Study: Diet, not Exercise, Key to Weight Loss

mfpcopine
mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Here's an article that appeared in the New York Times (10 articles a month free w/o subscription) about a study of highly active people who live in Tanzania. Western researchers decided to test the theory that people are fat today are overweight primarily because they are sedentary. Not true, they concluded.

It's worth pointing out first that to track the energy expenditure of the subjects, the scientists did not use formulae to estimate. Instead, the "study used a technique that calculates the body’s rate of carbon dioxide production — and hence the calories burned per day — by tracking the depletion of two isotopes (deuterium and oxygen-18) in an individual’s urine over a two-week period."

As I've noted many times on this site, exercise calorie burn estimates are not reliable. Obviously, we can't all track isotopes in our pee, but the estimates on charts or cardio machines should not be taken too seriously.

Longer story shorter, although the people studied were much more active than the typical European or U.S. adult, that amount of calories burned "per day was indistinguishable." It was not because the study group members' bodies were more efficient, among other ideas.

Said one of the study's authors:

"Our findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that energy expenditure is consistent across a broad range of lifestyles and cultures. Of course, if we push our bodies hard enough, we can increase our energy expenditure, at least in the short term. But our bodies are complex, dynamic machines, shaped over millions of years of evolution in environments where resources were usually limited; our bodies adapt to our daily routines and find ways to keep overall energy expenditure in check.

"All of this means that if we want to end obesity, we need to focus on our diet and reduce the number of calories we eat, particularly the sugars our primate brains have evolved to love. We’re getting fat because we eat too much, not because we’re sedentary. Physical activity is very important for maintaining physical and mental health, but we aren’t going to Jazzercise our way out of the obesity epidemic."

For more detail, read the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/opinion/sunday/debunking-the-hunter-gatherer-workout.html?hp

Replies

  • Plates559
    Plates559 Posts: 869 Member
    This is not new news.

    Everyone knows you can't out run your fork.
  • TinGirl314
    TinGirl314 Posts: 430 Member
    This article is kind of funny...
    It fails to mention that without working out or getting any activity, your heart will eventually get to a state where it's dangerous to walk up a flight of stairs.
    And the fact that if you're going for any big weight loss and don't do any activity you'll have really prevalent loose skin issues.

    I don't want to loose all this weight to look deflated and lumpy. ;(
    I cant agree with the point that most of what people consume is carbs and fat, but we've known that.

    It always makes me nervous when the internet tries to convince people that being lazy is ok.
    I just don't buy it...If you sit at a desk all day and you don't work out, how is that healthy?

    OP, if you have thoughts on my questions please share.
  • BBeccaJean
    BBeccaJean Posts: 453 Member
    I saw this article a few weeks ago...totally proves it! For me, it's definitely the types of foods. My body has become insulin resistant, so I have to be careful!
  • NitroxBoss
    NitroxBoss Posts: 13 Member
    80% Kitchen 20% Gym
  • Lina4Lina
    Lina4Lina Posts: 712 Member
    yeah pretty much a big duh...

    I'd even put diet 90%, exercise 10%.

    With me though, I find I eat better if I'm exercising regularly plus exercise is good for overall health and mental wellbeing.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    yeah pretty much a big duh...


    Not really. For decades a major theory of obesity has been the more sedentary behavior of many people, especially since the increased use of computers. This study claims that activity doesn't make the difference people thought and the researchers tracked the subjects' energy expenditures, they didn't just do estimates.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    This article is kind of funny...
    It fails to mention that without working out or getting any activity, your heart will eventually get to a state where it's dangerous to walk up a flight of stairs.
    And the fact that if you're going for any big weight loss and don't do any activity you'll have really prevalent loose skin issues.

    I don't want to loose all this weight to look deflated and lumpy. ;(
    I cant agree with the point that most of what people consume is carbs and fat, but we've known that.

    It always makes me nervous when the internet tries to convince people that being lazy is ok.
    I just don't buy it...If you sit at a desk all day and you don't work out, how is that healthy?

    OP, if you have thoughts on my questions please share.

    The researcher doesn't argue that people should give up exercise -- I believe he specifically says it's good for health -- all the study does is suggest that the claim that a sedentary lifestyle is a big reason for weight gain is not correct.

    He thinks we should all work out, but understand that to lose or maintain weight we need to eat healthy calories and fewer of them.
  • zaph0d
    zaph0d Posts: 1,172 Member
    Whoa, news flash! drudge-siren.gif
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,722 Member
    I have to exercise to lose weight at any significant rate.....
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    This is not new news.

    Everyone knows you can't out run your fork.

