Does golf aid weight loss?

[Inebriated]

Originally Posted by Spyder

Holy hell! 3 hot dogs? LOL!

I would need to take a damn nap after 9 holes of golf, several beers and 3 hot dogs or a sandwich, let alone... sandwiches! Kudos on the forum name though, I like it!

Haha, hanks.

And I never really plan on the 3 hotdogs... it's just a better deal at the clubhouse lol. I do avoid beer in the summer, though. It's humid and hot as can be here in NC, so I just drink a ton of water.

Though this summer, I have finally switched to bringing a salad for the half-way mark... It's so much more refreshing than meat sticks surrounded with bread lol.

[flintcreek6412]

Originally Posted by jtw89

Do you have a link to these studies? That doesn't really add up in my head. I'm sure taking a full swing uses a lot more energy than walking, but for like 1 second at a time tops. You only really take about 27 full swings in a round, so I would think the walking would be where practically all of the benefit is. I'd love to read something that says otherwise, because swinging a club is way more fun than walking around with one.

Hopefully this link works.  There are actually several international studies about it, probably because of socialized health care.  Big pharmacy doesn't want us healthy so it won't get funded in the US.   I presented this and other results to our mayor to get comp rounds on the muni course for city employees as part of a "wellness" program.   This was from a quick google search I did since I couldn't remember the doctors name that studied it.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28355849/wid/6448213/

[David in FL]

How to lose weight..... a) Burn more calories than you consume. or b) consume fewer calories than you burn. That is all......

[newtogolf]

Originally Posted by David in FL

How to lose weight.....

a) Burn more calories than you consume.

or

b) consume fewer calories than you burn.

That is all......

QFT

Such an easy concept but all the fad diets and nutritionists make it so much harder than it needs to be.  The above is the golden rule for weight loss, the rest or the garbage out there is a lot of fluff designed to only make your wallet lighter.

[TJBam]

Hopefully this link works.  There are actually several international studies about it, probably because of socialized health care.  Big pharmacy doesn't want us healthy so it won't get funded in the US.   I presented this and other results to our mayor to get comp rounds on the muni course for city employees as part of a "wellness" program.   This was from a quick google search I did since I couldn't remember the doctors name that studied it. [URL=http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28355849/wid/6448213/]http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28355849/wid/6448213/[/URL]

Free rounds of golf for city employees? You must be in Canada.

[flintcreek6412]

Nope.  Right here in USA.  The city is part of a medical trust and it's premiums are based upon claim history.  Claim history from lazy corn fed Midwest gov't employees is awful.  The city has enacted several wellness initiatives to attempt to educate and get people active.  The free golf has conditions and is rarely used because walking is free but using a cart requires you to pay cart fee.  A deal by my standards.  It's really sad how many of my co-workers can't even walk 18 holes.

[Meltdwhiskey]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

QFT

Such an easy concept but all the fad diets and nutritionists make it so much harder than it needs to be.  The above is the golden rule for weight loss, the rest or the garbage out there is a lot of fluff designed to only make your wallet lighter.

This is so true - but people simply do not want to hear this.  Maybe similar to the folks that think one golf tip will have them hitting 5 yard draws down the middle of the fairway going forward.  I worked in health clubs when I was younger and it was amazing how people just wouldn't listen to the real truth.  People don't want any part of the following:

You have to eat less

You have to exercise more

You have to make sacrifices

It could take a while to reach your goal

This is why all of the fad diets and stuff are out there.  People have to think there is something special about it.  People would always ask me about how to accomplish something, but when I told them the answer, they basically said I was kinda wrong because their cousin's friend did such and such and it really worked for them.

Eventually, almost all of the questions were about supplements, pills, drinks, etc.  The bottom line is - if 9 people tell you it is going to be difficult and take a long time, but the 10th tells you it will be fast and easy - most people go with the 10th guy.

[Kletus]

Exercise is great but realistically (coming from someone who has lost 65 lbs in the past year) diet is going to be the controlling factor in weight loss.

To lose a pound of fat then you need to burn 3500 calories more than you consume.  My "mapmywalk" app guestimates that my 4 mile walk the other night burned approximately 791 calories.

Lets just guess that a round of golf is between 1000 and 1500 calories burned.   If you played 3 to 4 rounds of golf in a week and didn't eat or drink any more than normal... you would likely lose 1 lb.  However, if you eat more snacks, gatorade, a hotdog, etc due to the exertion of playing golf.. then those calories add up very quickly to counteract most of the gains from the exercise.  One 500 calorie hotdog plus a 240 calorie gatorade takes a huge chunk out of your deficit.

There are tons of benefits to the active side of golf and exercise(and they shouldn't be ignored), but for the most part... if you want to lose weight ... then you will need to get your calorie deficit from proper diet, because it is so terribly easy to counteract several hours of exercise with just one poorly planned meal.

The key is to do both!

[jtw89]

How to lose weight..... a) Burn more calories than you consume. or b) consume fewer calories than you burn. That is all......

Very true... More calories burned than consumed is the only way for weight to be lost. It does get a little more complicated than that though if you have any other goals i.e. improving your health or getting your beach body together. My personal beach body looks a lot more like an innertube than a six pack lol!

[Shambles]

Swing and play badly and you can end up consuming more calories. The worse your game, the more the weight loss and physical strength build up. I'm in pretty bad shape, so from this day on I shall try very hard to play very badly.  :)

Shambles