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Cupcake in the morning, sex in the evening — and a beautiful figure will not be long in coming. Is there any truth in this joke? To understand, you have to turn to science.
Weight loss, exercise and sex
To lose weight, you need to arrange an energy deficit in the body and minimize the number of breakdowns. If you spend more than you consume, the weight will begin to decrease due to the mobilization and use of fat depot. That is: the amount of food has decreased — the lack of energy will be replenished from reserves. This rule is familiar to everyone who has ever lost weight.
The second way to organize scarcity is to move more. This is evidenced published by the National Library of Medicine. For the impact of physical activity to be significant, it is necessary to maintain it regularly. But you can always do only what brings pleasure. For example, dancing, swimming, martial arts, running or exercising on the machines — all this will help to lose unwanted weight.
Can sex be included in this list? Let’s compare this activity with other types of physical activity and look at several studies to determine whether regular sex is conducive to weight loss.
How to spend energy
Movement in the body occurs due to the contractile activity of the muscles. And they can be both conscious and unconscious. For example, to maintain the vertical position of the body, a large number of small muscles are involved, allowing us to stand firmly and confidently, although we do not notice it at all.
Today it is possible to measure the energy expenditure of almost any motor activity.
For example, walking at a speed of 5 km / h on average will spend 0,0597 kcal per minute for every kilogram of weight (provided that it is not excessive).
Driving a car — 0,0228 kcal / min / kg, cooking 0,0330 kcal / min / kg.
And sex can expend from 0,090 to 0,150 kcal / min / kg.
During a variety of activities, energy is spent directly on contractions of muscle fibers, the functioning of the nervous system, an increase in heart rate, pressure regulation, and even on the removal of excess heat generated. All this happens during lovemaking.
Real energy costs
Of course, this does not mean that you should consider sex as an alternative to all activity, abandon training, stop walking and spend all the time in bed. Let’s look at the real energy consumption of this pleasant activity.
Scientists have calculated that the average duration of sexual intercourse (which depends, as a rule, on the man) is 5,4 minutes, during which more than 100 muscles are involved. However, this time can be significantly increased by preludes.
Depending on the intensity of the act, men spend from 70 to 150 kcal, and women from 40 to 80 kcal.
For comparison, men burn 149 to 390 calories during a 30-minute workout on a moderate-intensity treadmill, while women burn 120 to 381 calories.
That is while maintaining a normal amount of food in order to organize a moderate deficit in order to reduce excess weight, regular sex three to five times a week will be enough.
Chemical processes, the production of the hormone of happiness
In everyday life, a large amount of stress causes a need to receive positive emotions for balance. Frequent sources of positive emotions in the life of a modern person are social networks, watching TV shows, consuming sweets, smoking and alcohol. All these are not very healthy habits associated with low mobility. As a result, excess weight and increased risks of many diseases.
Sex in this case is not just physical activity, but also an act associated with the production of hormones of happiness and pleasure.
These are endorphin, serotonin, oxytocin, and also prolactin, which makes a person more calm. Elizabeth Lawson of the Massachusetts General Hospital proves that increasing oxytocin concentrations reduces appetite and has a positive effect on weight loss.
From this point of view, sex can become not only a way to additionally expend energy, but also a source of pleasure. And this allows you to reduce disruptions in the process of losing weight and bad or irrational habits. Moreover, according to , obtained by Italian scientists, as you get rid of unnecessary kilograms, the quality of your sexual life will only improve.
If passion is missing
The desire to have sex is considered a marker of a good libido. This means that the hormonal background is in order and weight loss will not become a struggle that is harmful to health. In cases where there is no such desire, it is worth consulting with a gynecologist-endocrinologist (for women) or an andrologist-urologist (for men) to check the main hormonal indicators and exclude hormonal imbalance. It is also important to understand that the sexual constitution is different for everyone, and there is no single general norm.
Why Sex Helps Reduce Your Appetite
As we already understood, when having sex, hormones of happiness and pleasure are produced. And a calm and joyful person does not need to look for additional sources of good mood, especially in fatty and sweet foods.
With a positive attitude, I want to walk, communicate, move more and infect others with my attitude to life. Including having sex. And here we already get a vicious circle: sex — good mood — increased libido and sex again. There is no place in this chain for unhealthy habits and uncontrolled appetite.