Weight Loss

I've mentioned before that I read "Time" magazine, and I think it's one of the few magazines left that writes for content and not fluff. I was skeptical this week when the feature story was about weight loss - EVERY magazine, internet news website, blog, commercial, etc. seems to have an article or two about weight loss, and they all seem to focus on whatever the latest "thing" is. Fitness magazines like "Men's Fitness" are notorious for this - "do backwards situps to get ripped" or something dumb like that. Or "this supplement will burn fat 10 times faster than normal". Local TV news is probably the worst - they will make you believe that some new thing they spend 3 minutes on in the "health" section of the broadcast will fix all your problems. In reality these articles or clips are, at best, worthless by themselves, and at worst, trying to secretly push you to buy something.

Time's article talked about the relationship between exercise and weight loss. I was skeptical when I started reading, as I figured they'd start quoting studies that "prove" some very specific point or angle, which is or will be refuted by another set of studies they'll quote next month. I was refreshingly surprised to find a more general discussion about something I've sorta learned in my own life experience, and have heard from several other friends who have been down the lifetime weight loss road. Exercise doesn't seem to be a key component of weight loss. Don't get me wrong - exercise is important for good health, the benefits are many. The article points out that regular amounts of healthy exercise help protect from heart disease, improve mental clarity and release endorphins which just make you feel better in general. But it doesn't significantly help weight loss. That is counter to everything we've been told for the past 40+ years from all the "expert" wisdom and government agencies like the FDA. I'll refrain from ranting about what I think of conventional "wisdom", but I'll say that I wish that they would more often update themselves when newer understandings or ideas are available. (if you ever want to get me started on this topic, just say the words "food pyramid")

I can really only share my own experience though. The two times in my life I've lost serious weight, both were because I focused on what I was eating. One was a really bad diet (which I'd now label as basically "starvation" and was hard on my body). I lost 40+ lbs in under 4 months. The other was a more sensible, healthier diet - this one focused on carb and high-glycemic (i.e. sugar) reduction. I lost 40+ lbs in about 6 or 7 months and have somewhat stuck with the principles of it. But in both cases there wasn't massive amounts of exercise going on.

Conversely, I have run 3 marathons and the miles of training that go with them. I never lost ANY weight during any of those 3 training periods, despite running 400+ miles in 18 weeks during each training period - in fact during one of them I gained a few pounds. The two most serious periods of weight training I did? I certainly got in good shape and built lots of muscle, but I didn't lose any weight then either.

The article pointed out a few simple things that do make you think about how exercise works on us. One is that exercise probably makes us hungrier - which is probably true because you expend energy and your body wants more. If our bodies were programmed to instantly go into our energy reserves (fat) right away, then we wouldn't be hungry - but we aren't programmed that way, so we have to resist the urge to "reload" that our body wants. Will we starve without eating after we exercise? Of course not, but our DNA doesn't know that.

Another is the "entitlement" complex - the idea that we allow ourselves to indulge more BECAUSE we exercise. I know I do this - after playing basketball for two hours at the RAC every Sunday night (quite a workout), I'd go out with the guys I played with and get appetizers or dessert at TGI Fridays. I seriously doubt I ever came out ahead on those - at best I broke even. This is especially true when exercise is social - you go running with your running group and then go to Starbucks afterwards and have a muffin and a latte. If you run 3 miles, you might cover the calories of half of the muffin.

One of the last things the article mentioned was that strenuous exercise may be causing us to be still and sedentary more of the rest of the time. I can say this true for me - on the days I did long marathon training runs, I didn't do ANYTHING else the rest of the day. Not only did I feel entitled not to do anything, my body just needed to rest from the abuse I just put to it. Whereas walking, mowing the lawn, vacuuming, etc. aren't strenuous enough on your body to make it just want to stop afterward (we may still be lazy and not doing anything afterward but that's another issue :)

I would never advocate that people stop exercising. And my rule #1 always applies in things like this - do what works for you! I just know in my experience that trying to lose weight through massive amounts of exercise can be frustrating if you don't get the results you are looking for.