To explain that exercise does not affect your weight, or impact on obesity rates

[allmyown]

I see this misconception all over MN every day.

Exercise is fantastic for your physical and mental health in many ways, but it is not a weight loss tool.

Posters are forever quoting energy in -minus energy out = energy stored, etc, as if we are petrol engines or something! we are not - this is not how our body works.

It is more like energy available / energy required to maintain weight= energy body decides to use.

Your body burns off excess energy if you are taking in more than your homeostatic systems think you need. Your body slows down and uses far less energy if you have taken in less than your homeostatic system thinks you need.

And so if you lose weight, and go below what your body wants you to be, then your metabolism will just slow down massively to make the weight go back on. And if you exercise a lot, your metabolism will just adjust to accommodate that.

The key to weight loss is making sure your homeostatic systems decide you should be a healthy weight. You can lower the weight your homeostatic systems is attempting to maintain, with healthy eating, cut out sugar, HPF, vegetable oil, margarine, and cut down on wheat.

Eat plenty of fresh food and greens, nothing long dated.

Unless you are running 10K every single day, you are not exercising enough to change your weight, and even if you are, it won't stay changed.

The obesity epidemic is related to sugar, highly processed food, vegetable oil, margarine, etc, and poor diet in general, not too little exercise.

But don't get me wrong, there are other health problems caused by too little exercise, I am not saying exercise is bad, just that an obese child is not necessarily a child getting inadequate exercise, as so many people seem to think.

Read "Why we eat too much" by Andrew Jenkinson, he explains the up to date science in so much more detail.

No, it's well know that exercise alone is not enough for weightloss because as they saying goes, you cannot outrun a bad diet.
To lose 1lb of fat you need to create a deficit of 3500 calories, which is incredibly difficult to do with exercise alone unless you are an elite athlete, especially if you are eating a high calorie diet.
Exercise can aid weightloss when combined with a calorie controlled diet. Calories burned by exercise or general movment can and does add to the calorie deficit.

I think I must be dim.
If I eat food for a week and do no exercise then eat the same food the following week and run 10K every day I would stay the same weight?

@CharlotteBog my Fitbit tells me that my 10k run burns roughly 700 calories. If I have had no breakfast that is on the strength of a mug of tea a couple of hours beforehand. I'm pleased my body stores energy in the form of glycogen and fat otherwise I don't know what would happen!

Thanks, @heyhohello - but surely if too much insulin is present for too long, you've got a disorder? Opposite diabetes, whatever that may be called. Our bodies release more insulin (spike) when glucose goes up, then it goes down to background level once that's dealt with. Doesn't matter if you eat once a day or ten times, it will just do its thing as often as needed.

If you have a steady high level of insulin throughout the day - and no disorder - because you're eating continuously, it's still doing its thing correctly. In fact, if you wanted to avoid insulin spikes for some reason, that's what you should do!

I can run 10 miles on a cup of tea. I do not have any weight to lose. I run to get faster and win prizes, because I love it and I know it does me good in many ways. I've had periods when I haven't run and I'm sure I ate less. Maybe not though, I have no idea how many calories I consume/burn - well roughly I suppose but not to the accuracy others know.

@Garlicker people who have high levels of blood or insulinemia are often insulin resistant. Which means more insulin is required in order for the cells to take up the energy in blood glucose. So the only alternative to bring blood sugar down is storing it.

@CharlotteBog love running too!👍But I also like looking at my Fitbit. Don't run for speed though, it makes me nervous. Performance anxiety.🥴 I just bimble along and enjoy the feeling of it. 😎

OK, @heyhohello, so as I understand it, you're NOT saying that insulin is bad - only that having an insulin disorder is bad! Whole different thing, isn't it?

@Garlicker high levels of blood insulin, I mean!

@Garlicker yeah, I agree, disorders are bad by definition. Indicators of insulin resistance are energy slumps, food cravings and putting body fat on especially around the middle.

(sweaty hug)
I do have calories stats on my garmin - just a cursory glance at the total used I suppose. I don't pay much heed to them as I eat to my hunger and don't need to lose weight. I've never actually looked at the rest/active split. Maybe I should.

Racing making me nervous too, but the post race buzz is very, very worth it.
The bimble runs are lovely, too.

OP I can tell you why I am upset by your topic. Because I suspect you are a LLM in training, your syntheses of every topic you touch on this thread are as shallow and uninformed as an average response you get from Claude or GPT, i.e. the bell rings but you repeatedly fail to locate the church! On exercise, on UPF, on insulin. Did I miss something?

