Is exercising for weight loss a myth? A weight loss initiative without exercise is certainly more appealing. People rather look for diets and starve themselves rather than exercise to lose weight.
Its amazing how misunderstood weight loss is, even amongst experts. There is enough information out there to support and discredit exercise as one of the solutions for weight loss.
Time magazine in their August issue reinforces that exercise does not help weight loss. Is there any truth in this? Lets look at this a little closer.
The author of the article had stressed that while he had exercised diligently, his belly fat still hung over his belt when he sat. Have a closer look at his exercise regime and you would notice that it is centered mainly around cardio exercises. This is a flawed approach to weight loss. I had stated in the following articles, “Jogging – The losing battle to fight weight loss”, “Why jogging is a losing battle for weight loss“ and “Swimming – Another losing battle for weight loss” that sustainable and correct weight loss cannot be achieved without a solid weight resistance training program. The body adapts very quickly to cardio exercises and the intensity has to be continuously increased to continue getting weight loss. Most people don’t do this. They run the same distance at the same pace, day after day.
Cardio exercises should come after weight training for Correct Weight Loss
Correct Weight Loss is achieved by losing fat and maintaining or building muscle mass. This is achieved by weight resistance exercises and a sensible diet. This is fundamental to losing weight correctly and sustaining it there after.
One of the key references mentioned in the Time article was a study done by Dr Timothy Church for the PLoS ONE peer
reviewed journal. In that study, Dr Church divided women who had not exercised previously, into 4 groups. The first 3 groups worked with a personal trainer for 72 minutes, 136 minutes, and 194 minutes per week, respectively, for six months. The 4th group did not engage in any additional exercises and continued their usual physical activity routines.
Time magazine quoted the findings as follows;
The findings were surprising. On average, the women in all the groups, even the control group, lost weight, but the women who exercised — sweating it out with a trainer several days a week for six months — did not lose significantly more weight than the control subjects did. (The control-group women may have lost weight because they were filling out those regular health forms, which may have prompted them to consume fewer doughnuts.) Some of the women in each of the four groups actually gained weight, some more than 10 lb. each.
There was no way of knowing what exercises these women were doing. If weight resistance training was not the cornerstone of their exercise efforts, it would not be surprising that there would be minimal weight loss. Furthermore, weight loss also requires a sensible and clean diet. No amount of exercise will help if food consumption is not restricted. A sensible diet and resistance training go together hand in hand.
This discussion in continued in Part 2. What are your thoughts about what was written in the Time magazine?
Tags: cardio for weight loss, cardio, weight loss, exercise does not make you thin, muscle, fat, TIME magazine
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