‘Stop Exercising to Lose Weight’: Advice from Weight Loss Coach Takes Tik Tok by Surprise

This counterintuitive advice for weight loss has sent Tik Tokers reeling. Jared McDonald, who is a fitness coach from Idaho, shared with his viewers his game changing-tips for losing weight, which has since gone viral on the social media platform. ‘Stop exercising to lose weight’, says this 36yo expert.

For viewers who expected him to ask them to stop eating and start exercising to lose weight, this was so shocking; they’d probably never heard it before.

Should You Stop Exercising to Lose Weight?

His first tip to stop focusing on weight loss. “Stop focusing on weight loss and start focusing on getting HEALTHY”, says Jared.

His advice is to focus on getting healthy rather than making losing pounds your fitness goal. McDonald is a trainer and founder of The Metabolism Reboot, a company whose purpose is to assist women in their weight loss journeys. 

Cutting down calories and exercising come with a caveat. Research has shown that people gain back the weight lost in the process of calorie restriction once they stop their diets. This is because calorie restriction can slow down your metabolism. McDonald says that the things we do to cut pounds creates stress in the body. 

‘You have to realize that stress is the problem. Stress causes your body to store fat right in your midsection,’ he explains. Calorie restriction and exercise can in his words cause stress. This stress manifests as belly fat and doesn’t go away with exercise or diet.

The things you do to lose weight typically stress the body out more,’ he reiterated. ‘But the things you do to get healthy will actually promote health and will allow you to lose the weight.’ This is why Jared asks his viewers to make getting healthy their focus and not obsess over losing pounds. His program The Metabolism Reboot advocates eating foods that help boost the metabolism instead of counting calories. 

The second tip from Jared McDonald is to ‘eat real food’

The ‘easy’ foods that we fall back on in order to consume less calories may actually be working against us. 

‘Fake food, shakes, prepacked meals, none of that is actually going to solve your problem long-term,’ he insisted. ‘Most of the time, they actually cause more stress.’

He explains that the real problem does not consist in the consumption of calories.

‘When we talk about stress, we have to talk about toxins and inflammation and blood sugars and cortisol. Fake foods don’t actually solve that,’ he continued. ‘Also they’re not sustainable. You can’t eat them forever.’ 

He points out that “diet foods don’t teach people how to change their mindset and overcome stress eating or other harmful patterns.“ Therefore it is not a good idea to rely on these fake foods to maintain your health.

“Stop exercising for weight loss.” That is the third tip Jared has to share. Exercising will add to the stress of overweight people, expresses Jared. Overweight people, whose bodies are already struggling with hormonal imbalances(1) will cause more stress to their bodies if they start making exercise the focus of their weight loss routine. Intense exercise can lead to elevated levels of cortisol and low testosterone if there is no proper recovery, and these hormonal changes are major contributors to weight gain and excess belly fat.

‘So your number one focus shouldn’t be on exercise to lose weight,’ he stressed. ‘It should be on nutrition and getting healthy. That’s the key.’ 

McDonald clarifies that he is not telling off exercise altogether. He is not against exercise. ‘I get a lot of pushback when I tell people this,’ he said. ‘I’m not saying that exercise is bad because it’s not.’ His priority is on healthy living and sustainable weight loss. Hence his advice for those seeking permanent weight loss to make health their priority.

Exercising does not come without its benefits. It is just not your path to a flat belly or a  lighter you.

‘You might feel better, you might like it, you might get stronger, you might have a mental release, and those are all good things,’ he said. ‘But that belly fat is going to stick around.’

Drink water: Jared’s final tip for weight loss. This might sound like a cliche at first and a no-brainer when you think about it. 

‘I know we hear that a lot, but the reason why is that one of the first steps in metabolizing fat cells is called hydrolysis,’ he said. ‘So you need water to actually burn fat, and most of us are chronically dehydrated.’ stresses McDonald

He adds that drinking water is not the only deal, people also need to ‘replenish with electrolytes and minerals as well.’ That is not to make a leap for Garotade- he makes clear. ‘Use lemon and limes, real salt, or Redmond Re-Lyte,’ he advised. 

McDonald’s video has been viewed more than 1.7 million times and received hundreds of comments in three months.

‘I was really waiting for someone to say exercise for your health not to [lose] weight…thank you,’ one viewer commented. 

‘I’ve been following [you] and your suggestions, and have lost 60 lbs since June,’ another revealed. 

‘As you start to do these four things, you’ll start to see the results happen,’ he said confidently. ‘You can lose weight quickly. You can lose weight permanently. And, again, you can actually do it sustainably.’ Jared assures.