Exercise Alone Won't Help You Lose Weight
Don't let this put you off exercising: the benefits are substantial and well documented, from reducing depression to helping manage diabetes. But simply adding more exercise into your life is unlikely to help you shed unwanted pounds.
The Mayo Clinic concluded, from recent research, that:
Most studies have demonstrated no or modest weight loss with exercise alone ... patients should have realistic expectations, an exercise regimen ... is unlikely to result in short-term weight loss beyond what is achieved with dietary change.(Quote from The Times article Exercise? A fat lot of good that is for weight loss)
So why doesn't exercise work? We tend to increase our food intake when we exercise, and I expect many of us are familiar with thinking "I've been for a jog today, so I can have that muffin..." Dietary changes have been shown to play far more of a role in weight loss than doing more exercise.
Separate studies (by the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Centre at the University of Pittsburgh [1] and the Laboratory of Preventive Medicine at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana [2]) indicated that women who exercise more don't lose more weight.
So is there any point in going for that jog or hitting the gym? Yes! Exercise has many benefits when you're trying to achieve or maintain a healthy weight:
- Build muscle - and avoid losing muscle when losing weight
- Lift your mood when feeling low
- Improve energy levels
- Tone up your body
Although exercise alone won't help you lose weight, keeping active means those pounds are more likely to stay off.
The message here isn't to give up on exercise: carry on being active, but recognise that you need to pay attention to your diet too, in order to successfully lose weight.
1. Effect of Exercise on 24-Month Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight Women
13 Comments
Add Your Comment
ADVERTISING
New
- FROM DIET BLOG
- On-Off Fasting: Does It Work?
- 400 Calorie Fix
- 5 Factor World Diet
- Quick Giveaway: Powerhouse Weight Loss Game
- FORUM
- Low Carb Atkins Diet- Tips to Cut the Carbs.
- How Can I Gain a Healthy Weight and Keep it?
- How Do I Eat Healthy at University?
- Starving Myself and Exercising, But Not Losing an Ounce?
Categories
| Body Image Celebrities Diet Pills Diets Exercise |
Fast Food Funny Stuff Success Stories Teens and Kids Tips and Tools |
RSS Feed
Follow @DietBlog on Twitter
Diet is king when it comes to weight loss, but your level of conditioning and the way you exercise also play a role.
ReplyDid you read the whole article? I'm curious about one line of the results section:
Interventions to facilitate this level of physical activity are needed.
To me, "intervention" sounds like "we're gonna make you exercise whether you like it or not." Exercise is a good thing, but "intervention" sounds awfully Big Brotherish.
What, me paranoid? ;)
ReplyDidn't we debate this six weeks ago?
Anyway...in terms of weight management, exercise is most helpful in prevention of weight regain. Most people who have lost significant weight and kept it off long-term have added major amounts of regular exercise to threir lifestyles.
Not all have, but most.
-Steve
ReplyBut WHY? I would submit that it is because diet and exercise are SYNERGISTIC. Your diet supports your exercise. You exercise because you are dieting. One without the other doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Psychologically, motivation to keep up both is going to be higher.
ReplyOnly a calorie deficit will cause weight loss. Whether it's through diet or exercise, it doesn't really matter that much for average people.
ReplyYet again, you have to take in the fact that the article says that people who exercise TEND to eat more. So if you start working out and don't change your diet at all, you'll probably lose weight, duh. And if you start working out AND cut a few calories from your diet, you'll lose weight faster. It's not rocket science.
ReplyIt's not rocket science, but if it's so easy, we'd all be doing it.
ReplyIt's not about whether you CHANGE your diet that tells what will happen with your weight. It's all about the calorie deficit. If your diet had too many calories to begin with, you could still be gaining weight once you start exercising even though you didn't change your diet.
Actually, I'm not totally convinced that everything is about the calorie deficit, on second thought. I think it has a lot to do with that, but I also think there's something to that whole "set point" theory. Whether or not I exercise, there's a certain weight range I know my scale tends to gravitate towards.
Replyit is that easy, most people just lack the discipline to stick with both.
Replyand when you find the underlying reason why they lack the discipline, you'll be rich and they'll be skinny.
ReplyHmmmm. If the reason that people don't lose weight when they exercise is because they tend to eat more, then I'm confused -- how can one say that "exercise alone won't help you lose weight"? It sounds like it's not the fault of the exercise but the fact that people are taking in more calories. If that's really the case, then controlling for a stable calorie intake (i.e., eating the same amount) but adding exercise would result in more calories being expended thus resulting in weight loss.
ReplyThose are my thoughts exactly, Bob.
I couldn't understand why burning extra calories wouldn't lead to weight loss. I firmly believe in creating a deficit in calories to lose weight. Of course, if you go for a thirty-minute walk then eat a half-pound burger...well, you do the math...
I think the positive spin on this article is that exercise is very beneficial to your body, your health. If you want to lose weight, be smart about what you eat, too.
ReplyIf you don't eat more, you'll probably lose weight from exercise alone. I think I eat less when I exercise a lot, maybe my body runs differently. It's a lot more noticeable if I'm stuffing myself or eating something that's going to feel like a rock in my stomach if I'm feeling healthier and more in touch with myself. Similar to how yoga correlates to weight loss.
Reply