'Why exercise won't make you thin'

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html?cnn=yes

Drink your kool-aid before reading. lol

 

Read with a critical eye: Their conclusions are NOT true of all people (definitely not me) and much of it does not qualify "why" with anything more than a good hunch. I think they're on to something big with the idea that people who move about more in everyday life stay thinner but the exercise notions seem terribly vague.

The best weight loss program will always be a mix of different things -- Curbed caloric intake and increased calorie usage. The latter takes many forms and what's best is different for everyone.

 

Next week's article from Time:

"Why going to school won't make you smart."

 

"McDonalds - quite possibly your path to your ideal weight"

 

It's on to something, but doesn't follow through with a detailed enough analysis. It is true that people exercise wrong, burning sugar instead of fat, and then reward themselves with too much sugar/fat, leading to a gain in weight, creating a self-defeating cycle.

It's very easy to overcome this, if your goal is weight-loss. I don't understand why people don't get the 65% to75% VO2 Max and the calories in versus calories out concepts. Dead simple if you ask me, and they work.

 

It's really simple. Eat less, exercise more. You WILL lose weight. Works every time it's applied correctly.

Jedi

 

Telling people what they want to hear or read sells magazines.

Those who exercise regularly at the dreaded gym are going to be more active throughout the day. Bet on it.

Fitness is self reinforcing. Regular exercise will lead to wellness and energy so you do more activity, such as taking the stairs, walking further etc during the day. This cycle will continue while people exercise regularly. Walks, hikes whatever, being EASIER become more common.

Lethargy is ALSO self reinforcing. Sitting on ones ass leads to less energy, more sitting and finally driving around the block to the grocery store.

Clearly this article is also only aimed at women. Men building additional muscle mass through "gasp" vigorous exercise will burn A LOT more calories sitting on their asses.

 

Actually, I found the article to be quite accurate.

Calories in < calories out = weight loss. It's simple math, all you have to do is add up the numbers.

If you sit on your ass all day and eat nothing, you will eventually lose weight. Would I recommend that? No. But, it is possible.

I lost 40 lbs (from 185lb to 145 lb) by eating less and excercising. I did excercise, but not a whole lot. 20 minutes of running, several times a week. I used a rough guesstimate of burning about 10 calories/minute during moderate excercise, so a 20 minute run only burns about 200 calories. The article mentioned that a 20 oz bottle of gatorade contains 130 calories, so if you run then drink your bottle of gatorade, and a muffin, you've negated the benefit of your run (caloric wise).

Years ago, I ran a marathon. I was running alot. But, I didn't lose much weight. Why? Because I didn't alter my diet (in the right direction anyway). I could run for an hour (burn about 600 calories), but then go have lunch at mcdonalds, where a whopper, fries and coke is about 1500 calories.

The big difference between the marathon days, and my recent weight loss- I stopped eating too much. I think I must have been eating 3000+ calories per day. I cut it back to less than 2000 calories/day and the weight came right off.

Once you start restricting your diet, you realize how little food you actually need to survive. 2000 calories per day is not much. Why isn't the author of the article losing weight? My bet is that he is eating too much.

That said, I think that excercise is important, but for overall health, not weight loss.

Dom

 

Last paragraph of article about sums the Apathy Diet up.

Nevertheless, since Author's 163 lbs. and has a gut, he'd get rid of it in one week by not drinking anything with Corn Syrup... like Gatorade.

 

What I highlighted I am very aware with. I've seen it with my dad. He's never been over weight despite lack of proper diet, but he's always been billed with clean health. Even during his days of lunch at Taco Bell, Micky D's, J 'n B's, etc the doctors were amazed at his healthy "levels". They asked what he did, and found he he's on his feet almost all day long, lifting boxes, going all over town, constantly moving 10+ hours a day. I believe that.

I don't see that excercise is a 'must' to lose weight, but I do feel it's vital in ones overall health. Diet needs to be the number one thing to worry about first. I just have a problem with continually hearing people complain about their weight, go on fill in the blank diet for a few weeks and then are discouraged because they don't see immediate results. The women (some men) do some ridiculous 1 month weight loss challenge. Everytime, I tell them make it a 6 month contest, not a starvation challenge. That way, hopefully, most of them will start seeing results and feel better and it will be part of their routine and they will continue after the challenge is over.

 

THe last time I was working on losing weight as opposed to managing my weight (60lbs to lose which I did) the workouts did make me hungry but I fought the hunder and/or ate healthy foods when I ate and I usually worked out before breakfast and work. I didnt just excercise I ate less and ate healthier plus the excercise results were pretty good. I've slacked off though the last year and gained a bit of it back so I need to kick back into gear.

 

I have found that cardio makes me very hungry so I limit my cardio.

Weight lifting on the other hand curbs my appetite so i do more of that.

Seems simple to me.

 

Yes, diet is important, but anyone who honestly pushes themselves to perform higher/faster/stronger, can agree that exercise is absolutely necessary to get in better shape.

The "exercise" that most people do isn't very stressful anyway, author of the article included. I see people all the time at the gym spending more time fiddling with their iPod or adjusting their clothing than actually working out. They lack any iota of intensity.

