There have been a lot of reports in the last year confirming that contrary to popular belief, not all exercise leads to significant weight loss. If you want to shed pounds, it mostly comes down to diet. It’s no surprise that changing your diet can help you lose weight, but for decades, many people believed that exercise was the best pathway to a slimmer, fitter you.
Today the New York Times added to the news that exercise doesn’t significantly aid in weight loss by reporting the results of an exercise and obesity study. The study followed a group of 58 obese individual who underwent three months of supervised aerobic activity but didn’t change their diets at all. And while the group lost an average of seven pounds, many participants barely lost three.
I admit that when all of these studies started coming up I was a little shocked, but it turns out that high intensity workouts mainly burn carbs, not just fat.
To hear what type of exercise may maximize fat loss, read more.
The article explains: "'The message of our work is really simple,' although not agreeable to hear, said Edward Melanson, PhD, the lead author of the study. 'It all comes down to energy balance,' or, as you might have guessed, calories in and calories out. People 'are only burning 200 or 300 calories' in a typical 30-minute exercise session, Melanson points out. 'You replace that with one bottle of Gatorade.'"
Fat loss can be maximized, but it’s a matter of how you approach your workout. To do this, work out at a lower intensity in your fat-burning zone, which is 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. For most people this zone falls between 105-134 beats per minute. Melanson’s study also found that once weight is lost from reduced calorie intake, exercise might prevent it from coming back by resetting metabolic pathways that stop the body from wanting to store fat.
The research is interesting, but should not dissuade any of us from our fitness goals. The benefits of exercise reach far beyond weight loss — it helps the brain function better, reduces stress, creates a toned body, and is important for healthy heart function.
Martick Jewellery
Exercise may not help too much with weight loss, but I sure feel better when I exercise. I wonder with those studies if the dietary habits of the participants were monitored. Some people believe that exercise gives them a license to eat whatever they want. If people are not educated about exercise and diet, they may have increased their caloric intake to the point where exercise did not help with weight loss. I will say that when I was sidelined with an injury for 6 months and couldn't exercise, I did not gain any weight in spite of my fears that would happen, so I can certainly believe that exercise does not promote the kind of weight loss that some people think it does.
1I'm thoroughly confused now! I've heard "of course exercise helps you lose weight!" and then I've heard "no way exercise doesn't do crap!" "work out hard!" "Work out at a lower intensity!" "Only hard sprints help you lose fat! Try intervals!"
2Exactly what do I need to be doing?? I love running and I usually take my time for a good hour and a half run. Will this burn fat? Geesh, I'm confused.
Tammy O. Try to keep your heart rate at around 110bpm. I tried doing all of the above (high/low intensity and intervals) and finally settled on keeping my heart rate around 110bpm. Then I wasn't too puffed but I still put in a good effort.
Eeeh, regardless of what the journals say, I'll still exercise to lose weight/get fit/whatever.
3I really hate these studies. But if they're true, I guess I will spend more time trying to have a better diet. But I will say this, I only lose weight when I am exercising, I only gain weight when I stop exercising. That may be because I eat better or less when I am exercising. Also, when I lift weights, I am increasing my muscle mass, which burns a lot of fat on its own.
4I think bodies are different and respond to exercise in different ways. I really don't care what these studies say, I'm going to keep exercising and I know it helps me to stay slim.
5I think this study is a crock. I know personally what works for my body. I have been busy losing weight for a while now. I do 5 days of workouts a week. Now while it is true that I didn't start losing weight until I tempered my diet, if I don't exercise - I don't lose weight either. For me it's not one or the other, it's both in concert with each other.
In fact I didn't lose a pound for 3 weeks. It just so happened to be the case that I was nursing an injury for those same three weeks and couldn't run at all (I was doing other cardio - but couldn't run). Running is the only activity that gets my heart rate truly soaring, even when I'm not sprinting. As soon as I started running again, I lost three pounds the next week. It couldn't have been a coincidence.
When I get to my goal weight, I will probably stop running so often, but I know that eating well and still doing some cardio keeps my weight even.
I truly think that regardless of any study, you have to figure out what works for you individually - which takes time, hard work and a lot of effort regardless of the method.
6I still don't understand the concept of exercising at a lower intensity to burn fat. When my boyfriend and I would go to the gym together, I would run so hard and he would go pretty slow and tell me it's because he was trying to lose fat. Everything he read said that going at a slower pace causes you to lose fat and not just carbs. I have trouble understanding how you lose more fat with less effort. Either way, I like to exercise at higher intensity because I think it's overall better for my body (gives my heart and lungs an exercise too). Eating well is key to weight loss, that's for sure. But I feel like you should do both because who wants to be thin and flabby? I'd rather be thin and toned.
