Welcome to the town that will make you lose weight

[Demi]

The Times
London, UK
18 February, 2008


Welcome to the town that will make you lose weight

Mark Henderson, Science Editor

Towns and cities need to be radically redesigned to help to tackle the obesity epidemic, scientists were told —yesterday. Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force, a London-based think-tank, called for a revolution in urban planning to encourage people to use cars less and public transport more.

He told a conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston that it was naive to expect people to lose weight by making better choices about diet and exercise when their surroundings encouraged inactivity.

Urban designers had created an “obesogenic environment” by planning public spaces around the car. Transport systems that made it easier to drive than to walk, cycle or take public transport were the worst contributors to obesity.

He also blamed the rise of desk-bound office work and sedentary leisure activities such as watching television, surfing the internet and playing computer games. Lifts and escalators, and even labour-saving devices such as electric toothbrushes and can-openers added to the problem.

“Blaming individuals for their personal vulnerability to weight gain is no longer acceptable in a world where the majority is already overweight and obesity is rising everywhere,” said Professor James, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “It is naive of ill-informed politicians and food industry executives to place the onus on individuals making ‘healthier choices’ whilst the environment in which we live is the overwhelming factor amplifying the epidemic.

“It is even more naive to tell people that they just need to make a little change in their eating habits or their daily activity and suddenly the obesity problem will be remarkably easily solved.” Rather than pouring billions into creating more car-filled town centres and motorway networks, it was now necessary to curtail car use.

“The alternative of simply advocating more leisure activity is increasingly seen not to work without sustained additional changes to town planning and transport,” he said. The think-tank belongs to the International Association for the Study of Obesity, an umbrella body for 52 national obesity organisations Research by Rena Wing, of Brown University in Rhode Island, found that it was unrealistic for most people who lost weight to keep it off by making small lifestyle changes such as using stairs. While small efforts such as this could stop people who were already slim from from getting fat, those who had lost weight needed to add 90 minutes of walking to their daily routines to avoid putting it back on again.

“We live in an obesogenic environment that relies heavily on fast food, automobiles and remote controls – all of which can be labelled as ‘toxic’ to maintaining a healthy body weight,” Dr Wing said.In a study, Dr Wing and James Hill, of the University of Colorado Denver, who run the the US National Weight Control Registry, examined data on more than 5,000 successful dieters who had lost an average of 5 stone and kept it off for six years.

They found that successful weight-watchers ate a low-calorie diet, including breakfast, watched little television and incorporated much more exercise than is usual into their daily routines. “They do a tremendous amount of physical activity, burning off about 2,800 calories a week,” she said. “If you just do walking, to burn off that many calories, you would need to walk 28 miles a week, the equivalent of a marathon. That’s about four miles each day in the week. We estimate that will take them 90 minutes.

“If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you need to really change your lifestyle, particularly if you’re overweight or have a family history of obesity. The obesity epidemic won’t go away simply because people switch to skimmed milk.”

Professor James highlighted Oslo in Norway as an example of a “slim city”, where the built environment is structured to discourage car use and encourage walking and cycling. Urban planning in the Netherlands and Denmark has also incorporated more physical activity in daily lives, lowering obesity rates.

Professor James attacked some food manufacturers and retailers for resisting “traffic light” labelling schemes. He said: “The approach seems to be the one many parts of the food industry fear most – and perhaps for good reason because it warns consumers when what they are getting is mostly a junk-food combination of fattening ingredients of little nutritional value.”

He said that for half a century, food technology had refined the production of precise combinations of flavours – largely artificial – that could hook us on particular types of foods. “Along with that precision targeting of taste, finely honed techniques of marketing have been used to mould consumer preferences in ways which were unthinkable for earlier generations. In particular the way in which children have been targeted in recent decades has shown that the ruthless drive to increase sales and consumption figures has overridden common sense and the need for social responsibility.”

Fat file

— 60 per cent of all journeys made by Dutch people aged over 60 are by bike.

— 10.4 per cent of Dutch men and 10.1 per cent of women aged 20-60 are obese. In England, 24.9 per cent of males and 25.2 per cent of women over 16 are obese

— 70 per cent of Tongan women aged 15-85 are obese. Tonga and nearby Nauru have the world’s fattest populations

— More than a million prescriptions for antiobesity drugs are given out each year 30 per cent of British children are overweight.

