Metabolic Myth: Why Exercise is NOT Best For Losing Weight
On May 1st, 2023 I had set a personal challenge.
The Goal: Run at least 1 mile day for the month of May.
I've always loved to run. The runners high and being outside make it enjoyable. I also knew it'd help me find ways to be proactive in keeping my word. I knew there'd be reasons to skip it at times but "how could I do it anyway?" became a question that has stuck with me since.
As a bonus I thought I'd lose a few pounds and lean out.
What set out as a 30 day challenge continued. I thought " I enjoy this so much, why stop?"
Its been 453 days in a row that I've run at least 1 mile (often times more)
I've gotten all the benefits I had intended and hoped for....except one.
I didn't lose a single pound.
Between my daily runs and lifting weights 4x a week, I was doing 11 workouts a week and didn't lose any weight.
This led me to a reality I want to discuss with you today.
Hard Truth: Exercise is not going to help you lose weight.
Read that again.
I know it sounds crazy but it's important to understand how and why this is the case. Outside of my own personal experience the research is also pretty clear on this.
There was a study of 360 women aged 50-74. They did 30-60 minutes of cardio 5x/week and were told to make no changes to diet. The study went on for a full year.
The results? 25% lost some weight. 50% didn't lose a single pound and 25% actually GAINED weight.
A total 75% didn't lose or worse, gained more!!
My professional experience verifies this as well. My clients who train the most are not the clients who lose the most weight/bodyfat.
How could this be? this study shows us 2 main reasons:
1. Metabolic Compensation. Exercise isn't always the best option to lose fat because the body will adjust energy use downward with more exercise. This is known as metabolic compensation. You burn more during a workout but then your body drops the amount it wants to burn the rest of the day doing normal, daily activities.
Here's an example for context, lets say your body burns 2000 calories a day doing nothing. This is called non-exercise associated thermogenesis (NEAT.) Lets says you workout and burn 500 calories (EAT=exercise associated thermogenesis). The mistake is thinking that you will burn 2500 calories the whole day. The truth is that now your body wants to conserve energy and wont burn that 2000, instead it may drop to 1300-1200. Even with exercise it'd burn 1700-1800 meaning you actually burn less.
I know this seems backwards but the more you stress your body with excessive workouts while on a low calorie diet, the more your body try's to respond to it by regulating overall calorie burn. Remember, your body doesn't want to burn energy at a higher rate because that puts it in a stressful state which equals an unsafe one.
The degree to which this affects people varies quite a bit, but is real nonetheless.
This is why I'd rather see my clients be really active and eat an appropriate amount than train really hard and sit in front of a desk all day.
2. Exercise impacts appetite. This study suggest that a sizeable portion (26.6% to be exact) of participants over-consumed enough calories that they actually gained weight. So yes, they were doing cardio and exercising but the stress of such exercise actually increased their appetite to the degree that they over ate and over consumed calories. This obviously has a backfire effect.
There are a few lessons to take away from this.
1. You must achieve a caloric deficit NOT from working out more, but from managing your calories. To figure out how many calories you should be eating check out a previous blog HERE. You've heard it a million times but you can't outwork a bad diet. Get the food part down, its a must. Without it you will continue to spin your wheels for years, decades or even a lifetime. Its why things like Ozempic won't work forever unless you plan on taking it forever (which you definitley shouldn't do.) At the end of the day, you must develop a healthy relationship with food and manage how much you are consuming. It's a non-negotiable. The only time's i've lost weight in my life is when I have more intention with my diet. Period. This is why even with all of my training and running I didn't lose a single pound. Only when I made diet changes did the scale change.
2. Don't overdo exercise. Train to strengthen your body. To build muscle. But not to lose fat and punish yourself for gaining weight. As you can see, it'll often backfire in multiple ways.
3. Do shorter, intense workouts. You don't need to spend 60 minutes in the gym just burning more and more calories and clawing away. Instead aim for 30 minutes of intense exertion and be done. For a guide on what are the best workouts visit my blog on the best workouts HERE. Thought all exercise is good, resistance training with progressive overload is best for building muscle, metabolism and aging gracefully.
4. Be active. Walking and leisurely, fun movement are less stressful on the body. They will continue to burn calories at a healthy rate without increasing hunger and cravings like intense and frequent bouts of training will. Make it enjoyable so that it is sustainable.
5. Be consistent. The perfect training style isn't perfect if you don't do it, so be sure to do things you enjoy and eat in a way that is sustainable and enjoyable while also giving you the results you want.
To be consistent you have to realize being fit and healthy is as much art as it is science. You don't follow a diet or training program, you create one based on your unique likes and dislikes.
All this to say, exercise is obviously not a bad thing. It just not ideal for fat loss.
If you'd like help with this then reply back to this email and we can discuss next steps, or fill out an application HERE.
Enjoy your week.
