Exercise Will Not Help You Lose Weight (?)

“What?” you may be asking…

Well the statement above is technically correct, depending upon a few factors.

I think I’ve read more on nutrition in the past two years than I did in the two decades before that.  Of course, most of the writings and discussions are centered toward fat loss and how to lose weight.  Invariably however, there will always be a short chapter, appendix, or side note about exercise and the role it plays in fat loss.  (Exercise suggestions written by a nutritionist…hmmm…red flag #1.)

The book I re-read most recently by Gary Taubes, “Why We Get Fat”, which was an extremely influential book in the areas of diet and nutrition, claimed that exercise will not help you lose weight.

In spite of what you may expect, I’m not going to attack him for disagreeing with my position on exercise, which I’m sure you are aware differs from his.  His opinion on exercise, like all his opinions on nutrition, are backed by facts.  And he certainly isn’t the only person to make this claim – as I said most non-fitness professionals do.  There is strong evidence that suggests that exercise won’t help you lose weight.

But…the studies and evidence that suggest that exercise doesn’t help lose weight, are based on people who exercise incorrectly.  They are studying exercisers who are doing it wrong.

That would be like me saying most people who diet don’t lose weight.  Which happens to be 100% true.  But the problem is that I’m leaving out the fact that most people “diet” incorrectly.

Ditto for exercise.  True – most people who exercise do not lose weight.  But it’s because they exercise incorrectly.  Don't blame exercise.

In almost every case they do either or both of the following:

• They do not pay attention to quality of their movement.  This leads to injury and/or joint pain, both of which either end an exercise regimen or greatly limit its effectiveness.

• They perform the wrong kind of exercise.  They continue to believe the dogmatic nonsense that long duration, steady state, low to moderate intensity exercise works.  It doesn’t.  If you don’t see that, then you aren’t watching closely enough.

Now, I’m not even going to get into the obvious – there are other reasons to exercise besides trying to lose weight.  You will look better, you will feel better, and you’ll be healthier.  Again, assuming you’re doing it correctly. 

But the bottom line is that exercise – if it’s the right type of exercise and if it’s performed correctly – will help you lose both weight and body fat.

For more on what types of exercise are right for YOU, and how to do it correctly, keep following us.

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