Sources: IOTF, NHS information centre, Times database


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article3386817.ece

[Demi]

The Guardian
London, UK
18 february, 2008


Exercise essential to keeping weight off after dieting, says nutritionist

Dieters who have managed to shed their excess weight need to do 90 minutes of exercise a day to keep the pounds off in the long term, according to a study. The finding comes as a leading nutritional researcher called on world leaders to tackle obesity with the same urgency as global efforts to tackle climate change.

Rena Wing, professor of psychiatry and human behaviour at Brown University, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston yesterday that exercising 60 to 90 minutes a day was essential to long term weight loss. By studying data on more than 5,000 men and women who have, on average, lost 70 pounds and kept the weight off for six years, she found that successful dieters had high levels of physical activity and consciously controlled their eating habits. This meant frequent weighing, following a consistent diet across the week and taking quick remedial action at the first sign of weight gain.

"There's no way around it," Wing said. "If you want to lose weight and keep it off you need to really change your lifestyle, particularly if you're overweight or have a family history of obesity. The obesity epidemic won't go away simply because people switch from whole to skimmed milk. They need to substantially cut their calories and boost their physical activity to get to a healthy weight - and keep minding the scale once they do."

In Britain more than one-fifth of adults are obese and, of the remainder, half of men and a third of women are overweight. Obesity is linked to heart disease, diabetes and premature death. By 2015, 2.3 billion adults are forecast to be overweight, including 700 million obese.

Philip James, of the International Obesity Taskforce, told the seminar urgent steps were needed to transform the environment that makes people fat. James, who chaired the UN Commission on the Nutritional Challenges of the 21st Century, said obesity was a problem for all of society, arguing that blaming individuals for their vulnerability to gain weight was no longer acceptable when the "environment in which we live is the overwhelming factor amplifying the epidemic".

He added: "It is even more naive to tell people that they just need to make a little change in their eating habits or their daily activity and suddenly the obesity problem will be remarkably easily solved."

A big challenge for the food sector would be to transform its products to reduce the promotion and abundant array of high energy foods, he said.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/feb/18/medicalresearch.health

[amandawood]

Thanks, Demi, for digging out another interesting article - I regularly check the forum for "your" articles cos you find such interesting stuff!

I had to make a few comments about this one, cos, as a person who neither possesses a driving licence nor a car, I feel quite strongly about this issue. As a member of a family which has decided that it does not wish to afford a car, even my husband, who has a driving licence, does not have a car.

When I read this article, I couldn't help but remember a few passages from Bill Bryson's book about America, "Notes from a Big Country" where he tells the readers about a town in the US where a pedestrianized zone was introduced, all very tasteful, but with no easy access for cars. A few years later they paved it over again: nobody had gone shopping there while there was no car access.

He also tells the story of how his next-door neighbours actually got in their car to come round to his house for a meal!!! People are too in love with their cars to get into the idea of cycling and walking. I should know: I don't have a driving licence and do all my shopping by bike or on foot. People here in Germany regard me as rather quaintly eccentric, although I regularly transport a lot more than the six eggs and jar of ketchup the car-drivers "need" their cars for! Nobody can believe that we can manage our shopping without a car, but we do!

Another great thing about this article is the reference to Tongans! Why Tongans of all people??? Surely car ownership is pretty low in Tonga and the reason for lots of Tongans being fat has little to do with car ownership!!!

I think I shall now have to Google a bit of info on Tongan car ownership; that's got me really intrigued!!!

Amanda

[Dodger]

There is no caloric advantage in taking public transportation over driving a car. Maybe the lousy suspensions of buses just jiggles the fat off.

[Nancy LC]

Well, if you have a long walk to the bus-stop...

[LessLiz]

Which, of course, would make people more likely to drive...

[64dodger]

called for a revolution in urban planning to encourage people to use cars less and public transport more.

So if you plunk you butt down on a bus you will not become obese but if you drive a car you will.

Right.

[rightnow]

Although I think exercise is a good thing, and although I think cultures where people get more naturally have a good thing, I really think "don't let them drive cars" is the exercise equivalent of the recent thread on "don't let obese people eat in restaurants or fast food places". It's simply the wrong way to go about things.

PJ

[Citruskiss]

Hmm...I find that I get way more exercise in general when I'm able to take public transit.

In some cities it's much easier to take transit than it is to drive a lot of times. I get more fresh air, I carry the stuff I buy...and I walk between bus stops, train stations and so on.

