Don’t Exercise to Lose Weight?
Monday, August 17, 2009 20:09 A new Time magazine article has the weight loss industry buzzing!
The writer, John Cloud, stated (at length) how exercise does not help you lose weight. He went on to say that it may even make you gain weight…
After quoting specific studies to back up his argument he pretty much summed it up like this:
“In short, it’s what you eat, not how hard you try to work it off, that matters more in losing weight. You should exercise to improve your health, but be warned: fiery spurts of vigorous exercise could lead to weight gain. I love how exercise makes me feel, but tomorrow I might skip the VersaClimber — and skip the blueberry bar that is my usual postexercise reward.”
While I agree that you can’t go out and splurge on your diet after exercising and still hope to lose weight, I can tell you from over a decade of hands on experience that exercising is sometimes the only solution to losing weight. The reason being, that if you’ve been dieting on and off for years how is going on another calorie restricted diet going to help?
Instead of burning yourself out exercising like the writer talks about I suggest starting out at 3x per week and being active on the other days (like going for a long walk). Plus, to lump every different type of exercise together is like saying cake and blueberries are the same because they’re both carbohydrates…
The magazine writer’s point will hopefully create awareness about not overeating after exercising, but it would be a shame for the article to give people the idea they should move even less than they do now…
Source: Time – full article