7Ok, I always always assumed that doing high intesnsity cardio burns more calories. Yes, they may be mostly from carbs, but now those carb calories are gone... And you have burned MORE fat calories (because even though the percentage from fat is less, the overall number of calories burned is higher, ergo the number of fat calories is higher. Like 50% of 300 is 150, but 30% of 700 is 210). Additionaly, now that you have used those carbs, the body has to use fat to fuel later, less intense (i.e. higher fat burning) activities like walking home from the bus. Does that make sense? Obviously have a controlled diet of healthy foods is essential because if you are eating all simple carbs after using those up, your body is going to go right back to using those for fuel.
That's my theory (pieced together from everything I have read). I think it encompasses pretty much all of this "new" research.
8Glad I bought a heart monitor yesterday! I was dunked and had my true BMI tested, and the rep explained to me how I can lose the fat mass - work out in the lower intensity HR zones as described above.
And yes, "they" say that weight loss is "80% nutrition, 20% exercise." People easily make up for what they burn in exercise when they splurge afterwards or treat themselves for working so hard. This is why despite evidence to the contrary, participants on shows like The Biggest Loser or other competitions are so successful - their diets are being monitored as well as their butts being kicked!
9Contrary to popular belief, exercise does not burn fat.
But it does, right? I think that can be misleading. It's just lower-moderate intensity exercise for a longer period of time. And what about the idea of losing "muscle" vs "fat" by dieting alone? I'm pretty much the same weight that I was 15 years ago, but I'm still a lot leaner and wearing looser fitting clothes... and I can tell you that wasn't just from my food intake.
Melanson’s study also found that once weight is lost from reduced calorie intake, exercise might prevent it from coming back by resetting metabolic pathways that stop the body from wanting to store fat.
This is pretty significant and worth highlighting.
10Well, the healthiest (and most aesthetic) approach to weight loss is diet AND exercise.
I've known women who relied solely on diet to lose weight. It's true -- they lost weight, but it was rather unattractive weight loss. Their bodies were still disproportional, flabby in certain areas, and their figures were unprovocative.
Exercise carves a more shapely body. It's hard to deny the aesthetics of a sculpted body. JMHO.
11Also, I like to mention that exercise gives a person a nice "glow" to his/her skin. That's attractive, too.
12Exercise has so many more benefits IN ADDITION to helping you lose weight. If I keep my caloric intake the same but increase how much I exercise of course I'll lose weight, I've done it before.
Even if exercise didn't help me lose weight it still good for so many other things; stress relief, strengthening muscles and bones, detoxifying (through sweat) and so many other things.
This study is just very discouraging and i think it would be more beneficial to focus on what exercise does do instead what it supposedly doesn't.
13I use one of those online food/exercise journals to keep my calories in check. I aim for 1200 net calories a day (meaning I can eat 1200 if I don't exercise and if i exercise, it increases the calories I can have in a day). I'm not usually so picky about calories, but I'm going on vacation in 2 weeks and want to be in tip top shape. I guess my concern is this: if I exercise and burn 500 calories, it says I can have 500 extra calories, so that my *net* calories are 1200 but I've consumed 1700. Now I'm thinking maybe that's not the case. If I'm eating fat calories and only burning carb calories, is this just going against my goal to lose the last 5 lbs.? I really hate these studies!
14Ok. Here we go...another study. I know people that will use this very study as an excuse to not exercise. Exercise provides other benefits. I like looking at a toned, fit, and conditioned body. In order for this to happen, it has to be a 80% nutrition, 20% exercise component. Now that is my take on it.
15You know, what makes this more confusing for me is that I've been doing circuit training and realized that my hr is well above the fat burning zone. I've gained weight (probably muscle) and haven't lost much fat from what I can tell. Add the whole "make sure you eat some carbs before you workout" to the fat-burning theory and I'm completely bewildered.
16Exercise creates an optimal body. Most men like tone on a woman (if you care abou that- I exercise for myself). What I don't get is how Michael Phelps, for instance, can eat McDonalds & whatever he wants yet not gain any weight because he is constantly exercising?
17You cannot starve yourself into attractiveness. I have tried. You have to do both.
Your body reaches an equilibrium eventually, and it makes you eat in balance. People that don't exercise are knocked out of equilibrium by the high-fat, low-nutrition diet the corporatocracy brings to us.
18I agree! I spent 3 years doing boot camp 3 times a week and running 3 times a week and have gained about 7 pounds! Not muscle tho". The only way i lost it was to quit boot camp for a while and diet! I think sometimes exercise makes a person eat too much!
19I think exercise certainly helps in MAINTAINING weight, which is all that I care about.
20Losing weight is easy math. The less calories you intake the more weight you'll lose.
Exercise helps with general health, strength and plays a part with losing weigth but its not needed to lose weight. What effect weight is food.
Once you learn to control your food intake and eat the right these, the pounds will fall off.
