True or false: Exercise not necessary for weight loss.
A new study, the results of which are described here at tvnz.co.nz is being hailed as a result that “debunks the widely held belief that diet plus exercise is the most effective way to lose weight.”
The study results as quoted in the article state: "For weight loss to occur, an individual needs to maintain a difference between the number of calories they consume everyday and the number of calories they burn through metabolism and physical activity," Dr Leanne Redman of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explained in a press release and that researchers report that dieting alone is just as effective as dieting plus exercise. ‘What we found was that it did not matter whether a reduction in calories was achieved through diet or burned everyday through exercise.’"
Well of course this is not really new information. A calorie not eaten is the same as a calorie burned. Exercise can help you lose by burning more calories, but of course, you can also lose without exercise by eating less. At getfitsource, we always emphasize that the key to losing weight is eating less, not exercise. Eating less always trumps exercise for losing weight per se, because it is extremely difficult to burn the number of calories needed to lose lots of weight, whereas it is relatively straightforward not to consume them in the first place. Of course, exercise confers other extremely important benefits as well, which fortunately, the article does point out: “regular exercise can improve aerobic fitness and lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.” Not exactly a minor piece of information and one that is totally ignored by the headline news: “exercise not necessary to lose weight.”
Although it says it somewhat differently, the article also repeats the well known fact that one can’t “spot reduce.” In other words, one can’t target one part of the body for greater fat reduction than another. This is also a well known principle in weight loss.
Don’t let studies like these shake your faith in the benefits of exercise. But don’t expect exercise to be a panacea for weight loss. You have to eat less to lose weight.