
Exercise alone doesn't make you lose weight - adamsi
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/05/15/take-off-that-fitbit-exercise-alone-wont-make-you-lose-weight/
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meesterdude
A good article that echos some things I've read here and there already.

I recently started walking 3x a day and avoiding carbohydrates whenever
possible; I always knew that the exercise wasn't for the weight loss, but I
was surprised to read it did not impact metabolic rates.

It is pretty crazy, the amount of crap food we get presented with; both ones
considered "healthy snacks" and the blatant unhealthy ones. Even crazier when
you trace back the parent companies and there's only really a handfull of them
behind the scenes of most brands out there.

Feels like prime material for a last week tonight episode

~~~
austinjp
Avoiding carbohydrates? How about vegetables and pulses? Plenty of carbs in
them.

Okay, sans snark.... avoiding refined carbohydrates perhaps?

~~~
FooBarWidget
What vegetables, besides starchy ones like rice and potatos, contain "plenty
of carbs"?

~~~
austinjp
Ya I was being overly snarky, apologies.

May be 5% carbohydrate in most veg, but there's only 10% in potatoes anyway.

My issue is with the term "carbohydrates" being used as shorthand for "bad
stuff".

It does seem that simple carbohydrates should be consumed in moderation, maybe
not at all. But generally any diet should include carbohydrates. The term
"avoiding carbohydrates" is ambiguous and usually means "avoiding starches
and/or refined sugar".

~~~
digi_owl
Refined sugar is probably the devil in the details in all of this.

As i have come to understand it, sugar in easily digestible form do not show
up much in nature.

Thus our ancestors likely developed a instinct for binge eating once such a
source have been found (ripe berries etc).

So once refined sugar comes along it does a number on our sub-consciousness.

~~~
ddebernardy
Don't miss the fiber though. If I understood Lustig's sugar video right, fiber
helps to keep the fructose in your bowels, where it feeds your gut bacteria
instead of getting metabolized similarly to alcohol in your liver. That and
vitamins makes eating a berry healthy, but not a candy bar.

~~~
digi_owl
Good point.

This also comes into play when talking about starch and bread, if i recall
correctly.

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SQL2219
I am going to go out on a limb here and post my observations on this topic.
Humans are very susceptible to personal branding and stereotyping. Personal
branding in this context: the notion that wearing a Fitbit, or wearing new
running shoes, or wearing trendy workout clothes, or shopping at Whole Foods
makes you healthy. AND because I wear a Fitbit and shop at Whole Foods I am
now entitled to drink a quart of Gatorade every day, and drinking that
Gatorade is making me healthy!

Kind of like wearing glasses to a job interview, enforces the perception that
you are smart, and from what I've read, this actually works.

My advice: replace those sugar calories with healthy fat or protein calories.

Then there is this very interesting study on corn syrup:
[http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/](http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/)

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emsy
I found that in addition to avoiding certain foods, gaining muscles is a
pretty effective way to increase your energy consumption in idle mode and thus
lose weight quicker. Unfortunately, the article seems to target cardio
exercises, which in my experience is a waste of time. I've always lost fat
when I gained muscles without changing my diet that much. Anyone with similar
findings?

~~~
hmate9
I'd still always recommend cardio instead of weight training. Cardio is much
more healthier than weight training.

It has been shown plenty of times that running/walking regularly increases
life expectency quite dramatically. I've yet to find an article that says the
same thing about big biceps :)

~~~
tsomctl
Weight lifting doesn't necessarily increase life expectancy, but it does
increase your quality of life, especially in later years. Basically, when
you're old, weight lifting allows you to keep moving around and carrying
stuff. While I agree having big biceps is mostly useless, core training
(squats!) is extremely helpful for pretty much everyone.

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maurits
For me two books have been a bit of a game changer, _Salt Sugar, Fat_ by
Michael Moss (See also the 'bliss point' [1]) and _The omnivore 's dilemma_ by
Michael Pollan.

What pisses me off the most is the skill and vigilance you need nowadays to
find out how healthy a product actually is.

At some point, I would to be able to trust that the farmer-clad package from
my western supermarket is actually good for me.

[1]: [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-
extraordinary...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-
extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html)

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ramigb
As a programmer, I didn't move a lot and i ate all the wrong food, so o
fcourse I've gained massive weight during the years I was 385lbs or 175 kgs at
my peak. When i decided it was time to regain control over my life a month ago
-4th of April- i weighed 370 lbs, today after 42 days i weigh 346 lbs, all i
did was cut on sugar and walk a bit, no fancy diets or what so ever, although
first week i've tried Atkins but i failed at keeping up with the strict rules
of it, now my diet is low in carbs but mostly low in sugar.

~~~
anotherevan
Hey, 10kgs in 42 days is great!

I've been recording my weight every day (almost) for 1033 days so far. I'd
already lost ~20kg before that, and lost the next 10kg in 35 days, by
comparison. At my lowest weight, day 559, I'd lost 27kg from when I started
recording (about 80% of the total I want to lose).

Unfortunately, at day 1033 I've gained about 12kg since my lowest point, so
overall loss of 15kg (58% of total to lose). So lost a bit of ground and seem
to have really hit a plateau in the last year.

This has been with the assistance of a lapband as of four years ago.

Not to be discouraging, but it seems you make the big losses early and it gets
harder. Best of luck.

