The men who made us thin

I saw this somewhere, too. Annoying, but I still exercise for general health and the mood boosting properties.

I am watching it at the moment and it has taken me 4 times to try to get through it.

The person doing the documentary basically said exercising is a waste of time for weight loss within the first few minutes. They even got a metabolism expert to agree despite nothing being said about increasing ones own metabolic rate. Exercise has helped me lose 14.5 stone / 202 pounds.

A very bad and annoying programme.

I have watched that as well and although I don't agree with the way that something's were said, I don't think the intention was to diss exercising. What they are getting at is that people are being sold the idea of loosing weight by exercising ALONE. When in reality it should be done in conjunction with a healthy eating programme. Of course exercise is good for you because of the health benefits and they did say that during the programme.
I do also agree though that the way they said some things was a bit misleading.
I exercise regularly now and it is helping me to lose weight but I am also on a calorie reduced diet and am exercising for health benefits as well. I guess that's what they were trying to get people to understand :-)

Here is the Guardian News Review on the Show
How the Food Industry cashed in on Obesity..

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/aug/07/fat-profits-food-industry-obesity

It was on interest to me that Weight Watchers has been taken to task in the UK , that only 15% of those who lose weight keep it off after two years and 5% retain weight loss after 5 years. The industry is built on failure and repeat business.

More important is that that the Food Giants are involved in the weight loss industry.
Nestles owns Jenny Craig,, Heinz owns a portion of Weight Watchers and that they sold off shares to a European Investment Firm for $735 million, Unilever owns Slim Fast. The guy who started Slimfast is !.2 billion richer after Unilever bought him out. Fascinating , the weight loss is a big business worth billions that is built on failure and repeat business.

correct.

what a stupid thread, eat less move more.

Why stupid?

There are quite a few threads on telly programmes that have been challenging, recently.

Some have been misunderstood, partly as the style and ability of the presenter is a bit lacking. But the debate, questions, queries and attempted answers and explanations have been interesting and informative.

The whole point of the programmes is that we are being sold misinformation - so why not discuss it to try and understand it more.

Trying to close it down with a 'god but you're stupid' post is just rude, selfish, not what t'internet is about!!

I haven't watched this, but what I assume they are trying to say in the typical sensationalized style of most documentaries, is that exercise alone is not enough to lose weight. First of all, most people over estimate the number of calories they burn with exercise. Then there's the misnomer that if I just exercise more, I can eat more. It doesn't work that way. You can lose a lot of weight without doing any cardio at all. What you should be doing is strength training so you don't end up at your goal weight with no muscle and a high body fat percentage.

That doesn't mean that cardio doesn't have it's place. It's good for your heart and it's been proven effective in elevating your mood. But, after about the first 20 minutes, the effectiveness of cardio begin to diminish so killing yourself doing 1 to 2 hours of cardio a day is pretty ineffectual. If you do it because you love then go for it but don't expect that to be enough to help you lose weight and more importantly, keep it off.

What's more important, is adding muscle and NEAT. The number of calories you burn through non-exercise activities. The more you fidget and move around during the day can have a significant impact on how many calories you burn, depending on the individual. Stand instead of sit. Park far away and walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Just getting on the treadmill for 30 minutes and then sitting on your *kitten* the rest of the day is not going to help you lose weight.

losing a ton of weight while having NO muscle mass does not make a pretty picture...

what a stupid thread, eat less move more.

What a nasty post.
Your glowing personality really shines through here.

I watched the first programme and was annoyed that (exercise issue aside) it was used as another opportunity to have a go at Weight Watchers. I lost 25lb on WW a couple of years ago and have kept it because I changed my eating habits - it's obviously not going to work long term if you don't maintain healthy eating habits once you've reached your goal weight.

I watched the first programme and was annoyed that (exercise issue aside) it was used as another opportunity to have a go at Weight Watchers. I lost 25lb on WW a couple of years ago and have kept it because I changed my eating habits - it's obviously not going to work long term if you don't maintain healthy eating habits once you've reached your goal weight.

I have watched both programmes, and think people should look through some of the annoying, or does nor fit into what you believe ideas, and look at the underlying message, which is diet, weight loss and exercise are a big money making industries, so first create the problem, then sell you solution

Which as programme one pointed out, most will fail at because they do not change lifestyle or eating habits, so go back & spend more money doing it all again, and again

Without exercise I wouldn't have lost any weight. I didn't really cut calories at all at first. Just started exercising regularly again. That got me to my original goal.

I watched the first programme and was annoyed that (exercise issue aside) it was used as another opportunity to have a go at Weight Watchers. I lost 25lb on WW a couple of years ago and have kept it because I changed my eating habits - it's obviously not going to work long term if you don't maintain healthy eating habits once you've reached your goal weight.

But that's the point - the vast majority of people that lose weight with WW (or any other diet) do not maintain their goal weight - quite the opposite in fact. And WW's business model (and their ilk) are predicated on people failing. Failure = repeat business.

I am watching it at the moment and it has taken me 4 times to try to get through it.

The person doing the documentary basically said exercising is a waste of time for weight loss within the first few minutes. They even got a metabolism expert to agree despite nothing being said about increasing ones own metabolic rate. Exercise has helped me lose 14.5 stone / 202 pounds.

A very bad and annoying programme.

Exercise may have helped you lose weight because you were motivated to stick to your diet. You were more body-conscious and may have had a greater feeling of emotional well-being.

Watched a documentary earlier this week as above. A scientist was claiming that exercise won't make one lose weight because it can't be done on a big enough scale to make any difference. It also said that if one did some exercise during the day then one would compensate for the rest of the day and be less active. Well this is how I interpreted it.

Disappointed to hear this. What about exercise increasing muscle to fat ratios and raising metabolism?

Did anyone watch this? Have any opinions?

I watched the first programme and was annoyed that (exercise issue aside) it was used as another opportunity to have a go at Weight Watchers. I lost 25lb on WW a couple of years ago and have kept it because I changed my eating habits - it's obviously not going to work long term if you don't maintain healthy eating habits once you've reached your goal weight.

I have watched both programmes, and think people should look through some of the annoying, or does nor fit into what you believe ideas, and look at the underlying message, which is diet, weight loss and exercise are a big money making industries, so first create the problem, then sell you solution

Which as programme one pointed out, most will fail at because they do not change lifestyle or eating habits, so go back & spend more money doing it all again, and again

Basically you are both saying the same thing, and I agree with you!

I watched this programme alone and was talking to the TV when the interviewer was rubbishing all of these companies as selling false hope as only a very small percentage of people seemed to be able to maintain any weight loss over the subsequent coming years. He accused weight loss companies of making money out of it's failure to deliver.... WTF, these companies DID deliver, it was the individual that failed long term in my opinion.

I lost my weight through MFP and it's guidelines. I've maintained my weight through MFP and it's guidelines for the last 9 months. If I stop using MFP and eat what I want, and then subsequently gain weight, who's fault is it, MFP's or mine? I think the fault would lie solely at my door.

On the debate about exercise, I did lose my weight without any exercise plan at all, it isn't pretty guys! I would recommend exercise for toning and general good health and mental well being. However, I do agree that it is hard to lose weight through exercise alone.