Hi guys,
i just read this article here http://nymag.com/news/sports/38001/
Which says how excercise cannot make you loose weight. I have a question regarding what are the benefits of excersise if there is one at all?
Is it true that excercise can stall weightloss. My motivation for walking has always been to loose weight. But this seems to contradict it on its face.

Would you rather be a lower weight and flabby or at a higher weight and very toned and in tight shape? Personally I'd opt for the latter. I've been working out regularly for the past eight week and honestly the scale has barely moved but the changes in my body from exercising regularly are far satisfying to me than if I had lost a lot of pounds but still looked flabby. I have lost inches - lots of 'em! I've been there before...when I first lost all of my weight three years ago I was happy with the weight loss but as time went on I realized I didn't like the way my body looked without clothes. So now here I am three years later, working out on a regular basis and loving the way my body is transforming before my very own eyes. And I'm about 15lbs heavier than when I hit my initial goal three years ago.

Just my take on the subject.

Hi H20Godess,
That is exactly what i feel too. I walk a lot and also do some strength training every day and loove the muscle definition etc but I do gain possibly muscle weight when i start excercising. Anyway but Taubes says in the article that excercise wont help you loose weight. So the point of excercise is just to have good defined muscles. i dont understand why we need to excercise in the first place.

If you read Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories, you'll get a fuller explanation. My understanding is that studies have shown that exercising to lose weight is a waste of time; it doesn't work. This has been my personal experience too. For me it hasn't worked alone and it hasn't worked in combination with a low-calorie diet.

Exercise does have other benefits: stronger muscles and bones, increased cardiovascular health, stress relief, improved sleep, etc.

But if you're just out there trying to burn calories, it isn't likely to help, because you'll get hungry and quickly eat enough to make up for everything you burned off.

well guess I'll cancel my gym membership

Following a comment about Prof. Brian Wansink in another thread I was just reading this item from which I quote.

Over the past several weeks they have sent subjects, some who have exercised and some who have not, through an unlimited buffet line. By measuring the difference between how much and what people eat depending on whether they have exercised, Dr. Wansink hopes to prove that even moderate exercise makes us think we are entitled to many more calories than we actually burned.

“Geez Louise, you can’t believe how much people eat to overcompensate,” he said.

I eat right to look good dressed, I exercise to look good naked.

I think that sometimes we get so focused on the weight loss, we forget about other aspects of our health.

Moderate exercise - a little bit of strength training, a little bit of cardiovascular training, a little bit of stretching or yoga - can help in all sorts of things other than weight loss. We can strengthen our bodies (including our hearts and lungs) to help us perform our daily activities, decrease our stress, improve our quality of sleep, improve our metabolic processes, improve our flexibility, increase our immune function, increase our energy levels. These are just a few benefits of getting moderate levels of exercise that don't have a thing to do with losing weight - a part of our overall health picture. To me, these benefits make it worthwhile to spend a little bit of my time getting a little bit of exercise, whether it contributes to my weight loss or not. Brushing my teeth doesn't contribute to losing weight either, but I do it because of the health benefits that I get from it.

i think you're kind of missing the point of the article. they're not saying that regular exercise in and of itself is a bad thing. what they're questioning is the dogmatic link claiming that exercise automatically leads to weight loss.

for the 3 months before i started low-carb the first time around, i was doing WW points and doing an hour of cardio plus circuit training 6 days a week. after the initial 5lb water weight loss, the scale didn't move. in fact, over 3 months i gained that weight back. so the exercise had absolutely no impact on my weight loss whatsoever. that didn't change until i switched to low-carb.

but i DID notice a marked improvement in my overall body tone and my stamina. my normal walking speed increased so that i could easily keep up with my ex. i could lift more. so there was a definite benefit to the exercise, even if it didn't help me lose weight.

Okay! You got me with that one! That's the best reason I've ever heard to exercise!!

From a fat loss perspective, exercise is useless. Fat is lost through diet alone. But exercise is not a bad thing in itself. On the contrary, it serves its purpose very well. For instance, we train for strength or agility or to increase skill in some discipline or sport. At east, that's the classical definition of training. But we wouldn't know it just by looking at the people in the gyms these days. You'd think they all wanted to become experts at using the StairMaster.

If you want to exercise, do so for a purpose. Don't just exercise for the sake of exercise. Now that you know exercise is futile for fat loss, find a different purpose to exercise. I train for strength. It helps me with everything I do outside the gym. That's my purpose. What's yours?

What I understood from Taubes' articles I have read is that exercise is not necessary to lose weight. I don't understand that to mean that exercising would be Bad, or some how hinder your weight loss. I go to the gym too. I do a little weights and I love how strong i feel when i do that! Definitely cut back on cardio, especially in the nicer weather, as I like to be out walking my dog. one thing I love about exercising, is that I can carry a loaded laundry basket upstairs without feeling like I'm going to pass out!

I like that example of the buffet--just because those ppl exercised they felt entitled to more food..
Nowhammies, good point on the toothbrushing. I love my little battery operated one

I think we just found a new line for Baerdric's signature line!

Taubes says studies show those who have physical jobs tend to eat more than those with sedentary jobs. That's as close to addressing exercise as Taubes gets. He infers that after a workout people tend to eat more to compensate for the calories burned in exercise. The net effect over time would be better health but no significant weight loss UNLESS YOU CAN PREVENT YOURSELF FROM EATING MORE!!!

HIIT burns fat the quickest. Jogging burns more fat percentage than sugar but the average person needs to run 35 miles to burn one pound of fat.

Exercise is good for you, regardless of its lack of weight loss benefits. Cardiovascular exercise, such as running or walking, strengthens your heart. Resistance exercise builds new muscle tissue, which not only makes you look great, but also gives you the strength and energy to do whatever you might enjoy.