My philosophy is to push myself hard until I feel like I can't go further, travel faster, or lift more, then I force myself to do that much more again. If I don't feel like giving up halfway through my workout, it's not hard enough. Seems like aside from physical strength, more and more people are lacking the mental strength to really accomplish their goals.

When I go to the gym my WARM-UP is 4 set of 10 each squats/pull-ups/dips/weighted sit-ups that takes me about 10 minutes. I see people walk in and slog through half that number of reps over a half and hour and then leave and wonder why they're flabby.

 

Lest we forget - those same lazy people park as close as possible to the gym - even if it means waiting for a parking spot just 2 precious spaces closer, as if they were saving their strength.

 

I'll be the first to admit that I loath working out in some ways... but at the same time in a different manner, I've come to enjoy it too. Some days, it will take me 45 minutes to do one round of my home workout. But, I still get it done. (my workout is 3 rounds of push ups, sit ups, and curls, and extensions with a few odds and ends thrown in for good measure). I realize I don't follow the generally accepted rules; but I'm OK with that, and my results speak volumes

Back when I was 16-20, I was VERY active... than slouched like the people you speak of for the last 6 years. I would say that I was generally apathetic about my fitness. I'm almost back to my old self again in terms of how much energy I have, and try to use on a daily basis.

Ultimately, IMO, everybody will have a different motivation for losing the flab, or gaining muscle... and most of the time, the motivation is anti-climactic. I have almost never gone to the gym, and would definitely feel intimidated there; and could see myself being that guy. Maybe they just need somebody with experience to encourage them?

 

Huh?

This makes 0 sense and I fail to see the point that you're trying to make.

When I squat, it usually takes me upwards of 30 minutes to get through JUST squats (be it regular squats or box squats). So because you're doing 160 reps as a warmup in 10 minutes (which is completely OD and not necessary at all), and I'm doing 25 or 30 reps in 30 minutes, this is the reason why I'm flabby (which I'm not)?

Interesting...

 

I think the point he is trying to make is that some people workout to slowly, just going through the motions without truly exerting themselves. If someone is looking to loose weight it is best to do sets and then use the time between for cardio with no rest. Some people just don't push themselves hard enough. I thought I was working out quite hard when I first started, but after working out with a friend who is a very serious bodybuilder I then realized what it means to lift to failure. I find it helps to have someone push you for that next rep and help with the last reps.

 

I'm not squatting for max load... yes for that it takes time to recover between sets, I fully understand that. I was referring to warm-up squats with a light load to loosen up and get the blood flowing versus people bouncing their ass on a big blue ball 20 times and calling it a day. What are they accomplishing? Not sure how my warm-up is OD... I'd think most fit people can rip off 10 reps of any of those exercises in 30secs or so without too much effort.

My point is, you only see results when you push yourself by increasing your power output--whether by a higher work output (more load) or decreasing the time required for a certain load. It's when folks grind through the same old routine with the same number of reps for the same exercises and same load for months on end and wonder why they're not getting in better shape (such as the author of the article), that's what I'm criticizing.

 

I go with the train 20 - 25 hrs./week and eat all you want strategy, so long as it's not total crap. I'm in great shape... gonna do a half-ironman soon.

... I guess not having a job really helps with all that, though.

 

I'll one up ya: At my gym, they wait for the valet then they go in and "move" the machines but without any weight on it.

I used to be of the "work out lots and eat donuts" metabolism but, sadly, I think those good times have recently gone. Having officially hit my late 30's, I've just discovered that no matter how often and how intense I work out, I'm not losing it as easily as I used to (I know, "duh"). Diet has become more important given my age, though it's not the end-all TIME indicates. Exercise and play-time matter, even more than ever given the recent research on neurological benefits.

To me, they were writing for overweight women, cherry-picking data to making a sensational claim and discounting decades of verified clinical wisdom. Not well-rounded reporting, IMHO.

 

Being an hourly employee and with the current economy OT is frowned upon so I get to the gym anywhere between 2:30-4:00 because I vary my schedule so I don't always leave too early. Lots of up front parking spots. I laugh everytime I see someone waiting for me to pull out of the spot so they can get up front.

That's the problem there seems to be with all of these "mass media" health articles. They never reach the crux of the subject. They slant it so it's politically correct and you don't, heaven forbid, offend anyone. And they take all the personal responsibility for staying healthy out of the article.

 

People eat like cows at a trough these days. Portion size is ridiculous and out of whack at just about every restaurant I can think of. It's no puzzle to me why obesity is an epidemic.

 

You aren't kidding. I just got back from a trip to the midwest and was stunned -- really stunned -- at the size of people there. It's particularly shocking to see entire school busses full of fat kids. Our country is in a lot of trouble today but obesity is a national catastrophe that few really grasp the importance of...yet.

 

What pisses me off is it is considered rude to call fat people fat. You mention the word fat in any context and politically correct people start running for cover. If you don't admit to the problem, you are hardly going to solve it.

Come on fatties, admit it. You are fat. Plain and simple. And yes, it may be insulting, but it's also the truth. So step away from the friedgreasecreampuffs and start exercising.

 

Yes, I still get nightmares about a layover I once had at Des Moines, IA. That was in 1986. Man, those women were HUGE.