SWINDON-based personal trainer and fitness writer RONNY TERRY looks at the myths of exercise and weight loss in his occasional online blog for the Advertiser

Joining a gym seems a logical step for anyone looking to lose weight and tone up. You may have done this in the past, and either hit it off from the get-go or let the membership card gather dust while the only thing that remaining remotely active is the direct debit payment going out from the bank every month.

We’ve all been there.

The benefits of exercise shouldn’t be underestimated; your heart gets stronger, your muscles healthier, and your bones become less likely to break.

Your risk for many illnesses and diseases decreases as you become fitter, and you may even find your mood lifts.

What’s not good about that?

But if you’re just starting out on your weight loss journey and would rather date Donald Trump than being seen jiggling away on a treadmill then I’m here to make you feel better about things.

Here are four arguments to support the theory that you don’t need to work out to lose weight...

You won’t burn much anyway

One issue if you’re new to exercise, and especially if you’re overweight, is that you won’t burn a lot of energy doing it.

You simply won’t be able to train for long or very hard meaning the calorie burn won’t add up to much, maybe 7.5 calories per minute.

With this in mind, a 30-minute jog or cycle will give you a burn of around 225 calories for your efforts. Do this three times per week you’re looking at around 700.

It’s not to be sniffed at, but when you factor in you need to burn around 3,500 calories to lose a pound of body fat, you’re looking at five weeks for each pound of fat loss from exercise alone.

Not exactly rapid results.

It’s easier not to eat it than to burn it off

You could achieve the same result from the exercise mentioned above by reducing your calories by just 100 a day. No pain, lycra, or feeling self-conscious – which are often worries for those new to exercise.

There’s an old saying in fitness circles: You can’t out train a bad diet.

And it’s true, if your diet isn’t up to scratch all the exercise in the world won’t help you lose weight.

It’s easier to change one habit at a time

If you’ve lived the last 10 years of your life in a certain way it’s not realistic to reshape everything you hate about it in a week or two, and if you try to do it all at once, you’ll probably end up bingeing and burnt out.

Starting out by concentrating only on your diet could pave the way for real progress with the one thing having the biggest impact on your weight being the quantity of food you eat.

You’ll need to nourish your body with goodness if and when you do decide to get fit, so getting your house in order now will set you up for then too.

You don’t have to be fit to be thin

We’ve all seen them. People who don’t exercise but always seem to look great.

What is their secret?

Answer: The sum of their daily habits.

Just as some people have fallen into bad habits over the years and piled on the pounds, others do all the ‘right’ things without really thinking about them.

These includes not overeating and doing enough activity to stop the fat setting up home on their hips. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are fit or healthy, but it does mean all of their overweight friends secretly hate them.

So it’s true, exercise isn’t necessary to lose weight; slimming clubs have shown us that. But you’ll still need to take action and get your diet in check if you want any chance of dropping some poundage and keeping it off.

But before you throw your trainers out, have a quick look at other areas of your life that you could improve by getting sweaty a few times per week.

  • If you get tired mid-afternoon, exercise could help with that.
  • If you ever feel depressed, exercise could help with that.
  • If you get out of breath playing with the kids, exercise could help with that.
  • If you find yourself getting stressed out over work or bills, exercise could help with that.
  • If you’d like to go out and meet people in the same 'boat', exercise could help with that.
  • If you’d like to live a longer, happier life, exercise could help with that.

The list goes on and on.

Go on, give it a try.

For more of my weight loss tips, and free giveaways visit www.swindonweightloss.com