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Time Magazine Article Missing on Some Points

Written on August 09, 2009

I love my clients. They are great about bringing articles to me about weight loss, exercise, etc. that I may have missed. This past week, a client brought in Time Magazine. There was an interesting article written by John Cloud, Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin. While there were many interesting points, as a fitness professional, I thought there were some points missing that I wanted to comment on.

The gist of the article is that perhaps exercise for weight loss is overrated. According to Cloud, gym memberships may be a waste of money and trainers often put members through unnecessary workouts. There is also some science that backs up the desire for higher calorie foods post workout thus increasing caloric intake and making exercise questionable as a sound weight loss method.  Hmmmmm. As a personal trainer, I'd be remiss if I didn't speak to this and share my thoughts on some points.  Following are some excerpts from the article with my responses:

 "All this helps explain why our herculean exercise over the past 30 years — all the personal trainers, StairMasters and VersaClimbers; all the Pilates classes and yoga retreats and fat camps — hasn't made us thinner."  Well, over the last 30 years, caloric intake is up dramatically, while day to day activities are greatly reduced. Although it's true that our obesity rates continue to rise along with health club memberships, it's nutrition and lack of daily activity that's killing us. I shutter to think how much worse it would be if folks did nothing at all while eating the same way. 

 "After we exercise, we often crave sugary calories like those in muffins or in "sports" drinks like Gatorade. A standard 20-oz. bottle of Gatorade contains 130 calories. If you're hot and thirsty after a 20-minute run in summer heat, it's easy to guzzle that bottle in 20 seconds, in which case the caloric expenditure and the caloric intake are probably a wash. From a weight-loss perspective, you would have been better off sitting on the sofa knitting."  I get the point, but I don't encourage Gatorade after a walk or run. Typically, I recommend water. From a health professional perspective, there are numerous benefits of exercise that go beyond weight loss. Too  many people in this country exercise simply for weight loss benefits, without recognizing or celebrating the countless health benefits.

"We all need to move more — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says our leisure-time physical activity (including things like golfing, gardening and walking) has decreased since the late 1980s, right around the time the gym boom really exploded. But do we need to stress our bodies at the gym?" I don't think the intention with exercise is to "stress" the body, simply to move it. The body was designed to move and move it must.  Stress is often the result of over training or for some elite athletes, their mode of training. I couldn't agree more about the leisure-time activity. Think about what we're no longer doing on a day-to-day basis, cleaning your own home, doing our own laundry, cleaning our own car, mowing the lawn. These are serious calorie burning activities that many people pay others to do for them. 

Cloud does point out, "It (exercise) does plenty. In addition to enhancing heart health and helping prevent disease, exercise improves your mental health and cognitive ability. A study published in June in the journal Neurology found that older people who exercise at least once a week are 30% more likely to maintain cognitive function than those who exercise less. Another study, released by the University of Alberta a few weeks ago, found that people with chronic back pain who exercise four days a week have 36% less disability than those who exercise only two or three days a week."I would say that's a pretty valuable reason to exercise. Again, people can not exercise simply for weight loss because if their body is not meant to be what they're killing themselves to achieve, they quit. We need to educate people about exercise differently. Exercise enhances life and allows for a better quality of life. Perhaps for some, that's not important. But as leisure activities take a back seat and calorie consumption increases (women eat an average of 300 calories a day more than 30 yrs. ago), we need to take a long hard look at our lifestyle. A healthy weight is a byproduct of healthy living. 

"..... a pound of muscle burns approximately six calories a day in a resting body, compared with the two calories that a pound of fat burns. Which means that after you work out hard enough to convert, say, 10 lb. of fat to muscle — a major achievement — you would be able to eat only an extra 40 calories per day, about the amount in a teaspoon of butter, before beginning to gain weight. Good luck with that." Well, let's take the allure of "how much we can eat" out of that statement and rethink it. I know, I know that's the mistake people make, eating more because they exercise. Well, it's my job to educate a bit differently. More muscle increases resting metabolic rate, thus increasing daily caloric expenditure. Additionally, more muscle enhances daily function preventing falls,  while reducing osteoporosis and fractures, which are common. I'm afraid the article will lead some people to think that exercise is all about just burning calories so we can eat more. Or, as others view it, "See? Exercise IS a waste of time!!" That's the problem, exercise is no longer touted for the right reasons, it's avoided for all the wrong reasons.

Another British study, this one from the University of Exeter, found that kids who regularly move in short bursts — running to catch a ball, racing up and down stairs to collect toys — are just as healthy as kids who participate in sports that require vigorous, sustained exercise.  "People who regularly exercise are at significantly lower risk for all manner of diseases — those of the heart in particular. They less often develop cancer, diabetes and many other illnesses. But the past few years of obesity research show that the role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated." I would say the TYPE of exercise that we're talking about is different. As a trainer, I'm not in favor of  the "Biggest Loser" type of workouts. I don't think it's natural for the body and brings about unnecessary injuries. Additionally, the weight loss resulting from that type of workout is short-term. However, kids eat significantly more calories than they did years ago and unless they're involved in organized sports, they are less active. That's a double whammy and the perfect recipe for obesity. 

More to come.........