Study: Exercise Won't Cure Obesity...But Diet Will

Physical activity has many proven benefits.

It strengthens bones and muscles, improves mental health and mood, lowers blood pressure, improves cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, breast cancer and colon cancer. Exercise is also good for your brain.

It may not be a cure-all for obesity, however.

Though better nutrition coupled with exercise has long been the favored prescription for losing weight and avoiding obesity, a new study suggests diet actually plays the key role.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[txkayrose]

It is bad logic to think that any one diet would be suitable for every person, especially in a country as diverse as the US. Regardless of the exact diet you choose - hi-carb/lo-fat; lo-carb, vegetarian, etc - cutting out the garbage that Americans have made 'staples' will do more for trimming the fat than anything else.
The less refined, processed, preserved, colored, hydrogenated, modified, whatever-ed our food is, the better our bodies are able to use and dispose of it.
For me, personally, a diet heavy on proteins & veggies and easy on the carbs works best. Exercise always makes me feel better, but cutting out the superfluous carbs is the only thing that lets me actually lose fat.

[blimie]

Why do they publish every new study like it's a big new scientific fact. Everyone knows if you exercise with diet you are leaner and stronger. These headlines are so irritating.

[Catothemuchyounger]

Well, amongst other problems with this business of 'weight loss." You don't want to lose "weight." You want to lose fat. If you just do this by diet alone, you will lose a lot of muscle along with your fat. This is not optimal for health, and is far from ideal, looks wise, as well. If you exercise, in particular, if you lift, you give your body a strong reason to hang onto that muscle. You end up with stronger bones and muscle as well as a better looking body.

This is not rocket science, here.

And the thing about exercise is, you start seeing health benefits almost immediately. It is, essentially, a sure thing.

[peterg76]

*Reputable* source never recommend either diet or exercise by itself.

[RG5626]

This sounds like a poorly constructed study that only looked at one side of the equation. It makes sense that two people with the same level of activity, but with different calorie intakes would not weigh the same, but that does not mean that two people with the same caloric intake will be the same even if they have different levels of activity.

My diet has remained pretty constant throughout my life, but my wieght significantly increased once I stopped running on a regular basis.

[Swerinjer4]

THE ATKINS DIET. Read the book yourself. Do not listen to hearsay.

The corporate media will have you believe the Atkins diet is bad for your heart. That my friends is pure horse-s******t. They will stop at nothing to defend the carbohydrate industry.

THE ATKINS DIET IS THE WAY TO GO TO LOSE WEIGHT VIA DIET.

End of story.

[Hirnlego]

Don't eat too little carbs. They're absolutely needed.

[odyssey58]

Carbs can only be used for energy. They can't build and repair muscle. They can't fulfill the roles that fats play. However, fats are excellent sources of energy. Some people (protein types) really need very little in the way of carbs from veggies and low carb fruit.
Swerinjer4, I'm with you about Atkins. It works well for me and is very satisfying and easy. But some people (carb types) won't do well on it.
For politically correct nutritionists to admit that Atkins works means that they have to acknowledge that their previous thinking about diet was wrong. The food pyramid went against what they should have learned about insulin in their physiology classes. I'm glad that I was paying attention.

[Swerinjer4]

"Don't eat too little carbs. They're absolutely needed."

Are you suggesting there's no carbs in the Atkins diet? Is that REALLY your understanding of it? Like i said...do not listen to HEARSAY-READ IT FOR YOURSELF.

This is one of my favorite all-time quotes from Dr Atkins himself:

"I eat more fruits and vegetables every day than most vegetarians."

[erincnyc]

How much stock do you own in this company? The Atkins diet is dangerous. One of the least healthful ways of eating one could imagine. To lose weight, one need only eat healthfully, but cut back on calories. Whole grains, tons of fresh veggies and fruit, nuts and seeds, and lean proteins, eaten in moderation, are the foods that will slim you down while nourishing your body.

[brooklyncitizen]

Meat eating is bad for your heart...this isn't the media weighing in its the medical profession.
Atkins is not sustainable;a "diet" needs to be a way of life not just a tool to get rid of extra pounds.

[Swerinjer4]

You obviously haven't read the book. READ IT FOR YOURSELF. Do not go by hearsay. he addresses that myth and blows it up in the book. Saturated fat is demonized in corporate controlled america. its GOOD FOR YOU.

[peterg76]

*Excess* meat eating is bad for you, especially on a 'normal' as opposed to low-glycemic diet. Atkins had a different approach only because he was not part of the diet industry.

[tsammani]

I noted the phrase "amount of calories burned during physical activity." Ambiguous, because the rate may be the same (people are people) but the time actually spent in activity may vary dramatically. From my years in the Peace Corps in Northern Nigeria, admittedly years ago, I would guess that American women would win the sedentary prize hands down. Life for women in rural Nigera was bursting with movement, from pounding yams to celebratory dancing to carrying babies in slings walking to market. Anyhow, diet and exercise enthusiastically combined will produce psychological momentum, and once established in the psyche that momentum can work wonders for the body and the spirit.

[rini]

Comparing NIgerian women to american women is like comparing apples and oranges. The diet is different. I don't think an american woman is ever going to eat the NIgerian diet for lifetime.

This study didn't even try to evaluate exercise as a weight loss tool. Perhaps if the Chicagoan women exercised, they could eat the occasional deep dish pizza and still stay as slender as the Nigerian women. I don't think exercise should be thrown out like the baby with the bathwater. If you eat a whole foods diet with less high calorie junk and exercise vigorously, you'll maintain strength and flexibility as well as endurance, and you'll probably be skinnier than if you just eat well.

[less-than150]

What ironical it is!! The woman wants to get thinner, and to exercise! !

[NCGigi]

OMG!! You mean we really have to eat less?