4 Ways Sex Helps You Lose Weight
By Bria Holness
Is it that time in the year where you find yourself constantly looking in the mirror, pinching the fat at your stomach, scrutinizing your thighs, or jiggling your arm fat? In search of an easy and fun way to lose weight? Well to your surprise, the truth is, having sex works in many ways to help you lose weight.
- Sex burns calories. Sex is first and foremost an exercise, and fun exercise at that. A quick 25 minutes of sex burns about 90 calories. Try out some fun new positions to get your body moving. And going for a couple of more rounds will boost the burn rate even more. Believe it or not, reaching your climax gets the heart pounding as much as taking a jog will.
- Less stress, better health. Sex helps regulate levels of cortisol, the high-anxiety hormone. Too much cortisol boosts your appetite for fattening foods and causes the body to store extra calories around the midsection. You’ll be able to remain calm instead of rushing to chocolate, chips, or cookies for stress relief. And let’s say that you are in fact dealing with stress, finding something satisfactory other than food, to relieve that stress is great. Sex produces the same pleasure chemical in the brain as food does, and being busy with sex will keep you out of the kitchen.
- Sex boosts self-esteem. The fact that someone wants you on the regular makes you feel attractive and therefore makes you feel better about yourself. Feeling better about yourself in turn improves your sex life because as you feel more and more appealing, the more you want to show off and give away your goods. This appreciation of your body, along with the fact that you want to show your body during sexual activity, will cause you to eat healthier and will increase your desire to exercise regularly.
- Sleepytime. Sex releases the hormone oxytocin, which has also been called the cuddle hormone. It promotes sleep, which if you skip out on, your body’s ability to lose weight will destabilize. Having some sex before you go to bed will help you sleep like a baby and can severely increase the amount of fat you lose.
Now, this doesn’t mean go out and be promiscuous. Having sex with everyone and anyone who is willing to, just because you want to lose weight is not the point. The fact of the matter is that the context of the sex matters too. If you engage in sexual relations in a monogamous relationship it will have a great effect on the body and mind. Sex helps people bond, and builds trust and feelings of generosity for one’s partner. So promiscuous sex has the completely opposite effect. Sorry to rain on your parade.
Got any experience with sex and weight loss? Let us know in the comments below, or tweet us @jerkmagazine.