    It certainly confirms what I've been reading for years, but it is news in that researchers actually tested the hypothesis with a study group that is naturally much more active than the typical U.S. or European resident. They also tracked energy expenditure of the subjects through what apparently is a much more accurate method than a formula.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    I have to exercise to lose weight at any significant rate.....

    I think exercise helps, me, too, but it's useful to have confirmed that the food I eat plays a larger role (which is also true in my experience).
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    Whoa, news flash! drudge-siren.gif

    Please provide links to the articles discussing studies like this that showed through a direct measure that being highly active does not mean you burn more calories.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
    It was a worthwhile study to show that if all you can do is diet you will lose weight. You don't have to kill yourself with exercise as some believe.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    It was a worthwhile study to show that if all you can do is diet you will lose weight. You don't have to kill yourself with exercise as some believe.

    Exactly. I can't work out full out right now, but I used to have the fantasy that I'd eat whatever I wanted and work out like crazy (although I don't like exercise.). Now I've had confirmed by a reliable study that diet is key and that while sitting in front of a computer hour upon hour is not great, it's not the main reason people gain weight.
  • larrybartlett
    larrybartlett Posts: 24
    I believe the point of this excellent article is that diet is the main, as opposed to major, component of being healthy, in addition to, level of chosen exercise, rather than in lieu of exercise.

    I recently had a check-up/chem panel. I was greeted by a very well-nourished receptionist who was in the act of gaining further nourishment from a forty-four (44) ounce (1,301ml) convenience store beverage. This was in a US Level 1 Medical Campus environment. I said nothing.

    One can add education of self as key to any hope of change, based on diet and exercise of choice.

    BTW, panel normal.

    Forward ;-)
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Don't have time to go into this in detail, but this jumped out at me:
    How can the Hadza be more active than we are without burning more calories? It’s not that their bodies are more efficient, allowing them to do more with less: separate measurements showed that the Hadza burn just as many calories while walking or resting as Westerners do.

    We think that the Hadzas’ bodies have adjusted to the higher activity levels required for hunting and gathering by spending less energy elsewhere.

    O....K....First of all, they measured overall calorie expenditure per day, but, unless they had a metabolic cart, it's hard to make the statement that they "burn just as many calories while walking" as Westerners do. Unless they were doing something else not mentioned in the article.

    He then mentions they "spend less energy elsewhere". Not sure what that means--different activities? they go off behind a tree and somehow lower their metabolism? Again, maybe he is just summarizing something that he knows is documented in their research, but it doesn't make a lot of sense.

    Lastly, like many writers trying to make a point, he emphasizes one idea, while ignoring a lot of evidence that disputes his main point. There are tens if not hundreds of thousands of examples of people maintaining their calorie intake, decreasing their activity levels, and gaining significant amounts of weight. Conversely, there are plenty more that show people keeping calorie intake the same and increasing their habitual activity and losing significant amounts of weight.

    I would like to read more details, but I am having trouble seeing how this is relevant.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    How can the Hadza be more active than we are without burning more calories? It’s not that their bodies are more efficient, allowing them to do more with less: separate measurements showed that the Hadza burn just as many calories while walking or resting as Westerners do.

    --I don't know what methodology was used, but presumably, they had a method of distinguishing between activity levels.

    --I think the point in studying the Hadza is that their lifestyle is close to what is believed to be that of the original hunter-gatherer and they've lived that way for thousands of years (I assume). So if the theory is that activity equals a faster metabolism that burns off calories then they ought to have a metabolic advantage over Western couch potatoes and computer addicts and they don't appear to.

    --I don't think the researcher was saying he had a definitive answer, but he had confidence in his findings, and the study did seem to present something new.

    In any event, I'm glad you got a chance to read and discuss it. Thanks.
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
    Part of where that study fails is the fact that a body can become very efficient at burning calories when the same activities are performed over and over again.

    If the muscles used and intensity of exercise is changed up regularly, an increase of calorie burn is realized. Even if you are a daily runner, have you ever tried a new cardio class (say spinning or kick boxing or even Hatha Yoga) and come out feeling tired and sore? You just burned more calories for the same time period than you would have had you been at the track that day.

    My guess is that the study subjects, although active, were probably engaging in the same daily activities their entire lives, therefore their bodies were extremely efficient at doing those tasks.
  • cre8inmee
    cre8inmee Posts: 21 Member
    80% Kitchen 20% Gym

    I've heard 80% kitchen, 10% gym and 10% genetics. (Tosca Reno, The Eat Clean Diet)
  • misty0413
    misty0413 Posts: 212
    this is why people that binge all weekend and only eat decent mon-fri complain ---Why can't I lose weight?.

Categories