It's not just public transit vs. cars either - it's neighbourhoods and shopping areas. Places where you can do a bunch of shopping on foot, without needing a car. Where it's easier to just walk to the store.

I really miss just jumping on the bus, going downtown and spending the day shopping around and then bussing it back home.

I've moved to a place where there's a lot of these big-box kind of stores, and surrounded by huge, huge parking lots. It's not really 'walk-able' to me. There aren't little coffee shops in between stores that are reasonably close together. Many times, there aren't even any sidewalks to walk on. Big lanes of traffic...big parking lots and everything has a drive-through.

There's more to it than just public transit, walkable neighbourhoods and shopping districts...

There's also factoring in the local climate. There's an outdoor sort of mall in the next town up from where I live. But, quite often it's bitterly cold out in the winter, and in the summer it'll be over 100F most days.

This urban redesign stuff has to include climate too. In places like Toronto and Montreal, there's lots of underground shopping and walking areas, all connected by subways and bus stations.

Transit has to be *better* than driving. Shopping areas need to be enjoyable - with stores reasonably close together, with little restaurants, coffee shops and bookstores in between. If the weather's harsh, people need walkable areas where they can spend an entire afternoon shopping and mingling with people in their communities.

I think that greener, more pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods are a very good idea. Not just for the little bit more exercise we might get, but also for fostering a sense of community. It's not that easy to smile and say 'hi' to someone in a car. You don't get into a conversation with someone while waiting in line at the drive through.

Great article Demi. No, I didn't agree with the usual 'cut calories' bit, but the rest does have merit.

I agree that changing our communities has to be part of becoming healthier, in more ways than one. I think the idea of a 'revolution in urban planning' is spot-on.

Sara

[64dodger]

I think the idea of what you shove in your mouth is spot-on.

[Citruskiss]

I think the idea of what you shove in your mouth is spot-on.

I agree. It's yet another part of our 'environment' though isn't it?

The food part is the most important thing, but I still think other aspects of our lifestyle come into play here too.

[Rachel1]

Not being a driver, I'm all for walkable neighbourhoods and improved public transit, though not necessarily for the sole purpose of improving people's health. If "walkable" communities are built, that's fine with me. However, the kind of thinking the article expresses is totally impractical on a large scale. Who's going to redesign every city and town on the face of the planet so that people don't have to drive? Walking more and driving less may work for some individuals, some of the time, in some places, but it's not a cure-all.

Rachel

[amandawood]

The way I see it, most people on the planet are poisoning themselves with too many carbs, and, if they're not doing it now, they will be soon as the low-fat fad combined with Starbucks and fast food continues to take over the world. At the same time, the number of cars being driven is going to increase, which means we're poisoning the planet, too.

Sometimes I'm glad I'm already 44 and won't be around to see all the devastation we will have caused to the planet in 50 years or so time.

Is that being way too pessimistic???

amanda

[joedoro]

There is no caloric advantage in taking public transportation over driving a car. Maybe the lousy suspensions of buses just jiggles the fat off.

Hey don't laugh - Taubes mentioned somewhere about a recent study where they showed rats that were put on a vibrating platform lost weight. He pretty much blew it off. Amazing to what extent people will go to try and prove the benefit of exercise for losing weight.

[EvenSteven]

it all depends on the situation, regarding the transit vs driving thing. I take the bus to work in the city. then I walk cross town to get to work. Between the walk from my house to the bus stop and the walk from the drop off to my job, im walking an easy 3-4 miles.

I occasionally drive, and maybe I get .25 miles of walking.

and lets not forget that standing around doing nothing but waiting for the bus(or on the bus) for 10-20 minutes everyday strengthings muscles.. You are standing.. its so crazy that people today do so little of that.

Giving up your car for a week would certainly make you feel it physically. And I think that has a very real caloric advantage.

[LessLiz]

I bike to work when there is no snow on the ground. Groceries go into a backpack for the ride home. I bike to the post office. Can't say its made me thin, but it does save money on gas.

[pennink]

my dh moved from NYC to my town. Now he takes the car. He doesn't walk to the subway, walk down the steps and up again to the subway. We shop at grocery stores, not walk to pick up food at two or three different places. There is no walking for blocks and blocks to avoid taking transit when the ride wouldn't be that long.
He gained 40 pounds when he first moved here; and it wasn't due to food intake. In fact, he ate fewer bagels, pastries and take-out when he moved here (man, he ate a lost of bakery products in NYC--but he walked to get them all)

He's lost it again, but he had to join a sports team and often takes the bus instead of his car. He still eats pretty much what he wants and I hate him for it. :lol:

[Demi]

BBC News Magazine Online
20 February, 2008


How towns are redesigned as gyms

By Megan Lane
BBC News Magazine

Stairs for cardio training. Wider footpaths instead of treadmills. To fight obesity, the towns we live in are being redesigned so we exercise without noticing.

