Many weight-loss regimes include a lot of exercise as part of the program. And many 'health practitioners' advise doing some kind of exercise to lose weight. The myth that exercise is 'good for you' is very much ingrained in our culture, yet the latest research is clearly pointing the finger at exercise as the culprit for much ill-health and millions of deaths world-wide (more about this later). Here briefly is why exercise actually prevents weight loss, and we will examine these issues in more detail in the pages that follow:
1. Exercise robs the body of valuable vitamins and minerals (the loss is very significant). This in turn causes malnourishment. You cannot lose surplus body weight in a sustained or healthy manner if you are malnourished. If you do this, you will feel ill and lose all motivation to lose weight.
2. Exercise quickly drains your muscles (and liver) of energy, leaving you exhausted, and feeling weak and hungry. As a result, you will inevitably eat food (at some point) following exercise, and the body will use energy from the food you eat (instead of using surplus body fat) to replenish muscle energy. In doing so, no surplus body fat will be lost because, to replenish muscle energy, the body always gives priority to taking energy from the food you eat rather than taking it from body fat.
3. Exercise does not burn fat; it only uses up muscle energy (known as 'glycogen'). Hence, doing exercise will not get rid of surplus body fat. The firmer the muscles, the greater their capacity to store energy. Firm muscles in the arms and legs (the body's main 'energy warehouse') help you lose body fat because they will hold more energy than flabby muscles. By holding more energy in the muscles and by being physically active (rather than doing exercise) the body will be able to replenish lost energy from body fat rather than from the food you eat. Exercise compels you to eat/drink to replace lost energy. Physical activity does not compel you to eat/drink to replace lost energy, thus giving the body a chance to replace lost energy from stored body fat.
4. Exercise plays havoc with the body's hormones, adversely affecting your emotional state, motivation, hunger, and energy levels, basically affecting how you work, rest, and play. This all conspires to make you overeat and prevent you from losing weight in a healthy and permanent fashion.
5. Exercise increases the level of cortisol in the blood as a result of the physical stress imposed on the body. Even at mild or moderates levels of exercise, it is known that this increases the amount of cortisol in the bloodstream, and this in turn increases obesity:
"Sustained exercise, even in a thermally comfortable environment, induces a larger hormonal response than moderate thermal stress. With moderate exercise, increases in leukocyte numbers are related mainly to plasma norepinephrine concentrations, but with more intense exercise epinephrine concentrations assume a major importance. As exercise continues, plasma Cortisol levels also rise." Source: I. Brenner, et al, Stress Hormones and the Immunological Responses to Heat and Exercise, J Sports Med 1998; 19(2): 130-143.
"Collectively, the cortisol findings support the view that moderate to high intensity exercise provokes increases in circulating cortisol levels." Source: Hill EE, et al, Exercise and circulating cortisol levels: the intensity threshold effect, J Endocrinol Invest. 2008 Jul; 31(7):587-91.
"Cortisol affects fat distribution by causing fat to be stored centrally—around the organs. Cortisol exposure can increase visceral fat—the fat surrounding the organs—in animals." Source: Elissa Epel, et al, Stress May Cause Excess Abdominal Fat In Otherwise Slender Women, Psychosomatic Medicine, Sept. 2012.
When cortisol in the blood rises, this has the direct effect of increasing abdominal fat. This is why athletes and those who exercise regularly are much more prone to being overweight, particularly around the stomach, hips and thighs. It is ironic that most people who go running do so to be slim, yet that same exercise only serves to make them fatter.
Worse still is the fact that the surplus body fat gained from exercise is of the worst kind. The higher levels of cortisol gained from exercise pre-dispose the body to store fat around the midriff. In women this means around the waist, hips and thighs. In men it means around the abdomen, giving men a pot belly or ‘spare tire’. This type of surplus body fat is particularly unhealthy and very difficult to get rid of.
"One of the interesting but ‘paradoxical’ observations in my clinical practice is the rather large number of patients presenting with severe obesity, who have histories of successful competitive sports careers." Source: - Dr. Arya Sharma, MD/PhD, FRCPC, Prof. of Medicine & Chair in Obesity Research and Management at the University of Alberta, Canada, www.drsharma.ca.
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"The heights and weights of 1,749 Special Olympics athlete volunteers participating in the Special Olympics Games in 1999 and 2001 were measured, and body mass index (BMI) was computed...adult athletes from the United States were at least 3.1 times more likely to be overweight or obese compared with their non-US counterparts. The risk of obesity in US Special Olympic athletes parallels the prevalence of obesity in the general US population." Source: Harris N, et al, Prevalence of obesity in International Special Olympic athletes as determined by body mass index, J Am Diet Assoc. 2003 Feb;103(2):235-7.
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"In contrast to public beliefs, there are studies showing the higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome or obesity among athletes comparing with normal population which make athletes more prone to develop cardiovascular disorders." Source: Behzad Farahani, Prevalence of Different Electrocardiographic Patterns in Iranian Athletes, Acta Medica Iranica, Vol. 50, No. 8 (2012).
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"I used to do a lot of exercise but in fact in can make us fat. Exercise does not work for weight loss. Indeed, we’re designed to NOT lose weight when we exercise. On top of all this, exercise weakens us. It exhausts the brain’s self-control 'muscle' which can mean we’ll give in to a crappy meal after a big workout or get a bit lax with our incidental exercise. We drive to the shops to buy a packet of Clinkers, instead of walking there because we’re royally buggered – both physically and mentally. Indeed, we’re designed to NOT lose weight when we exercise. Humans are born to stroll, but gentle exercise for 30 minutes – just 30 minutes – works. Keep it short and sweet". Source: Sarah Wilson, Australian TV presenter, wellness-coach, journalist, and media consultant, sarahwilson.com.au.
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It is not being suggested that all those who exercise necessarily become overweight. Nor is it being suggested that you specifically put on surplus weight while exercising. But from the evidence it is clear that exercise significantly increases the tendency to accumulate surplus body fat during your life, whether it is while exercising or when no longer exercising. When you exercise regularly you are setting yourself up for a life-long battle with body weight.
You may see professional athletes (or just regular people) who do a lot of exercise and you may think that they look super fit and healthy, and do not look overweight. But such people may look fit and healthy because they are young and/or because they follow a healthy lifestyle such as eating a nutritious diet, not smoking, and so on. They look fit and healthy in spite of doing exercise, and when you see such people you are looking at bodies that are on the road to clogged arteries, much illness, and a future battle with surplus bodyweight.
It is interesting to note that many top athletes become obese soon after 'retiring'. Here are some examples (credit acknowledgment, www.businessinsider.com):
Mike Tysen, the boxer, then and now:
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Ronaldo, the footballer, then and now:
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John Kruk, baseball player, then and now:
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And any study of past footballers shows most of them to be fat. Here are a few examples:
The legendary Romanian footballer Gheorghe Hagi. He was one of the best
attacking midfielders in Europe during the 1980s and 1990s and is considered
the greatest Romanian footballer of all time (Wikipedia).
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Neville Southall, world-class goalkeeper who in his prime was Lithe and cat-like.
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Michael Keane had his contract terminated by the Irish Eircom Premier League for being too fat.
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