Do You Actually Have to Exercise to Lose Weight?
It’s a simple formula, right? You have to burn more calories than you take in to shed those pounds. What if it isn’t that simple, though? What if you can’t simply exercise those calories away? One new study says exercise isn’t the cure-all everyone thinks it is. Sweatin’ the Pounds Away May Not Help After All? It’s the mantra we’ve all been taught for years. If I sweat long and hard enough, that candy bar I just ate will dissolve into nothingness. Unfortunately, a new study says that might not be true if you’re already sedentary and overweight. Let’s take a quick look at the study to better understand what’s going on. • Conducted at the University of Pittsburg, 248 sedentary, overweight adults were followed for a period of 18 months where they exercised every week based on their study grouping.
- Group one exercised for 75 minutes per week.
- Group two exercised for 66 minutes per week.
- Group three exercised for 154 minutes per week.
What happened? There was no real difference in weight change among the three groups.
- Group one lost 0.7 percent of their body weight
- Group two lost 0.9 percent of their body weight
- Group three lost just 1.2 percent of their body weight.
Seriously, What is Going on Here? When you’re looking at an exercise study where a whopping 72 percent of the participants lost nothing or even GAINED weight, your first question is probably what’s up with this study. The bottom line here is that exercise alone doesn’t translate to weight loss. Eating behaviors are a much better indicator of shedding pounds. What You Can’t Take From This Study – the idea that exercise is without value. Far from it. Engaging in physical activity is one of the healthiest decisions you can make – it just won’t translate into weight loss on its own. Your own eating decisions have to play into the game somewhere. Healthy eating MUST play a role in any weight loss plan. Get the essential nutrition you need to fuel your body and help boost weight loss. Exercise can help, as long as you don’t compensate for calories burned by consuming more.
