Excersize doesn't burn fat!?!?

miss_brown1989 · September 2016

Okay so I found a random article that claims excersize doesn't help you lose weight at all. And only cutting calories does. This bugged me a lot so I researched it and found about 40 articles claiming the same thing. Here's one of the links:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/22/obesity-owes-more-to-bad-diet-than-lack-of-exercise-say-doctors

What do you guys say I'm so confused. They say that you get lots of benefits but no weight loss.

I didn't think it was possible that sweating your butt off working out for an hour a day does nothing for weight loss??

miss_brown1989 · September 2016

I thought it was meaningless until I found countless articles and studies about it.

Machka9 · September 2016

Sweat does absolutely nothing to burn anything. If it did, everyone in Florida and Louisiana and places like that would be slender.

Exercise, on the other hand, burns calories. Calories are a unit of measure ... to measure energy. When we exercise, we use energy and thus "burn calories".

A person can lose weight by ...

-- eating less.

-- exercising more.

-- or a combination of the two.

Probably the most effective choice is the combination of the two.

That ... and being honest with ourselves. We did not burn 500 calories on that 30 minute walk.

miss_brown1989 · September 2016

Oh I know sweat doesn't I was just saying sweating your butt off as s figure of speech.

Susieq_1994 · September 2016

miss_brown1989 wrote: »

Oh I know sweat doesn't I was just saying sweating your butt off as s figure of speech.

Well... They're right. Say you burn 1500 calories just by existing and going about your day, then you go for a run and burn another 500, taking your total calorie burn up to 2000 calories. Then, when you tally up your meals for the day, you've eaten 2500. Do you think that run will help you lose weight, even when you've eaten over and beyond what you burned during it?

That's what the articles are saying. Not that exercise doesn't burn any calories, just that you can't out-exercise a bad diet. If you eat more than you burn, you will gain weight--no matter how much exercising you're doing. You just get MORE calories burnt if you're exercising.

Hope I cleared that up for you!

All the best.

miss_brown1989 · September 2016

That's what I always knew, that working out and using energy burns calories. I just don't understand how there's so many studies and articles and in time magazine saying it doesn't do much for fat loss. If you Google excrsize doesn't burn fat etc.. There's pages and pages of supporting articles. Seems so crazy to me.

Machka9 · September 2016

miss_brown1989 wrote: »

If you Google excrsize doesn't burn fat etc..

You burn calories.

miss_brown1989 · September 2016

I know but that results in fat loss does it not??

Machka9 · September 2016

miss_brown1989 wrote: »

I know but that results in fat loss does it not??

It results in weight loss ... if you burn more than what you consume.

If your energy burn is more than your energy replenishment.

Where the energy comes from is not necessarily fat.

miss_brown1989 · September 2016

Anyways, the main thing I've read in at least three dozen articles (which I really can't see how it's true but..) is that exercise does not promote weight loss. And that it's only good for other health

I'm just shocked how many studies claim it that's all.

Did you read what they were claiming in the link ?

miss_brown1989 · September 2016

Does anything this is saying sound right?

http://www.sciencealert.com/the-science-is-in-exercise-won-t-help-you-lose-much-weights

Susieq_1994 · September 2016

miss_brown1989 wrote: »

Anyways, the main thing I've read in at least three dozen articles (which I really can't see how it's true but..) is that exercise does not promote weight loss. And that it's only good for other health

I'm just shocked how many studies claim it that's all.

Did you read what they were claiming in the link ?

I think the first one is full of hype and unnecessarily overdramatic. I basically rolled my eyes throughout most of it. It's just the way the media does things--it gets more readers if you're overdramatic and make a lot of big statements that aren't exactly what I would call scientifically sound.

The takeaway is really what I've already mentioned: You can't out-exercise a bad diet. Exercise alone will not help you maintain a healthy weight unless you're eating less than you burn. The rest is junk.

miss_brown1989 · September 2016

That's what I though they should of made the main point. That you can't just eat whatever you want and think working out will help lose weight.

Machka9 · September 2016

Heading out for a bicycle ride now.

AnvilHead · September 2016

A sustained calorie deficit (taking in less than you burn) is what causes weight/fat loss. That deficit can be created by diet, exercise, or a combination thereof.

The problem is that exercise doesn't burn nearly as many calories as most people think, and most people don't understand energy balance in the first place - they just figure that they can eat anything they want, go walk on the treadmill for a half hour and they'll magically lose weight. That's not how it works. Walking on the treadmill for a half hour may burn somewhere in the vicinity of 150-200 calories - so when you go "reward" yourself with an ice cream bar after your workout, you've just cancelled out those 150-200 calories and then some.