21I do get tired of these "studies." Of course, if you exercise and then eat more calories to compensate you won't lose weight. If you eat too few your body may hold on to weight. However, many of us here in North America don't move enough. I know personally my diet isn't too bad, it certainly isn't bad most days calorie wise, but when I exercise consistently, ta da, the weight comes off. It's a combination of course, but to say that exercise won't make you lose weight is just ridiculous and counter-intuitive. Even if it didn't make you lose weight, it's imperative to our health, we're meant to move!
22Camarogirl67 I was told not to eat 4 - 5 hours before working out. try it if you can.
Vanonymous If you want to lose some pounds in too weeks I suggest you lower the 1200 cal a day a little. which means you really dont have to hit the gym. Remember if you eat 3500 cals is 1 pound. If your eating 1200 a day by Friday you have 6000 cals.
23Here's my problem with it - it seems like the first study only looked at how much weight people lose. If someone goes from never exercising to exercising frequently, they will inevitably build muscle. A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat. So, they may lose inches without seeing much of a change on the scale.
I would have a lot more respect for the study if they measured progress in terms of body fat percentage lost or inches, instead of just pounds.
24Plus, most people don't want to lose weight solely for the sake of having a certain number on the scale - they want to look and feel better. If you exercise, you're body will look more toned and you will look better overall, regardless of what the scale says.
25I personally would rather lose weight by exercise and diet than by diet alone. Being thin and flabby is disgusting (imo) - that was me in highschool. I'd much rather be toned and the only way to build muscles and be toned is through exercise. I would rather be a few pounds heavier but with toned muscles rather than a few pounds lighter with no muscle tone and flabby arms and legs. (I keep thinking of that Ally McBeal episode with the jiggle of the underarm skin - yuck!
Maybe this study applies more for people looking to lose a lot of weight, say 20+ pounds rather than people only looking to lose say 5 or 10 pounds. The fastest way to lose significant poundage is probably through diet/calorie intake, but for those last few pounds, I think exercise is the way to go. Even if you don't lose it, you'll look leaner.
26I AGREE with this study, and as a matter of fact, I just commented something very similar here on FitSugar a few weeks ago. Yes, you will LOOK better if you exercise, but that is not what this study is addressing. WEIGHT LOSS will come from reducing caloric intake. 99% of people will not exercise enough during a given week to burn the drastic number of calories needed to make weight loss happen. You HAVE to take in a lower number of calories through eating less/smarter. Especially given the assumed lifestyle/eating habits of people who are obese... they CANNOT go on eating like they are used to doing.
27The problem isn't the studies--it's misinterpreting them.
The point of the first study was that while there wasn't a decrease in weight, there was a significant decrease in waist measurements (down an average of 1.5 inches), better resting heart rate, better blood pressure, etc.
The point of the second study wasn't that exercise doesn't work--but that there doesn't appear to be evidence of "afterburn". The authors of the second study cited here said it very clearly--calories in, calories out. If you burn 300 calories and immediately eat 400 calories, then you are on track to gaining weight rather than losing weight.
I find it odd that a health and fitness site like this would interpret these two studies as evidence that exercise won't work. It seems irresponsible and counterproductive to me. Also, the final study cited, actually suggests that for individuals who are already fit, maximum fat oxidation is probably between 60 to 80% of maximum heart rate (NOT 60 to 70%), but that it varies greatly between individuals.
I think it is too easy to get focused on weight, when there are so many other measures of progress. If you weight 200# at the start of your exercise program, and 200# at the end, but you waist has gone from 37" to 35", then that is significant progress. When you go from a sedentary to active lifestyle, you body composition is bound to change.
28FitSugar wrote, "Keep in mind that the benefits of exercise reach far beyond weight loss — it helps the brain function better, reduces stress, and is important for healthy heart function." Exactly. But this study is just talking about WEIGHT LOSS. Just take it for what it is.
29I have to join the ranks of the confused here. I'm vegan, eat extremely healthy food, consume no more than 1300 calories a day on average, but I cannot seem to get rid of those extra inches and flabby layers. I did just start exercising regularly, but I haven't seen much of a difference. Admittedly it's only been a couple of weeks, so I didn't expect to see a difference. But my question is: How can I eat healthier and less at this point? It doesn't sound healthy to me. There has to be another way to lose weight - like exercise...
30Anonymous comments are loads of crap.
31Wow, didn't know you took dumb studies so seriously. Your comment assuming why people are obese, also a load of crap.
32For me, it is a combination of diet and exercise to lose weight and stay toned. I think it is more diet driven but I agree with above posters that these studies make me crazy and confused. Do this, don't do that...I'll stick with the weight watchers eating plan and moderate exercise to stay in shape.
33@vanonymous
Fat can't metabolize quickly enough to fuel your muscles when you're working out at higher intensities. Your body instead relies upon a higher percentage of carbs. On top of that, the higher intensities translate to shorter workout times because of fatigue.