This topic is emotive because so many people don’t know how to eat well and don’t move enough that we have a big problem across the developed world.

Anyway I’m glad you read the book.

Something can be both healthy and high in calories. Stop equating low cal with health!

Do you wear a heart rate monitor? It is way more accurate then the wrist monitor on the watch. I don't track calories obsessively but given the stat driven nature of sports watches I can't help but look! If I am competing at a regatta in multiple races I will drop 5000 calories so spend half the time between events eating!!

@TheCadoganArms

I've only got a very basic Fitbit myself. It's what I wanted as I can get 'spooked' by heart rate monitors and such. White Coat Syndrome can send my blood pressure right up and I can get a rash just thinking about my sensitive skin! 🥴 So it is only a guide for me to spot patterns and tweak accordingly.

But I lost my weight a few years ago now and am maintaining with its help. I still use it to log food as it helps me not to over eat. I don't overeat through hunger pangs anymore but I can through social pressures. If other people are drinking and eating and having portions of stuff which is over my own requirements I can start to match them over time if I'm not careful. I think it's what happened with my family meals a few years ago. I would dish myself a portion out that was as big as my husband and grown son. Both of who have far greater calorie requirements!

It's true in Bodybuilding circles 6 packs are achieved via dieting 85%. Exercise does the rest.
This idea if you go for a 30-minute stroll and voila you'll be fit and healthy is nonsense.

No - well I did once but can't really be arsed with it all. The wrist one gives a good enough pattern and tbh I can tell if my heart is working hard, super hard or just ticking away doing its thing.

Racing making me nervous too, but the post race buzz is very, very worth it.
The bimble runs are lovely, too.

@CharlotteBog, sounds like you've a good attitude. I, however, know I have a tendency to get over-competitive and self conscious around others. I also find myself pacing myself against them and then get nervous because I think then I am running beyond my ability. So I am bit of a lone runner. Takes all that out of the equation. I can just relax then. I find it meditative. 🙂

Some of top end Garmin watches are impressive but ludicrously expensive and you simply don't need all the data unless you are an elite athlete. I have an entry level Garmin watch that I use for rowing, tracks my heart rate, breathing, sleep patterns, calorie burn, VO2 max and a few other stats that give you a decent overal health picture. The chest strap heart rate monitor is worth buying as it is very accurate and does not 'drop off' like the wrist monitor does. It's good for accurately tracking UT2 training which is great for 'fat burning'.

OP: trust me on this. I've read a book.

Also OP: Carrots and almonds are bad.

No, they aren't unless you have food issues or are on some fad diet.

I think @OneTC is highlighting that the OP is not as wise as she is trying to make herself out to be.

Yep, OP is saying they've read and understood a book and is also of the idea that carrots and almonds are "bad"

Second part I think calls into question the first part of that statement

Thanks for the clarification.

Sarcasm: the use of irony to mock or convey contempt 😏

Thing is, I sure many posters would agree, that exercise is good in preventing many metabolic disorders and diseases. I'm pretty sure there are studies which confirm this.

So then, it does follow that if exercise promotes the metabolism (including the utilisation of body fat for energy) working effectively it would aid in weight loss.

Yes, maybe not exactly in a linear calories in versus calories out way because that very much depends on how healthy and efficient the metabolic processes of utilising stored body fat for energy are. Not everyone retrieves energy from fat when their glycogen stores are depleted. They might get an energy slump that is too severe to carry on before the mechanism for this kicks in. But with training, we gain better aerobic fitness which is all about being able to utilise energy efficiently. So then any deficit would mean fat is burnt more seamlessly when needed rather than having a resulting slump in energy.

I know there's the compensatory theory which asserts the body makes up by lowering the metabolic rate subsequently. However, I think this is mainly observed when people 'over train'. And overtraining is a pretty well observed phenomenon amongst athletes.

I think this might be a bit of a scientific discipline fight. The nutritionists against the sports scientists. I think we need a proper collaboration of the two to get further answers because I think both have the capacity to affect our bodies in various ways. Like anything though there are individual differences as we all have different thresholds which can change as we can change.

So carrots may be too sugary(?) for some people and almonds have a balance of fatty acids which is not optimum for some people's requirements. But then some people cannot tolerate milk very well or alcohol. Other people are fine with consuming any of these.

Personally, I eat will carrots, almonds, chocolate, small amount of UPFs you name it. But I know I wouldn't feel great eating just those things or them forming the majority of my diet. If you look at good nutrition it's about trying to get all the nutrients in within your energy requirements rather than what not to eat IMO. So it helps building your activity levels up as it gives more scope to do this,