Look at it this way - you can "save" yourself 500-600 calories by eating a chicken breast and a big serving of broccoli for dinner instead of a cheeseburger and french fries. To get the equivalent 500-600 calorie deficit from exercise, you'd have to go run 5 or 6 miles, or bicycle maybe double that, or do a couple hours worth of your favorite cardio workout video. Which of those two options is easier and more realistic for most people?

Exercise doesn't "burn fat". You expend calories when you exercise, which (along with your diet) can help create/sustain that deficit you need to lose weight. That deficit, sustained over time, is what will get rid of the excess weight and fat.

There are a lot of excellent reasons to exercise - but trying to create a calorie deficit sufficient for weight/fat loss entirely from exercise is unrealistic for most people. Hence the sayings "You can't out-exercise a bad diet", or "You can't outrun your fork".

AnvilHead · September 2016

P.S. - Don't believe about 99% of what you see on television, read in magazines or on the internet about weight loss, nutrition and/or fitness. Most of it is ridiculous hype written by people who don't have the faintest idea what they're talking about.

squarewheels66 · September 2016

Most studies are concluding that exercise alone doesn't help most people lose weight

As said above it's because

1) The body is annoyingly efficient and only fairly fit people will be able to burn 300 calories in 1/2 hour. Example - yesterday I rode my bike for 4 hours - In my head this is at least 2000cal, my Garmin said 1600 and MFP gave me a measly 1300 cal for this effort
2) People eat back the calorie expenditure. Oh yes - for me pizza, 2/3 bottle of zinfandel and sampling every cake may wife had baked for the kids this week - pizza was OK I busted my limit with the cake and booze
3) You have to be fairly conditioned and determined to sustain a high exercise lifestyle. Even 500cal daily is approx 5mile run, an hours swimming, 15miles cycling (depending on your size and speed). So the usual 1lb a week target equates to a lot of work and serious determination not to eat it back

However diet combined with exercise (i.e. the whole lifestyle change thing) seems to prevent yo yo-ing.

I have tried to out train a bad diet for years I only lost weight when I was riding 400km/16 hours a week. Despite my obvious failure, I thought I was good at estimating intake and output. Until I started using MFP, I was massively overestimating my calories lost through exercise and underestimating what I ate. e.g. my 'guesstimate' for a muesli fresh fruit and yoghurt breakfast (no weighing) was 400 cal - when measured my breakfast bowl is nearer 800cal every time! That's half my allowance on a 1lb a week schedule.

Trailtramper74 · September 2016

I had a talk with my doctor about these studies the other day because, personally, I lose more if I exercise. It seems to fall off compared to dieting alone. Also, the National Weight Control Registry has been tracking successful dieters for many years. 98% modified their diet in some way and 94% increased physical activity. My doctor thinks exercise has a lot to do with weight loss and that those studies will fade away like the low fat diets of the 70s and 80s. In the end, I think you have to find what works for you. For me, it takes both.

gothchiq · September 2016

For me personally I must do both. One or the other doesn't cut it. If I just cut cals I become sluggish and don't lose. If I just work out I don't lose. I have to cut cals and THEN work out to maintain muscle mass and keep my metabolism from grinding to nearly a halt.

jo_nz · September 2016

Personally, I find I lose weight when I exercise regularly. But I think that's because I feel healthier and am then inspired to make healthier food choices, plus exercise takes time so I am not snacking at least during that exercise time!

dykask · September 2016

I'm not sure where the exercise doesn't help with fat lose comes from, it clearly can help. If you exercise and just eat even more food than you use, then yea you aren't going to lean out. I don't see where in the article they are claiming exercise doesn't burn fat.

Exercising doesn't always help with weight loss, but there a lot more to weight than fat. I had two years where I wasn't losing weight and in fat went from 92 kg to 94 kg. I was exercising really hard during those two years, averaging over 2000 kc per week just from exercise. Running, biking and mostly body weight calisthenics (push ups, dips, pull ups, etc.) I built more muscle than the fat I lost. My waist line went from 106 cm to 103 cm.

Lately I've been exercising less but mostly before eating in the day. I started that approach because of time pressures. I also cut way back in refined sugar consumption, eating about 25% of what I was. In a little over 4 months I've lost 8 kg to 86 kg and my waist is down to 88 cm. Without the exercise I probably would have lost some but I wouldn't have been able to eat as much food. Still, I'm sure the weight lose is more from diet changes than exercise changes. However I get too many other benefits from exercises to not do it.

Oh I also keep changing the exercise I'm doing all the time. While that probably helps, I just don't like the boredom of always doing the same thing.

Excersize doesn't burn fat!?!?

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