Our forebears didn't need advice to exercise for 20 minutes a day, five times a week. Physical activity was part of everyday life - walking to work, wringing mangles and promenading in the park on Sundays.

Since the 1950s, life is increasingly sedentary. Car ownership has soared. Gadgets ranging from washing machines to remote controls take the effort out of household tasks. Free time often equates to screen time. And new homes built on the fringes require a journey just to buy a pint of milk.

It's not just that we eat more and do less. We live in what experts call an "obesogenic" environment - our surroundings encourage inactivity.

The powers-that-be eye the nation's thickening girth with anxiety. The more people who are overweight, the higher the future cost to the NHS of treating associated ills such as diabetes and heart disease.

Health experts and urban planners are now working out ways to make us more active - not with (often ignored) exhortations to exercise, but while going about our daily lives. How?

TAKE THE STAIRS
Architects of old understood the appeal of a sweeping staircase.

But in modern buildings, the lifts and escalators get the glamour treatment. Stairwells are treated as little more than fire exits, gathering dustballs and fag ends.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence last month issued guidelines on how transport and planning policies can combat obesity, such as designing well-lit and prominently-placed staircases to make taking the steps a more appealing option.

Climbing stairs works the quadriceps and buttocks, improves muscle endurance and can help cardiovascular fitness (although not one flight, going down, at a stroll).

GET WALKING
Four decades ago, the dual carriageway cut a swathe through many a town centre, driving pedestrians into dark underpasses and shops to out-of-town retail parks.

These scars of the 60s are now being healed. Nottingham, for example, is still bisected by Maid Marian Way but pedestrians have been brought back up to street level and traffic calming measures introduced.

Wider footpaths and attractively landscaped pedestrianised areas also lure walkers. Including stairs and ramps in the design works different muscles, and helps the motor-neuron development of very young children, says Jennie Butterworth, of the charity Learning Through Landscapes.

In Newcastle's Blackett Street, London's Kensington High Street and others, local councils have ripped out traffic signals, bollards and railings. This is believed to make roads safer as pedestrians, cyclists and drivers have to pay more attention to what others are doing - and there are more people on foot or bike since the declutter.

Walking burns calories and helps boost bone density as it is a weight-bearing exercise. It can improve cardiovascular fitness if done at a fast pace.

TWO WHEELS GOOD
Fitter, happier, more productive - the government is keen for us to get more active ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Bike-riding is seen as key to this aim. Last week, London mayor Ken Livingstone unveiled a £500m cycling package.

Plans include bike zones for shoppers and pupils, and cycling "corridors" based on Aylesbury's Gemstone network, where six colour-coded routes radiate out from the town centre like bicycle spokes.

"Aylesbury is a good example of a town that promotes activity," says Polly Turton, of the Commission for the Built Environment (Cabe). "It's spent a lot on cycle paths and pedestrian provision."

Even some new towns, planned post-World War II for ease of driving, have been rejigged to encourage residents out of their cars.

Those planning new housing projects must take heed, says Ms Turton. "People need to be able to walk to local services - parks, shops, schools and health centres."

And she says that employers in search of new premises should look to central sites - with dedicated parking for bikes only - as these are easier to get to without recourse to a car, and mean employees can get around shops and cafes on foot during breaks.

Cycling strengthens the leg muscles and improves co-ordination. It also helps cardiovascular fitness.

FREE PLAY
Parks have long tempted the British out of doors.

Time and money is needed to maintain parks and playgrounds
And when these are well-maintained and well-lit, it helps instil the habit of active living. Recent research by Cabe has found that Norwich residents who live near a park are four times more likely to walk or cycle to work.

Professor Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Taskforce, a London-based think tank, says that urgent steps are needed to make people more active. "The environment in which we live is the overwhelming factor amplifying the [obesity] epidemic," he told a conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Sunday.

While taking the stairs, or a kickabout in the local playground will not lead to dramatic weight loss, making such activities part of everyday life is a prevention rather than a cure.

Exercising outdoors means fresh air and sunshine - even the weakest winter rays can help boost vitamin D production.