~~~
ddmf
I'm seeing something similar; about 18 months ago I started walking to and
from work (4 miles) and started cutting out sugary drinks.

I went from 325 lbs to 270 lbs in just over a year, but the last 6 months I've
barely lost any weight, strangely enough though my body shape has still been
changing for the better, as it's only in the last 3 months or so I've dropped
another trouser size.

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MarkMc
The title is misleading. 'Exercise alone' suggests no change in diet but the
article talks about exercise coupled with an increase in calorie consumption.

~~~
vannevar
I would go further and say the title literally says the opposite of the
information contained in the article. It clearly says that exercise alone
_does_ make you lose weight. It just adds the observation that very few people
actually try exercise alone---most try a combination of exercise and
increasing their calorie consumption, which unsurprisingly doesn't work.

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ksk
There is only one sure fire way to lose weight. Be reasonable and practical -
Try something, stick to it, if it works. As a first approximation copy the
general diet plan of someone who has lost weight. If you have personal test
data that shows you're missing nutrients, experiment switching out foods for
better ones. If/When your diet plan starts failing, tweak it, or try another
one. Use your brain, don't eat like a 120lb woman if you're a 200lb man.

I've lost about 100lbs following this very simple idea. Don't overcomplicate
things by changing what is ALREADY WORKING by reading random
studies/dissertations, unless you're _VERY SURE_ that it applies to you - your
specific lifestyle, your specific diet, workout, body type, etc etc. And even
then, when it comes to dietary guidelines, there are no absolutes.

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EGreg
Weight training increases muscle mass in both men and women, causing the body
to burn more calories at rest.

Yes, eating sugary junk messes up and changes the metabolic systems.
Especially in young kids who are still developing. The obesity epidemic might
also be tied to the antibiotics we feed our factory farmed animals to get them
to be bigger. Hard to avoid sugar and HFCS and even harder to avoid it now
that all vegetables have been genetically altered or selected to produce it
and be more addictive.

Based on this article, what is there to do for someone who is naturally plump,
and isn't able to burn off the calories quickly? Move to China?

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Delmania
TL;DR: You can't outwork a bad diet.

Of course, a TFA mentions, exercise has benefits of it's own, such as building
muscle tone and improving cardiovascular health. But if you want weight loss,
start counting calories.

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chrismcb
This is a horrible article. Yes excersize alone can reduce weight. But the
problem is glossed over in the middle of the article, most people who start
exercising tend to eat more. Eat less, exercise more.

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7Figures2Commas
It's kind of amusing that this is news. Most folks involved in sports/fitness
have probably heard the old adage, "Abs are made in the kitchen, not in the
gym."

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threeseed
It's always seemed pretty simple to me. Just look at what people who have to
manage their weight for a living do i.e. bodybuilders.

Cardio alone with no change to diet will not help you lose weight but will
help you live longer. Cardio with healthy eating will help you lose weight and
live longer but it will take time. Building muscle with a keto style diet will
help you lose the weight the quickest but probably isn't the healthiest long
term. So for ideal health aim somewhere between the two extremes.

~~~
tomp
> Cardio alone with no change to diet will not help you lose weight but will
> help you live longer.

Technically, cardio with no change in diet _will_ make you lose weight (unless
you're a medical miracle that disobey the laws of thermodynamics). The problem
is, of course, that people who do cardio usually also eat more (a "reward"
after the run?).

Also, I'm not sure you can build muscle with a keto diet - you build muscle by
using muscle (i.e. lifting weights). In general, having more muscle is _very_
healthy, especially as we get older.

~~~
threeseed
This is what makes weight loss simple in theory but difficult in practice.
Many people (especially those who are new to exercising) will (a) take it
easier in the period after or (b) like you said eat more. Which results in
nothing changing or them even gaining weight.

And sorry I meant building muscle as well as eating a keto diet. If you do
both you will lose weight very quickly.

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rasz_pl
clip that supports this assertion perfectly:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HooRolKCM3s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HooRolKCM3s)
(buzzfeed 90 Days Of Working Out With P90X)

No change in diet = 90 days of exercising for (almost)nothing.

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empressplay
"No...more...pie."

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hmate9
Guys, it's really simple. You ned ~2000 calories a day to maintain your
weight. If your net calorie intake is less than 2000 than you lose weight.
Exercise helps you achieve that because exercise "uses up calories". Simple.

Eating less carbs and more protein etc. are just minor things. Net calorie
deficiency is how you'll lose weight.

~~~
alanthonyc
You state facts, here are some additional ones from the article:

* “people who simply dieted experienced greater weight loss than those who combined diet and exercise.”

* “You would have to walk for more than 45 minutes to burn off the 300 calories from eating just three cookies.”

* “researchers concluded, “active, ‘traditional’ lifestyles may not protect against obesity if diets change to promote increased caloric consumption.”

* “It’s calorie _intake_ that is really fueling the obesity epidemic.”

Personally, the most weight I’ve ever lost was over a six month period of zero
exercise, but with a restricted diet. (Consequences of a work assignment out
of town.)

My most physically active periods (3-4 hours daily in the ocean) have been
accompanied by no weight loss, sometimes even weight gain.

~~~
girvo
The thing is though, weight gain isn't the whole story. Body composition
matters, quite a lot.

