The law of diminishing marginal utility is a business school term that states that when a person increases the consumption of one product, while keeping the consumption of other products constant, there is a decrease in the marginal utility that the person obtains by consuming. each additional unit of that product. .

It seems like a complex explanation, but it is really simple. A classic example is the buffet-style restaurant: the more a person passes through a buffet line, the less that person wants the food from the buffet. Another way to understand this is that if your favorite ice cream flavor is pistachio, and you go to an ice cream shop and buy a pistachio ice cream cone, you will really enjoy that first cone; its marginal utility will be high. If you have a second, it will still be good, but not as good as the first cone. After the fifth, sixth, seventh, tenth, twentieth cone of pistachio ice cream, that last ice cream is definitely not as nice as the first ice cream – its usefulness has diminished.

This concept applies to many products, however, in things that are good for you, such as exercise, the opposite of the law of diminishing marginal utility can happen. If you try a new exercise program like Insanity or P90X or run, while sticking to the program, you will enjoy your workouts more and more, especially as you see the benefits of exercise – your marginal utility will actually increase!

I can say a lot that this is the case with my own exercise, weight loss, and exercise. I have been a runner, albeit a slow one, for over 15 years. I have run every race (slowly) from mile to marathon, and recently started the Shaun T Insanity training program, very similar to the P90X.

My own experience has been that, now that I’m on a structured exercise program, I can’t wait to get to the next day’s workout. I enjoy doing the exercises, no matter how hard and intense, and I feel better, physically and emotionally, than I have in quite some time. I have lost 10 pounds since I started 4 weeks ago, and I am looking forward to the next exercise more than the last.

Exercise and the law of diminishing marginal utility

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