POST-WORKOUT SNACK
But all this good work can be undone by a calorie-laden diet.

There are moves for planning permission to look specifically at where fast food outlets will be sited in relation to schools and parks, to guard against precisely this, says nutritionist Amelia Lake, of Newcastle University.

And often, it is deprived areas which have the fewest parks and playground and the most fast food outlets, according to research in England and Scotland.

In the United States, where most research on the links between environment and obesity has been carried out, low-income neighbourhoods typically have worse access to healthy foods and physical activity facilities.

Which is all why attention has shifted to redesigning towns and communities - to make the healthy option for eating and getting about the easiest option.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7250574.stm

[joedoro]

[QUOTE=pennink]my dh moved from NYC to my town. Now he takes the car. He doesn't walk to the subway, walk down the steps and up again to the subway. We shop at grocery stores, not walk to pick up food at two or three different places. There is no walking for blocks and blocks to avoid taking transit when the ride wouldn't be that long.
He gained 40 pounds when he first moved here; and it wasn't due to food intake. In fact, he ate fewer bagels, pastries and take-out when he moved here (man, he ate a lost of bakery products in NYC--but he walked to get them all)

He's lost it again, but he had to join a sports team and often takes the bus instead of his car. He still eats pretty much what he wants and I hate him for it. :lol:[/QUOTE

Interesting - how long of a period of time was this?

[Nancy LC]

I noticed when I went to Paris I didn't gain weight and might have lost some, even though I ate a lot of really carby stuff. I think all those stairs in the metro and all the walking around really helped.

I'd love to live in an well-designed urban environment where cars were optional except one thing... the noise. I hates it. If it didn't take twice as long to get to work on the bus as it does stuck in traffic in a car, I'd definitely take the bus.

[joedoro]

Association does not imply causation as this discusses - so I hope before communities start spending tons of money on a "solution" that makes sense they investigate whether there is any data to support that the "solution"is correct.

Remember the solution to the "heart epidemic" was a low fat diet.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070120/bob9.asp

[kallyn]

I noticed when I went to Paris I didn't gain weight and might have lost some, even though I ate a lot of really carby stuff. I think all those stairs in the metro and all the walking around really helped.


Yeah, I spent a summer in Paris once doing a school program, and I was never so thin in my life. This was back before low-carb, so I was pretty much living on bread products too. I bought clothes that summer that I have no idea how they ever fit onto my body.

Haven't they also done studies on New Yorkers too, where they find that they're thinner and in better shape because so few people have cars and have to walk everywhere?

[Citruskiss]

Speaking of the 'heart epidemic' - air pollution is a big contributor to increased rates of heart attacks.

Every year, there are approximately 6,000 additional deaths in Canada because of short term exposure to air pollution, and research suggests that 69% of these deaths come in the form of cardio and cerebrovascular disease.

“Since the early 1990s, a growing body of evidence from Canada, the U.S. and Europe has documented increased rates of heart attack, and more hospitalizations for serious heart diseases such as heart failure, and stroke, after both short and long-term exposure to polluted air,” says Dr. Beth Abramson, Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson and cardiologist.

http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.3848067/k.EC3B/2008_Report_Card__Air_Pollution.htm

So when we're talking about things like a 'revolution' in urban planning - we're not just factoring in the obesity issue, or the 'environment' issue - but also health problems that are related to air pollution.

[joedoro]

Yeah, I spent a summer in Paris once doing a school program, and I was never so thin in my life. This was back before low-carb, so I was pretty much living on bread products too. I bought clothes that summer that I have no idea how they ever fit onto my body.

Haven't they also done studies on New Yorkers too, where they find that they're thinner and in better shape because so few people have cars and have to walk everywhere?

Searching medline using "Obesity NEW York CIty" as search terms I found this study
The urban built environment and obesity in New York City: a multilevel analysis
Am J Health Promot. 2007; 21(4 Suppl):326-34

Copyright precludes posting the abstract but, essential they showed as inverse association of BMI with mixed land use, the density of bus stops, subway stops, and population but not with the density of intersections. I did not read the article so I can't comment on it.

But the operational word here is association.

[joedoro]

Speaking of the 'heart epidemic' - air pollution is a big contributor to increased rates of heart attacks.



http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.3848067/k.EC3B/2008_Report_Card__Air_Pollution.htm

So when we're talking about things like a 'revolution' in urban planning - we're not just factoring in the obesity issue, or the 'environment' issue - but also health problems that are related to air pollution.

