Is Exercise Worth Your Time: Revisited

YES!  Of course exercise is worth your time.   It seems that I wasn’t the only one affected by this Time article.  Not only did I write about it here, but there have been several other ( 1, 2 ) responses by blogs that are much more popular than this one, including two posts by fellow Fitness Health Network blogger,  Mr. Low Body Fat.  I thought that I would write a little bit more about my exercise philosophy because maybe I didn’t make myself clear in last week’s post.
So again, let me be perfectly clear:

• I THINK EXERCISE IS AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF A HEALTHY LIFE!
• I do not think that exercise is the main reason why I have been able to lose weight
• The best way to lose weight is to count every single calorie you put in your mouth and maintain a 500 calorie deficit per day
• Exercise makes you a fitter, healthier, and happier person
• Unless you are an endurance athlete who exercises for multiple hours per day, exercise will not significantly help you to decrease your weight
• I EXERCISE BECAUSE IT MAKES ME FEEL GOOD

I wanted to talk about the links above briefly because I think they both bring up some good points about the article.  First of all, remember that every author uses the research that they conduct to shift their readers’ opinions in favor of their point of view.  It’s our job as educated readers to distill what we’re reading and accept or refute the point of the article.  I did not want to come across as an “anti-exerciser” after last week’s post.  But I did want to agree with the Time article’s point that said exercise is not the magic pill that can cure the obesity problem in America.  I didn’t think it was a bad article.  In fact, it’s made me, and lots of others, think more about the role of exercise in our lives.  That has to be a good thing, right?

The number 1 link above does a good job of summarizing the Time article and it also provides some pretty useful, but basic, information for those of us who are primarily concerned with fat loss.  I did have a problem with the initial bashing of  John Cloud (the Time author) for his sensationalism, and lines  “that seem more designed to attract attention and readers than [to provide] information.”  But once I got past that, I was alright with the information that Dean Anderson provided.

I found the number 2 link above to be a much better piece.  With a subtitle that reads, “Why Time Magazine is wrong about working out,” I was definitely intrigued.  This article does a much better job of explaining the research study that the Time article was based on (something that even the Time article didn’t do a particularly good job with).  It also does a pretty good job of explaining the research study’s shortcomings.  For example, the caloric intake of each test subject wasn’t actually measured by the researchers.  Instead, the subjects filled out a food diary that recorded their intakes.  This is a huge flaw!  Researchers shouldn’t be relying on people who may have warped perceptions of their food intake to accurately report what their calorie consumptions are.  That just doesn’t make any sense to me.

The thing that I liked the most about this second rebuttal to Time’s piece however, was the practical advice given regarding peoples’ individual responses to diet and exercise as well as the other health benefits of exercise.  So let’s talk about those for a bit.

First, everybody does respond to diet and exercise in a different manner. I’m sure that exercise makes some people hungrier while it suppresses the appetite of others.  I’m also sure that after exercise some people feel like they can reward themselves and eat junk food while others realize that it might not be such a good idea.  We are all different and we have to do what works for us.  If your number one health priority is to lose weight, but strenuous exercise makes you feel hungrier or makes you feel entitled to reward yourself with food then don’t do strenuous exercise.  Please stay active, but don’t let exercise derail your top priority!

Next, exercise has been shown to protect muscle! People who lose weight by diet alone lose a higher percentage of their weight from muscle than people who lose weight by diet combined with an exercise program that utilizing both cardio and weight training.  It’s been shown that resistance training doesn’t actually improve weight loss, but it does improve fat loss!  Isn’t that what most of us are trying to achieve?

Finally, exercise may target belly fat. I’ve noticed this first hand.  Since I’ve been exercising and losing weight, my lower body is much firmer and toned, my waist is 4 inches smaller, and my pants all fit me much better than they used to.  For most of us, at least a small part of the reason we’re trying to lose weight is because we want to look better.  Exercise helps with that, so I say go for it!

I hope this post has helped to clarify my opinions regarding exercise.  I don’t think this topic is going away any time soon, but at least now we all know where I’m coming from.