14 DAY TRIAL // The common belief is exercising on a regular basis is a sure way to lose weight and get in shape. Except that, according to a new study, it isn't.
Quite the contrary, evidence indicates that sustained physical activity can in fact cause people to add a couple more love handles to their silhouette.
That's because exercise increases appetite
Writing in the International Journal of Epidemiology, researchers Richard S. Cooper and Amy Luke of Loyola University explain that, having spent years investigating how physical activity correlates with obesity, they found that exercise is not the key to losing weight.
True, regular physical activity does lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, but it also increases appetite. This means that, more often than not, folks who take up exercise also start eating a tad more than they used to.
Unless this extra food intake matches what they burn during their workout sessions, and it usually doesn't, this means that, on the long run, physical activity can actually result in weight gain.
“While physical activity has many benefits, multiple lines of evidence lead to the conclusion that an increase in physical activity is offset by an increase in calorie intake, unless conscious effort is made to limit that compensatory response,” the researchers explain.
“Physical activity is crucially important for improving overall health and fitness levels, but there is limited evidence to suggest that it can blunt the surge in obesity,” they go on to emphasize, as cited by Science Daily.
Worry not, this does not mean all hope is lost
It might be that exercise has little to no chances to promote weight loss, but this does not mean all hope is lost. According to Richard S. Cooper and Amy Luke, there is one very simple way to lose weight: counting calories and keeping a close eye on what's on the plate.
Intriguingly, the researchers say that, although combining physical activity with dieting is the best way to go, evidence indicates that calorie restriction alone does the trick and delivers roughly the same results as exercise plus calorie control.