Why You Shouldn ’t Exercise to Lose Weight

Many of us are lacing up our sneakers and starting (or restarting) exercise regimens in hopes of shedding unwanted pounds. Unquestionably, aiming to be more active is a good thing. But if the main reason is to lose weight, your New Year’s resolution could very well backfire. For starters, exercise—at least the kind most of us do—is typically ineffective for weight loss. Take walking, for example. A 150-pound person who walks briskly for 30 minutes will burn, on average, around 140 calories. That’s equal to one can of soda—not exactly a great return on your investment of time and effort. It’s much easier just to skip the soda. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Studies overall show that doing moderate-intensity aerobic exercise such as walking for 30 minutes a day, five days a week—the amount recommended for good health—typically produces little or no weight loss by itself. When moderate exercise is added to diet, the results are equally unimpressive. Pooling data from six trials, researchers found that a combination of diet and exercise generated no greater weight loss than diet alone after six months. At 12 months, the diet-and-exercise combo showed an advantage, but it was slight—about 4 pounds on average. In another review of studies, the difference was less than 3 pounds. In studies where exercise has produced meaningful weight loss, participants burned at least 400 to 500 calories per session on five or more...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news