Will Exercise Keep You Slim?

Well, I guess since I really like exercising, I would be a bit biased, but I think it's essential for physical well-being. Of course, you can exercise as much as you want and not lose weight if you still eat too much. I have a friend who's a runner and he's still a pretty heavy guy. Reason being, he really likes his beer and nachos. So while he may burn off about 500 calories during a run, he still eats probably 1000 more calories a day than he needs. You really get the best results when you watch what you eat as well, but adding in exercise makes it a lot easier to maintain your weight loss without being so uber-strict about your diet. I personally like having that 500 calorie leeway in my diet every day.

I used to think that exercise is the answer to everything and while it is important I think diet is the big thing for losing weight. Exercise is for toning and tightening along with keeping muscles like your heart in shape. You need both though - just look at before and after pictures of people who have lost a lot of weight without exercising. They look awful! All saggy and gross.

Taubes wrote a nice article on this about a year ago. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/oct/28/healthandwellbeing.features1

It won't keep you slim if all you eat is JUNK. Working out then eating a slice of pizza is like taking the careful time to make a exquisite souffle... then eating it with a piece of lard.

You are ruining your efforts. And take this "small" study with a grain of salt. I smell a lot of BS.

If you workout and KNOW what you are doing and do it with proper INTENSITY, then physical activity plays a huge role.

- FJ
FlawlessFitnessBook

The way to lose weight is to restrict food. Then to influence what kind of weight you lose, you lift weights and eat protein.

See Protein Sparing Modified Fast for more information, or just buy Lyle McDonald's book The Rapid Fat Loss Handbook.

I used to think that exercise is the answer too. But I've come to conclusion that if I don't eat right 80-90% of the time I won't lose any weight. Exercise is important but shouldn't be the main focus when starting out to lose weight.

I would to see the full study... the problem with drawing such conclusions (exercise doesn't help weight loss) is that there is such a broad definition of "exercise". This is where Taubes is absolutely irresponsible. To this day he has made no clarification about what he defines as "exercise". Until he does, his assertions are open to interpretation. The irony is that Taubes won't become a believer in exercise as a means of fat loss anytime soon with the guy who is training him - who has drunk from the same "exercise doesn't help" koolaid. It would be great to see Gary train with Alwyn Cosgrove or at least someone a little less myopic and parochial than his current guy.

To be clear - if your diet sucks, you won't be able to "out-train" your way to a better body. If your "exercise" is walking on a treadmill for 20 minutes 3 times a week, you won't likely see any results. The point is, you have to change your diet too if you want to be successful in improving body composition.

That said, exercise - the right type, amount and intensity will absolutely change your body when eating sensibly. Diet alone cannot retain muscle tissue and hence will not change body composition the same way a weight training + cardio + diet will. It has been proven clinically. Kramer et al. showed that a diet only group lost 6.7 kg of body fat over 12 weeks (but almost 3kg muscle). The diet + endurance group lost 7 kg (but less lean tissue than the diet only group) and the diet + endurance + weight group lost 10kg - with virtually no lean tissue loss.

As for exercise increasing hunger? Sorry, much research disproves this.

For me personally, at this point in my life, it really is all about calories in, calories out (though I don't count calories). I'm not saying that works for everyone -- there are too many studies out there for me to even begin to formulate a majority opinion -- but it works for me. I don't diet, ever. I just stay active and work out. Sure, I eat mainly healthful foods, but I'm not restrictive. I don't like the idea of restricting types of food or amounts of food. If I'm hungry, I eat. If I want to eat X instead of Y, I do. Exercise makes up the difference, and I don't gain weight. What can I say? I'm a moderate all around, I guess.

I think you have to try and eat good and exercise. It is possible with diet alone but it is not as successful, but I don't think it is possible with exercise alone. I know plenty of active people who are overweight still. They just at more or as much as they are burning. I have run 11 marathons, but if eat all the calories I burned right after, it does nothing as far as weight loss. I can be in shape but still not lose.

Spectra is correct. To make universal assumptions about exercise and weight loss is a little naive. I haven't looked at how much exercise those in the study did, but it really depends on how hard you work. And notwithstanding the fact that it's easy to kill the value of an hour of exercise by eating a large cream donut or two, the combination of moderate amounts of exercise with a moderate reduction in energy intake is perhaps the most successful strategy of all for weight loss.

I wonder when was the last time Nigerian women ate burgers and fries or drank alcohol.

I wish more people would emphasize eating for weight loss versus exercising.

Eating is more important for maintaining a lower weight.

From my own experience I would say exercise plays a big part in how you look and what you weight, especially the older you get. Getting away with little or no exercise when you are younger and still maintaining your weight is possible. Once you hit your 30's I would say it was a different matter and exercise becomes important, and something that you need to do regularly.

I also do Pilates exercises and they are great! Rotated with cardio they work wonders. They prevent saggy skin after weight loss.

Rose.

More info about the causes of today'sobesity epidemic read can be found in TOXIC FAT, the latest book by Barry Sears, PhD, author, researcher, and inventor of the Zone Diet. There's a lot more to it than declining rates of physical activity. In this book, Barry Sears goes into great detail about the causes of obesity as well as how to turn it around.

Surely its a combination of exercise and a healthy diet (and attitude!) You cant have one without the other, or you'd be wasting your time. I've been following Jennifer Cohen's No Gym Required Book, it is really great as it covers all areas of health and fitness and shows you how to adapt these into your life, with not too much effort and just small changes. Usually when I undergo a new diet or fitness regime, It kind of feels like im about to enter hell!! But, this holistic approach is really working for me, I feel much more motivated and less guilty...

Here's my theory:

It's easier to vary your calorie intake to a large degree than it is to vary your calorie burn to a large degree, so diet impacts your weight more than exercise does.

Here's what I mean: you can take in 1,000 calories a day or you can take in 10,000 calories in a day, or more, or less, or anywhere in between. This will have a huge impact on your weight.

However, how many calories can you possibly burn off in a day? Anywhere from your basal metabolic rate up to...I don't know, however many you'd burn from working out all day long (like if you went hiking or skiing or something). It's not as easy to burn off large numbers of calories as it is to take in large numbers of excess calories.

From personal experience, exercise has an impact on my weight only when I'm keeping my calorie intake in check. It can mean the difference between a plateau and losing a pound or so in a week. But exercise can't take the place of keeping your eating under control.