EXERCISE - THE BIGGEST LOSER?

Learn the right ‘weigh’ to get fit.

Share this article:

When it comes to losing weight, we wish there were an easier way. From Weight Watchers to Atkins, the P90X home fitness training system to vibration plate machines, everybody seems to think they have the answer to your weight woes.

Of course, you can’t talk about losing weight without discussing exercise. And since exercise makes you feel good and look good, we can all agree it helps you shed those pounds, right?

Well, it’s a little more complicated than that. The issue of exercising to lose weight has become, for lack of a more clever word, a weighty topic. Does it or does it not make you thin? We let the experts weigh in (again with the pun) on the truth about exercise and weight loss.

The experts:

TIMOTHY CHURCH, MD, MPH, PhD
Professor and director of the Laboratory of Preventive Medicine at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.

JOY BAUER, RD
Founder of Joy Bauer Nutrition Centers, nutrition/health expert for the Today show

GERALD ENDRESS
Exercise physiologist and director of fitness services at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center

ELIZABETH RATCHFORD, MD
Vascular medicine specialist, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Vascular Medicine at Johns Hopkins University Medical School

JARED FOGLE
The Subway Guy

Does exercise help us lose weight?
BAUER: In theory, it should. Exercise clearly enables the body to burn calories, but alone it rarely does the trick. We simply don’t burn as many calories as we think. For instance, a 1-mile walk burns approximately 80 calories, which is equal to just one slice of bread. And let’s say you walked 4 miles, or about an hour, and you burned 320 calories. A handful of trail mix can set you well over 500 calories. It takes you a minute to gobble food and a whole hour to burn it off.

FOGLE: My first initial weight loss was just based on changing my eating habits. I had weighed more than 420 pounds, so it was hard for me to move and get off the couch, let alone exercise. So by drastically changing my eating habits, I lost 100 pounds in about three months. I was then able to move better, walk without being out of breath and with no back pain. I started off at a slow pace—about a half-hour every day—and tried to get faster and faster each day. I’ve found for keeping the weight off, though, exercise is crucial. Now I exercise on a regular basis. I went from just walking to going to the gym and doing weights.

What’s the right way to lose weight then?
RATCHFORD: Shy away from the word diet. To adopt a healthier lifestyle and healthier way of eating is not something you do for a month, or else you will just gain the weight that you lost. Instead, you should aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week through a combination of healthy foods, keeping track of how much you’re eating in a food diary and increasing activity level.

BAUER: You should eat on schedule and eat every four to five hours, with some kind of protein in each meal to help you stay fuller longer.

CHURCH: You want to cut 500 to 1,000 calories a day through your diet and exercise. Aim to get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day five days a week, and over time build up your routine to 45–60 minutes.

Read the rest of our experts’ recommendations and opinions on exercise and nutrition in the January/February 2010 issue of SOBeFiT Magazine.