Time magazine released an article last month about the inability of exercise to lower your weight. This might seem counterintuitive. Haven’t we been told to exercise to lose weight? Won’t a caloric deficit lead to fat loss? Isn’t physical activity essential for losing weight? The answers to all these questions are yes. This article highlights the second, and most critical, part of fat loss: proper nutrition. However, the author, John Cloud, doesn’t seem to recognize that. So ironically, his article makes a terrific point but fails to acknowledge it. But Cloud goes further and says hard work and exercise might make you fat.
Cloud says, “I get hungry after I exercise, so I often eat more on the days I work out than on the days I don't…exercise has another effect: it can stimulate hunger. That causes us to eat more, which in turn can negate the weight-loss benefits we just accrued.” He then quotes Steven Gortmaker at Harvard who says, “"If you're more physically active, you're going to get hungry and eat more." Again, this can easily be avoided with a meal plan that is palatable and pre-planned.
Cloud also makes a good point, but once again fails to acknowledge it. On days you don’t work out, your caloric demands will obviously be lower. If you normally eat a pre-workout meal, skip it on days you don’t. If you usually have a bowl of granola, a banana, and a cup of milk after your workout, reduce the portion of the granola or cut out the banana on days you don’t. This is called periodizing your diet, but I doubt Mr. Cloud, a journalist who reports on more than exercise and fat loss, and whose expertise probably lies elsewhere, understands this.
It’s true that if you workout on the Versaclimber or the Elliptical for 45 minutes and then eat a blueberry muffin and a scone at Starbucks, you’ll negate the weight-loss benefits of exercise. But you don’t have to do that. As I tell my clients, plan ahead and make your meals ahead of time. Determine your caloric needs, figure out what you’re going to eat, then go to the grocery store once a week, get what you need, and prepare all your meals for the week. That way, you don’t have to “wing it.” That is, when it’s time for breakfast, you’re not debating which fast food restaurant or baked good to choose. Breakfast will already be prepared, and of course, the macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat).
He cites research in Obesity Research that claims that muscle only burns 4 calories per day. This goes against all other research that estimates that muscle tissue burns 35-50 calories per day. This is the first time I’ve ever seen research that claims that muscle tissue only burns four calories per day. More recent research at James Madison University suggests it’s far more metabolically active.
Nonetheless, the article does make reference to the numerous health benefits of exercise: reduces risk of just about every disease imaginable, as well as psychological benefits. Cloud also says that moderate but sustained daily activity might actually be as good as structured exercise. Instead of running on a treadmill for an hour, you might be better off standing and walking throughout the day. Instead of driving, walk or drive a bike. Instead of using a power lawnmower, use a push mower. Small changes in your expenditure, just like small changes in your intake, can lead to enormous fat-loss benefits.
If you sit all day at your job, and you go to the gym religiously, that’s great. Assuming you’re adhering to a good nutrition plan, you’re probably losing fat or maintaining the weight your body wants you to stabilize at. But I also recommend you get up every hour and walk around. Take stairs, take daily walks, stand if you don’t need to sit. Don’t avoid manual labor. Adding a little movement here and there can certainly help you lose weight.
Cloud’s thesis seems to be backed by research, but anecdotal evidence overwhelmingly shows that when people start exercising, they lose weight and they keep it off. How many testimonials and stories do you have to hear to believe it? Whenever you ask people how they lose weight, they say the same thing: I just started running or lifting weights, and I cut out the beer and soda. The answer is never new, even though it seems like we’re expecting some miracle answer. Hundreds of thousands of people lose fat permanently just by making some subtle changes. It’s that extra glass of wine at night, or just adding some exercise five-six times per week. It’s pretty simple.
Let’s say Fred is overweight. He eats 3000 calories per day and his weight is stable. If he adds exercise to his daily routine and burns 500 calories during that hour of exercise, he should expect to lose a pound per week. This is reasonable. But Cloud seems to think that it’s inevitable that he will eat an extra 500 calories to compensate. This is possible, but it doesn’t have to happen. A meal plan of 3000 calories will achieve fat loss.
Cloud also thinks that if we exercise more, we’ll be more sedentary later. When people start exercising, they’re usually replace sedentary time with exercise. It’s not as if overweight people are constantly moving throughout the day and swinging on monkey bars. And then when they start going to the gym an hour per day, they all the sudden become more sedentary the rest of the day. Rather, most people who start exercising are adding activity to their lives, not subtracting it. Instead of sitting 16 hours per day, they’re sitting 15 and climbing the Stairmaster for one hour. My point is, in our society, adding activity is much more likely to increase expenditure than to decrease it.
Kevin
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