Does exercise really not help with weight loss?

It does help but the majority of weight loss comes from diet.

I do think it's important for maintenance though once you're at your goal weight and want to stop being as strict with the diet.

Exercise helps me in the sense that it improves my mental health so I avoid eating when bored or fed up, it keeps me busy so avoiding snacking. I don't feel it helps so much with the actual calorie burning but it's my attitude to food that it helps improve.

muscle burn more calories than fat

This difference gets very grossly exaggerated. The maximum difference due muscle % in your body that can be achieved is about 70 kcal/day -- a tangerine.

The appetite-suppression property of exercise, and keeping you busy doing something that isn't snacking, are MUCH more important than your muscle % for calorie intake control.

DH cycled 200 miles yesterday, about 11 hours in the saddle. He reckons he burnt about 7000 kcal. ? 500/hour. Not an option for most, though.

[quote GoWalkabout]I think in the short term increasing your exercise leads to burning more calories. But the inconvenient and surprising evidence is that really active hunter gatherers in indigenous communities burn no more calories than sedentary office workers. Which suggests that our bodies are tremendously adaptable to different nutritional circumstances and simply turn the thermostat up or down. I think continually changing up your exercise or taking the odd week off probably helps, but ultimately your body gets used to what you do and adjusts internally (confound it!) inews.co.uk/news/health/metabolism-myth-why-exercise-wont-make-you-thinner-burn-author-herman-pontzer-894794[/quote]
This is the study I was talking about!

I recently read an article which said that exercise doesn't make you lose weight because your body compensates for the calories you're using from exercising by reducing the energy you use for other bodily functions

This is true to an extent. If memory serves though it is only during exercise- bloodflow (and therefore glucose etc) is directed away from the GI tract and toward the heart, muscles, lungs etc. This is why training on a full stomach is not helpful- digestion shuts down and it just sits there.

However once you stop exercising all the other processes return to normal.

Don’t forget you’d have been burning calories anyway, even if you were only sitting on the sofa. So you might burn 60 calories per hour sitting down & 500 running per hour, that’s actually 440 excess calories.

I think in the short term increasing your exercise leads to burning more calories. But the inconvenient and surprising evidence is that really active hunter gatherers in indigenous communities burn no more calories than sedentary office workers. Which suggests that our bodies are tremendously adaptable to different nutritional circumstances and simply turn the thermostat up or down. I think continually changing up your exercise or taking the odd week off probably helps, but ultimately your body gets used to what you do and adjusts internally (confound it!) inews.co.uk/news/health/metabolism-myth-why-exercise-wont-make-you-thinner-burn-author-herman-pontzer-894794

Exercise does burn calories but not very many. An hour's running covers about a mars bar.

It can increase metabolism but the effects are so low and the effects aren't very long.

However exercise will tone your muscles.
It will improve your self esteem and mood.

The overall feel good factor helps you stick to healthier eating

Also when I used to go to the gym it was 2hr I wasn't spent snacking so this alone made a difference to me for weight loss. (I am a post work snacker)

I recently read an article which said that exercise doesn't make you lose weight because your body compensates for the calories you're using from exercising by reducing the energy you use for other bodily functions.

I find that extremely hard to believe though. Surely your whole system would have to shut down to make up for running a marathon?!

It was from a reputable source though, I'll see if I can find it.

I've found eating less is the key and finding exercise to do everyday that keeps your metabolism up but doesn't make you hungry.
So I was swimming for an hour and that wasn't effective as I was hungry so I cut it down to 40 mins and that was better for weight loss. I have a new fit bit thing and its much more measly with the calories burned than my last one so thats' helping.

Oh yeah, what someone else said, muscle burn more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism

Muscle is heavier than fat for the same volume, so you may be losing fat and gaining muscle without losing any weight. You will be slimmer and generally look better even if you're the same weight as before.

You can't burn off a bad diet. Not saying you have one but industry standard is 80% diet and 20% exercise... it's what you do the other 23 hours of the day that matters.