Excellent point! That why things need to be thought out before resources are diverted in urban planning. For example, wouldn't it be weird to find out down the road that the obese people in the city are the one with less heart disease because they don't go out into polluted air?

[Citruskiss]

But...but...that's not what I meant.

;)

You have a good point through. All those cyclists and pedestrians are faced with air pollution.

However, wouldn't it be nice to not *need* a car for every single little thing? To be able to have the option to walk or take transit?

For me, this isn't about 'take away people's cars', but rather - making it possible to not need one if you don't want one. Neighbourhoods where you can walk to everything and really good transit systems that are clean, efficient and even fun.

And I don't even think it's a matter of shifting more resources to this one particular area, but rather ...whatever resources are being expended/spent anyway - well, perhaps urban planning can become more people and pedestrian-friendly.

I would *love* to be able to just meander down to the store for some salad greens or walk to the local coffee shop. I'd love to be able to rely on transit and not spend so much money on gas and car maintenance.

Yeah, I want better neighbourhoods, where it's possible to live without having to drive to every single little thing. No, I don't want to give up my car, but I would like the option to not have to use it all the time.

[Dodger]

Every study that I have come across shows that the air pollution is much worse inside the vehicles than outside. You inhale lots more pollution while driving a car in rush hour traffic than you do walking or cycling the same route.

[Citruskiss]

Every study that I have come across shows that the air pollution is much worse inside the vehicles than outside. You inhale lots more pollution while driving a car in rush hour traffic than you do walking or cycling the same route.

I didn't know this - thank you for pointing this out. I'd heard that rush hour was bad, but didn't realize the air pollution *inside* the car was worse. Must be something to do with being trapped in traffic or what have you.

I think maybe I'd better just get my bike tuned up and stop whining. No, the store's not really close enough for me to walk to, but I could try biking.

[Citruskiss]

Yeah, I spent a summer in Paris once doing a school program, and I was never so thin in my life. This was back before low-carb, so I was pretty much living on bread products too. I bought clothes that summer that I have no idea how they ever fit onto my body.

Haven't they also done studies on New Yorkers too, where they find that they're thinner and in better shape because so few people have cars and have to walk everywhere?

Thank you kallyn and NancyLC for reminding me of this phenomenon. Two recent trips out of town were car-less, and although we ate off plan - we walked everywhere. Spent about five days in Montreal with my husband - walked to everything, all over town for like 7 hours a day. Ate poutine. Lost weight.

Guadalajara - did my best to stay 'on plan' but yeah, there were a few tortillas there and so on. Again, walked everywhere. Lost weight.

Totally off topic - but how does this fit with Taube's assertion that exercise doesn't help to lose weight?

Sara

[rightnow]

I think I talked about that in your journal a little earlier.

I really think that some of this depends on the context and whether the person is 'eating freely'. Going to the gym for an hour 3x a week may not help you lose weight because if you are eating freely you might naturally make up the calories through slightly increased hunger. However, taking up a full time job that makes you run your ass off and lift stuff all day will almost certainly make you lose weight and a lot of it, in part because it's highly unlikely that your calorie intake will truly equal not only all the calories burned off, but all those used by increased metabolism based on lean body mass increase.

PJ

[kneebrace]

Spent about five days in Montreal with my husband - walked to everything, all over town for like 7 hours a day. Ate poutine. Lost weight.

Guadalajara - did my best to stay 'on plan' but yeah, there were a few tortillas there and so on. Again, walked everywhere. Lost weight.

Totally off topic - but how does this fit with Taube's assertion that exercise doesn't help to lose weight?

Sara

Sara, what's 'poutine'?. I think Gary's point about exercise not necessarily leading to weight loss was that many people just eat more to make up for the calories the exercise burns because exercise makes them hungrier. It doesn't seem to always happen though. And certainly not to me. Exercise doesn't seem to affect how much I eat.

Low carb helped a bit with eating far beyond my energy needs, but only adding IF has allowed be to consume a more reasonalble amount of energy. Lucky I've never changed bodyfat very easily, low or high carb, or I'd be as big as a house.

Stuart

[joedoro]

Every study that I have come across shows that the air pollution is much worse inside the vehicles than outside. You inhale lots more pollution while driving a car in rush hour traffic than you do walking or cycling the same route.

Sorry but citations please?

As one who walks 1.5 - 2 hours a days I inhale alot of diesel and auto exhaust fumes.