The Time Magazine article about why exercise doesn’t lead to weight loss has gotten the attention of the fitness community and other health experts.
Something he could have spent more time on is the idea that dietary changes “trump” exercise to cause weight loss. So, it’s not that exercise is inconsequential for weight loss, it is just that making dietary changes can be an easier way to create a sufficient “energy gap” that produces weight loss. By this I mean that an imbalance has to occur between how much energy we consume (calories/food) and how much energy we expend (movement) for weight loss to occur. So, producing an imbalance through moving more is fine but it takes A LOT of exercise to produce sufficient energy expenditure to lose a lot of weight.
Cloud blames researchers and public health officials for our culture’s misconception (or misperception) of the key role that exercise plays in weight loss, and I agree with this to some extent. But, the marketing by fitness companies aiming to sell their products and services as the magic bullet to your dream body are the true culprits of
I don’t agree with Cloud that the main reason exercise doesn’t cause weight loss is because we eat more to compensate for the calorie expenditure brought about by our increased exercise. Instead I think it just takes TOO MUCH exercise to produce any significant level of weight loss and most of us (me included) just don’t have the time or energy or DESIRE to sustain that level for long. (My caveat here is that some people can and do exercise enough to lose weight, but they are the minority. I think it’s more helpful to focus on what is true for the majority of folks when it comes to understanding this issue.)
I fully agree with one of Cloud’s last points: that our culture has taught us to “exercise” outside of our life contexts for 30+ minutes a day, something I consider to be a male model of exercise based on the medical model of “doses” and medicine. In contrast, our culture has underemphasized the benefits of “daily lifestyle physical movement” that we have evolved to do since the beginning of humankind. As other researchers quoted in the article stated, we would probably move more and expend more energy overall if instead of “exercising as per American marketing” we looked for and created opportunities to move throughout our days. By doing this, we could maintain our weight and our health AND we’d feel a heck of a lot better on a daily basis. (I consider this type of physical activity as “fitting into” and more supportive of the juggling we women do to fulfill our multiple roles and responsibilities.)
Because I know my More.com readers are busy women doing great stuff, I’m going to pause my commentary here. If you don’t want to miss the final and most important parts about why the “establishment’s” effort to debunk Cloud’s ideas is misguided and unfortunately, mis-focuses Americans away from the most important issues related to weight and health (and may even help you in your own life), sign up to get an e-mail alert when I post, or check back next week.
If you want to be alerted when I publish a new post I invite you to click on my name, so you can go to my profile and sign up for an email alert.
For more about what’s sabotaging your motivation for exercising, check out my blog www.essentialsteps.net/blog