Move as much as possible and work out your TDEE so you have a cut of 500 calories per day as a weekly average.

Yes it helps, but people often overestimate the amount of calories burned for a given activity. I think the role of exercise in weight loss is still important. It helps give you endorphins so you are less likely to comfort eat, or eat from boredom. It helps give you muscle tone that changes the shape of your body in a positive way, people who exercise regularly and eat well have a healthier glow about their skin. These things help keep you motivated when weight loss takes time and discipline. Also, exercise forces you to feel your body, your thighs, your tummy, instead of ignoring it while sitting on the couch. So in total calories it doesn’t contribute that much, but there are lots of other benefits. The only issue is when people exercise heaps, but don’t change their diet and get frustrated.

Leisurely cycling won't burn 600 calories in an hour but going hard and keeping your HR high will.
I think it is right that most people will overestimate how much exercise will help lose weight but if you have a regular calorie deficit then you will lose weight. How quickly will depend on how many of those exercise calories you eat back.

I think you have the right approach if you are aiming for a small daily deficit doing an activity which you love to do.

I also can't wait to go back to the office even if only one day a week as I used to have a guilt free 20m bike ride there and back and arrived feeling energised for the day.

I think it does help in loads of ways. There's only one way in which it doesn't help -- burning off the over-consumption of calories. And that is because, as others have said, you'd have to exercise too damn much to keep up with the calories involved.
One of the many ways in which it does help is by improving insulin sensitivity, helping to re-normalise our body's uptake of glucose after years of unhealthy eating habits.

Exercise has several weight loss benefits - it raises heart rate and therefore calorie burn, it strengthens muscle and therefore resting calorie burn and it improves the overall look of your body as your muscles get tighter so you appear smaller. It's also very important for bone strength and health especially post menopause.
BUT it won't make you lose weight unless you're in a calorie deficit.

It definitely helps - it burns calories but also makes you more toned, increases your metabolic rate and can help you feel better about yourself so you’re less likely to binge.

Of course, it depends on how much and what you do. I’d say most people can’t put run a bad diet based on the exercise they do and the diet they eat but it is possible for exercise to make a huge difference. I run 30 - 40 miles a week over hilly routes and am losing weight without dieting as I burn around 6500 calories doing it (I’m a bit overweight and there are a lot of hills) but that’s quite an extreme way to go .

I thought I was smashing it with bike rides when I started trying to lose weight, I did two 90 minute rides a day and my fitness tracker said that was nearly a thousand calories. It wasn’t. They’re poor at guesstimating for general exercise but woeful for cycling.

Don’t get me wrong, it does help. Cycling makes me look leaner even if my weight doesn’t change, and it’s beneficial in terms of muscle and metabolism, but you have to ignore the calories burnt predicted, sadly. It took me a while to get my head around that!

For me, I find running reduces my appetite. So it burns calories and makes me eat less. And it puts me in a better mood about my body so I'm much less inclined to want to eat crap.

For me, exercise doesn't have a huge impact on the scales, but it does change (improve) what I see in the mirror and how strong/healthy/fit I feel.

Am pregnant now, but last year I was doing an online HIIT class 5-6 days a week, plus weights a few times a week. I only lost a couple of kilos over a period of about 6 months but I had defined abs for the first time in my life, my arms had definition, my wobbly thighs felt firmer and my back felt really strong.

For me it helps in the sense that when I'm active I feel better and want to eat healthier foods. If I'm feeling down I tend more towards junk food and no exercise!

I started a new exercise challenge for March.

I’m burning 4-600 calories a day, 6 days a week.

Diet I’m roughly 1000cals a day, which allows for the overestimate, odd biscuit, slip up type thing. So probably averaging 1500-1800.

I’ve gained 6 lbs in that 3 weeks. probably because the rest of the time I barely move working at home- i think the cals burned doing stuff like walking round shops, from the car park into work, all those little errands that keep us moving make a big difference.