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They began by recruiting sedentary, overweight men and women ages 18 to 65, measured their weight, resting metabolic rates, typical levels of hunger, aerobic fitness and, using complex, liquid energy tracers, daily food intake and energy expenditure.

15 Foods to Eat When You're Not Getting Any Exercise

With standardized psychological questionnaires, they also explored whether the volunteers felt that virtuous, healthy actions now justified less-desirable ones later. They then randomly assigned some to continue their normal lives as a control, while others began supervised exercise programs. In one, people exercised three times a week on treadmills or exercise bikes until they had burned eight calories for every kilogram of their body weight, or about calories a week for most of them.

The other program upped the exercise to 20 calories for every kilogram of body weight, or about 1, calories a week. Both routines lasted for six months.

15 Foods to Help You Lose Weight Without Exercise | Eat This Not That

Throughout, the volunteers wore activity monitors, and the researchers periodically checked their metabolic rates, energy intake and fitness. The volunteers could eat as they chose. Afterward, everyone returned to the lab for comprehensive remeasurements. But neither had those of most of the exercisers. A few had dropped pounds, but about two-thirds of those in the shorter-workout group and 90 percent of those in the longer-workout group had lost less weight than would have been expected. But not by moving less, the scientists found. Instead, the exercisers were eating more, other measurements and calculations showed.

The extra calories were slight — about 90 additional calories each day for the some-exercise group, and a day for the most-exercise set. But this noshing was sufficient to undercut weight loss. Interestingly, the researchers also found that those exercisers who had compensated the most and lost the least weight tended to be those who had reported at the start that they thought some good health habits gave people license for other, insalubrious ones. But the study produced other, more encouraging data, he says.

While you may not want to cancel your gym membership just yet, the inescapable truth of weight loss is that exercise doesn't compensate for a poor diet.

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But losing a lot of weight isn't chief among exercise's many benefits. Losing a pound a week requires a calorie deficit of 3, calories , or calories per day. You can accomplish this through diet, exercise or a combination of both approaches. But it seems that diet and exercise aren't equally effective. To put this in perspective, a pound person would burn roughly calories from an hour of high-impact aerobics or by walking for 90 minutes at a rate of 4.

So, in other words, don't expect much from those quick trips to the gym. Someone who started exercising 30 minutes almost every day would probably lose about a pound over the course of a month, Kuk says. For most people trying to lose weight, that would be downright disappointing. Gaining weight.


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That's right: Sometimes an exercise program can cause the opposite of its intended effect. One study from a team of Arizona State University researchers tracked 81 sedentary, overweight women over a week exercise program that consisted of 30 minutes of brisk treadmill walking three times per week. Another study from researchers at Louisiana State University followed overweight men and women enrolled in a supervised aerobic exercise program over the course of six months.

The study found that the participants ended up compensating for the calories lost to working out by eating more. As a result, many participants didn't lose weight, or they gained it. But for the average person, the required intensity and time commitment — about an hour every day — can be difficult to stick to. Most health professionals recommend implementing both approaches — calorie control and exercise — when losing weight.

And this is probably pretty sound advice. But where exercise might be more helpful is keeping weight off once we've lost it.

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A recent study from the University of Colorado Anschutz Health and Wellness Center revealed that exercise plays a greater role than diet in sustaining substantial weight loss. No matter your weight or fitness goals, remember that the health benefits of a balanced diet and exercise regime go far beyond a number on the scale.

And, it's a controversial idea, but some researchers think you can be "fat but fit. So, if you find yourself frustrated the next time you step on the scale, Kuk recommends asking yourself why you're trying to lose weight in the first place.

Seated Exercise for Obesity and Limited Mobility - Stage.1 Ep.1

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