"That’s not a fluke. Our waistlines aren’t expanding because people aren’t exercising intelligently or vigorously enough. You don’t need a new personal trainer, another Insanity workout video or a more aggressive CrossFit regimen. What you need is the truth, and here it is:
Exercise — no matter how many gym memberships you buy or how often you wear your Fitbit — won’t make you lose weight.
The idea that our obesity epidemic is caused by sedentary lifestyles has spread widely over the past few decades, spurring a multibillion-dollar industry that pitches gadgets and gimmicks promising to walk, run and kickbox you to a slim figure. But those pitches are based on a myth. Physical activity has a multitude of health benefits — it reduces the risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and possibly even cancer — but weight loss is not one of them.
A growing body of scientific evidence shows that exercise alone has almost no effect on weight loss, as two sports scientists and I described in a recenteditorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. For one, researchers who reviewed surveys of millions of American adults found that physical activity increased between 2001 and 2009, particularly in counties in Kentucky, Georgia and Florida. But the rise in exercise was matched by an increase in obesity in almost every county studied. There were even more striking results in a 2011 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that people who simply dieted experienced greater weight loss than those who combined diet and exercise."
This is an odd admission, so now fat people aren't lazy? You mean you can't burn it off?
Thank you! I know, and yet we see everywhere "all they need to do is eat less and get off the couch." So dumb. As if people choose to have extra weight, as you said in one of your columns.
ReplyDeleteI've lost and gained the same 40 lbs. several times in my life. This time, I've kept it off almost a yr-and-a-half. But I lost it by taking the time-release, beads-in-the-capsule form of Phentermine, and nobody seems to make anything but that "dirty"-feeling (gives me brain fog), white-powder-in-caps kind. Just have to keep I
t off for life this time.
I believe they took the Phen-Fen combination off the market because it worked too well (re: your column about them keeping people fat.) Because lots of drugs have severe side effects (pushing Topamax now, and those side effects are horrific), but they don't take them off market. During that period in the 90s, everyone I knew took them and successfully took and kept weight off.
Don't know what your feelings are about meds, or how I got into that, but just discovered your page and have been reading some things. Good work. Stay brave.
I had some people bitch me out online saying you lose weight in the kitchen not the gym. I have made going to the gym a habit and have been able to add exercise to my life. Whatever happens happens at this point, the "nothing is good enough" merchants at this point can kiss my ass. Yeah who would choose to be fat with all the BS one has to take. I told husband the other day, Okay at this point I will exercise--gym 2-3 times a week and I require we exercise for 45 minutes while there if not more---I do it a wall at a certain point, lifting weights etc, and eat when hungry and best food I can scrape up--hard on bad finances but there's a certain point a person can only do what they can so I am beyond annoyed to see that as a meme, more shame for eating anything, "you lose weight in the kitchen" etc. Wow I didn't know Phen-Fen worked, I didn't even know, that interesting theory. I was considering going on it before they took it off the market. I also wonder why every damn drug now especially the psych drugs has WEIGHT GAIN and not mild but major weight gain as a side effect. I have a friend who used to be a model that runs in the 300s now from that stuff. I am glad you could get your 40lbs off. Thanks and welcome to the blog!
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