Exercise does not result in significant weight loss

Jan 5 2010

Constantly linking exercise with weight loss is causing more people to fail at reaching their goals, claims bariatric physician Dr. Sasson "Dr. Sass" Moulavi, M.D. Exercise is ideal for maintaining weight once goals are met, but is usually counterproductive in trying to lose weight.

"I've seen far better results from patients that strictly follow a lifestyle program than those that work to incorporate exercise into their weight loss regime," Dr. Sass explains. "When you exercise, your body certainly burns calories, but it also creates hunger and compensates with food. Counterproductive to what you're trying to achieve, I recommend patients get the weight off safely, quickly and then focus on toning and exercising as a tool to maintain."

In the August 9, 2009 issue of Time Magazine, the cover story, "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin," explains how that on the average, women in a study by Dr. Timothy Church lost weight, but those that exercised did not lose significantly more weight than the control subjects. The article also mentions the 2008 International Journal of Obesity published paper by Gortmaker and Sonneville of Children's Hospital Boston, noting that during their 18-month study of 538 students, "when the kids start to exercise, they end up eating more -- not just a little more, but an average of 100 calories more than they had just burned."

Dr. Sass identifies the problem being that when people exercise, they burn calories and feel justified in eating a little more here and there. Unfortunately, instead, they are sabotaging their efforts usually by eating more calories than they burned. He recommends eating healthy, nutritious foods, getting the weight off and then focusing on an exercise routine to keep it off.