“The Myth about Exercise”: Time Magazine sells copies – readers get partial truth

I suppose it would be tough to be in the weekly news magazine publishing business nowadays. Not that it ever wasn’t, but attempting to get a multi-tasking population of news junkies to pay attention to a cover story amidst the media onslaught that is today’s online news sources and blogosphere has got to make some journalists a bit desperate.

That recognized; I’m still a bit annoyed by the flagrant partial-truth that’s the premise of Time Magazine writer John Cloud’s recent article titled “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin” with a cover baring “The Myth about Exercise.” Like many such pieces, it seems designed to grab the potential reader that’s easily drawn to what he or she wants to hear by the throat – this being the alternative journalistic tactic to informing the easily alarmed of what they don’t (or masochistically do) want to hear: the daily dose of bad news.

We 'burn body fat' through calorie deficits. Exercise burns calories. Therefore, when we incorporate exercise effectively - it can be an extremely valuable part of a fat loss strategy.

Cloud begins his article of ‘the myth about exercise’ with a story of his own ongoing devotion to a regimen of tailored physical activity that isn’t resulting in what he’d expected – namely: losing the “gut fat that still hangs over his belt when he sits.” He then cites a study (along with other half-witted stats) done with 464 overweight women that resulted in ‘exercising women’ failing to lose any more weight than ‘non-exercising women.’ Oh… and sometimes the ‘exercising women’ even gained some body fat that the ‘non-exercising women’ did not. Imagine that.

Should these be considered shattering findings or just a slight reframe on what anyone with common sense can already figure out? Of course exercise can make you hungrier. And yes, uncontrolled succumbing to such hunger can lead an individual to take in more calories than were burned off during the exercise sessions. But does that mean “exercise is pretty useless” for losing body fat as the article ‘Why Exercise won’t make you Thin’ suggests?

Not by a long shot.

The math is pretty simple when it comes to losing body fat. There are approximately 3,500 calories in each pound of bodily cellulite. If a person wants to lose one pound of that body fat per week, they need to be in a 500 calorie deficit each day in order to make that happen. In other words, they need to consume 500 fewer calories than their maintenance level, or they need to burn off (yes – with EXERCISE) 500 calories each day while NOT replacing those 500 ‘burned off’ calories with additional food intake.

Now, to make that daily 500 calorie deficit a bit easier (and healthier), one might choose to cut about 250 calories from daily food intake while burning 250 more calories through… yes – exercise. One could also take in 400 fewer calories and burn off an additional 100 with exercise, or cut 50 calories from food intake while burning 450 through exercise. The split can be made any way we wish – or there doesn’t need to be a split at all; one can do it exclusively through eating habits changes – or exclusively through calorie burning activity (exercise).

Of course, there is a key to being successful when attempting to create that calorie deficit through exercise alone; we must not inadvertently consume additional calories to replace the ones that were worked off. This usually requires a consciously created goal combined with a conscious awareness that’s as unambiguous as those that would accompany a person who successfully loses body fat by counting calorie consumption.

That last thing mentioned might be the key difference between fat loss accomplished exclusively through eating habit changes versus unsuccessful attempts through exercise alone. The diet-centered fat loss enthusiast is calorie conscious. The “let’s do it by exercise alone” person might be too focused on good intentions at the exclusion of paying attention to detail.

I’m speaking from experience. When I was 34 years old, I was about fifty pounds overweight. My waistline was nearly forty inches around when I’d reached the peak of my high body fat levels. When I realized something needed to be done, I decided that I’d be damned if I was going to cut back on my daily doses of fast food, pasta with lots of extra cheese, and doughnuts from a “roach coach” that made a mid-morning visit outside the office where I worked. I resolved to lose the fat by way of a daily sweaty regimen on a treadmill I’d purchased about a year prior.

Two weeks into my 40-minute daily bouts on the treadmill was far enough along to have me eager to step on an accurate scale and find out what I’d dropped. Surprise… nothing dropped but my enthusiasm – right through the floor; I’d gained five pounds for all my work.

Did I conclude that “exercise doesn’t work” at that point?” Of course not. I simply became more consciously aware of the obvious fact that the calorie-burning benefits of increased activity can easily be over-ridden by unwittingly succumbing to the hunger pangs created by such activity with greater calorie intake. If we burn our 500 calories per day with exercise, then go out and eat 1000 calories more than we ever were eating in order to compensate for the activity, we’ll gain a pound of body fat each week rather than lose it.

So how should we take journalistic sensationalism like the article ‘Why exercise won’t make You Thin’? Look at it for what it is – an attempt at attention-grabbing in a news-cluttered world. And then ask yourself:

“Who wants to be thin anyway?” I’d rather be lean, strong, hard, and muscular.

Comments

[Buy Generic Spiriva]

The general rule for weight loss is to do cardio 4-5 times a week for 30-45 minutes as well as weight training 2-3 times a week. Some people simply don't have the time to workout that much and they think, since they can't do all of that, why do ANY of it?

[Acai Berry Optimum]

I've been one of your major follower this year... your brilliant and educative post really beats my imaginations each time drop by to read blogs... i say keep the good work

[Mr Dean Crawford]

I'm in total agreement with you here. Almost the entire edifice of the 'diet-enhancement' product industry is built upon confusing people into thinking that weight-loss is complicated and difficult. Whilst it's not entirely easy to lose weight for many people, the article you describe is downright misleading and perhaps even dangerous to the health of the people reading it.

My advice to friends trying to lose weight ( those who dislike exercise anyway - which sadly is many ) is to understand the links between caloric intake and expenditure, but also their metabolic 'maintenance-level'. If a friend wants to lose weight without excessive exercise, I suggest the following to them;

Over 7 days, record your caloric intake in as much detail as possible, totting up the totals each day. At the end of 7 days, add up the totals and divide by 7 - this gives them their average daily caloric intake.

I then advise them to knock off 50 calories per day for the first week. Another 50 the following week, and so on. The reason for the slow reduction is to allow their metabolism to change gradually as well, and to prevent the body from thinking its 'starving'. Anybody can miss 50 calories a day, and after 8 weeks said friend is 400 calories a day down and losing weight accordingly. ( I also recommend them to eat small and often to keep their bodies in an anabolic state ).

Finally, I also suggest they take weekly photographs of themselves, for comparisom and also to prevent them going 'too-far' in their quest. Once they reach the desired weight, their bodies are used to eating at the required level and their caloric 'maintenance level' is stable - thus avoiding the weight 'bouncing back' afterward.

As you suggest, working out / cardio etc all place extra demands on the body's energy levels and therefore must be taken into account. With an accurate caloric record to follow, anybody can keep track and consume accordingly to maintain their weight loss. Simple :o)