The FatWatch Weight Log

mashablog:

I have a few issues with this particular study. I don’t exactly disagree with the conclusions they reach, but I do think they are way overselling their case. 

In the study, they tried to control the exercise patterns of participants and failed. In the end, the participants exercised as much as they wanted to. What they found was the folks who exercised the most were also the biggest losers. However, what they certainly did not establish was that the weight loss was related to the exercise. Given the study flaws, it seems likely that the participants who were voluntarily exercised more than an hour a day were also high motivated individuals who were likely doing a whole suite of things that led to them being the biggest weight losers. 

More importantly, no one in the study lost more than 10% of their initial body weight, which is to say even the biggest losers were still obese at the end of the program. In other words, even exercising more than an hour a day was not sufficient to guarantee the desired substantial weight loss. 

It certainly is true that working out more and harder helped some of the participants lose more weight. But I object to the way the scientists are presenting their results; they are claiming that they have found the magical amount of exercise that is needed to lose weight, and I just don’t think this is justified. 

There are a lot of good reasons to work out and to work out hard, but even this isn’t a panacea. No one should feel like their moderate exercise is a waste of time, even if this isn’t a panacea either. Exercise comes in many shapes and sizes and can serve many purposes. There is no one true way. Each person needs to find a way of exercising that works for them.

I will go farther and say that all the attention that goes to exercise is counter-productive for those who want to lose weight. The mathematics is clear: how much you eat has an overwhelmingly greater affect on your weight than how much you exercise. It takes seconds to eat a few hundred calories versus hours to burn as many off.

Exercise has many benefits but alone it is completely ineffective as a weight loss strategy. Unfortunately, there is little financial incentive behind encouraging people to eat less.

Oh, and good on you for actually paying attention to the methods of a study rather than simply accepting the conclusions. Poor journalism is a major source of misinformation.