight. I know I did. I used to feel super guilty for not doing cardio back in the day. I guess maybe for some the true takeaway from all this is: cardio is not a necessity to lose weight.

And that my friend I’m not afraid to admit...

...is music to my ears.

Till the next one! Hope you have been well, stay safe!

—Po.