At slower tempo, your body is able to use more fat as its energy reserve. Combine that with a longer workout time and that translates to higher amounts of fat burned compared to the shorter more intense workout.
34I've discovered - through many times of getting back on the exercise wagon - that just exercising and not changing your diet does not help me lose the pounds. I certainly feel better and my body definitely looks toner, but I stay at the same weight. To lose the weight I have to be very careful as to what I am eating. It has taken me many times to face this fact, but it very true.
35@Ekstor - Thanks for the explanation. It makes more sense to me when you put it like that. I'm thinking I should invest in a heart rate monitor...and maybe i should also not justify eating Ben & Jerry's just because I did a kickboxing class.
36Anonymous rhetoric speaks for itself. "dumb" and "crap" are adjectives indicative of this level of thinking... I apologize for feeding into it. For the rest of you, thanks for the more valuable comments. I like flyowsley's personal testimony.
37when it comes to weight loss it IS all diet. I think when it comes to weight maintenance however exercise plays a much bigger role.
The thing that was most valuable to me when I started losing weight was that actually my therapist had me quit exercising for a bit so I could stop combining my eating with my exercise emotionally (IE if I didn't work out I ate like a pig since I was lazy anyway so "might as well"), etc. That helped me a lot even though some people found it horrifying.
38Could you have POSSIBLY picked a more demeaning photo to go with this post? Could you not have at least tried to find one where the model hadn't deliberately been made to look as sad, lethargic, and conventionally-unattractive as possible?
You are reinforcing the stereotype of "fat" people as ugly, lazy, dirty, and unhappy. But it's not like fat people have feelings, right?
Shame on you.
39Wait a minute.. doesn't just having a lot of muscle tone burn fat? And doesn't it take working out to gain muscle tone?
40Doesn't that fact alone contradict this story?
Just curious.
This is completely true for me. A week of cutting back on certain foods shows results, but a week of exercising everyday (and maintaining my diet, not treating myself with donuts just because I hit the gym) does practically nothing. But I agree that a healthy body is a body that exercises, not to mention that it's a more attractive body as well!
41Here's what people don't realize/aren't taking into consideration: the metabolic pathways in exercisers are changed so they become less prone to store fat. See, when you work out often, you're body realizes that your muscles are going to be needing glycogen soon to fuel them, so your body starts storing the food you eat in your muscles for easy access. Glycogen carries a lot of water with it, so it can make you hang onto water weight; that's a big reason why people who work out a lot have fluctuating weights. My own weight can fluctuate greatly depending on the time of day and how much glycogen my body is hanging onto. This study is focusing solely on weight, but exercise generally targets your body's fat stores/energy stores, which will lead to a better LOOKING body, even if it's not much lighter.
42AWESOME explanation, Spectra! Thank you so much!!!!
43@littlekaren: Anonymous here. Actually, I READ the study and the authors did take other measures. In fact, if you take the time read their abstract yourself, you will see the entire point of the study was that although exercise may not result in weight loss, it does result in better fitness in other ways. In other words, the point of the study (not necessarily of this interpretation or what was written in the NYT article) was about both weight loss AND other indicators of overall health.
This is my first time commenting on this site, but when someone posts "Anonymous comments are loads of crap," it certainly makes me not want to be part of the community and provides absolutely no incentive to post as anything other than anonymous.
I was posting data--clarifying what ACTUALLY happened in the study instead of relying on anecdotal evidence or careless insults.
Also--you can't agree or disagree with a study. You can carefully read it and determine what things make it applicable to a particular situation--but the results are what they are. Your opinion won't change facts.
44Also, to clarify--I'm the (anonymous) author of comments # 28 & #44 (not #32). I just want to emphasize that I believe it is irresponsible to report the results of a study without actually reading the study. This post seriously misrepresents the data, which is confusing for people who rely on FitSugar to provide them with accurate fitness and diet information. I was trying to be helpful by explaining what the researchers actually found--which was not at all the counter intuitive findings suggested by this post.
45Gee. What ever happened to diets being a temporary weight lost thing?
sigh. well at least i
can cut off some of that excercise now.
46This story will encourage unhealthy overweight people to continue to NOT exercise.
47So what if I'm eating a highish calorie diet, but exercising so much that there is still a deficit? Will I still not lose weight?? Doesn't make much sense..
48This article is right but it's title is obviously bull!
49Its just written that way to be catchy. It's actually bad to do so because it automatically forces a negative thought regarding exercise Is there really a need to do that?
I am a personal trainer and if anything I always encourage my clients to do ANY exercise.
For all of you ladies out there, any exercise you do - is a benefit! So keep doing what you are doing. If you want some tips from me check out my site Trainerpack.
Very nice site!
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