CONFUSING MESSAGES ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS

If you’re confused about the best strategy for weight loss, it’s no surprise.  Despite voluminous research, there is no clear “best” approach.

Unfortunately, media messages contribute to the confusion.  Consider one recent article in published in the New York Times on May 4, 2016 “To Keep Obesity at Bay, Exercise May Trump Diet” by Gretchen Reynolds.  The title suggests that exercising is more effective at preventing weight gain than dieting, but this is not what the study showed.

The subject of this article was an animal study published in Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, a highly-regarded journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.  In this study, young normal-weight but obesity-prone rats were placed in one of three groups: exercise, calorie-restricted, or control (sedentary with normal diet). The study was designed so that dieting and exercising rats would lose the same amount of weight, enabling the researchers to compare the metabolic effects of weight loss from exercise vs. energy restriction.

Interestingly, the results were not clear-cut.  Blood sugar improved in the dieting rats while insulin resistance improved in the exercising rats.  Cholesterol levels improved in both groups, and both spent more time moving throughout the day.  Fat metabolism was increased in the exercising rats, a known result of aerobic training.

My take home points are the following:

  1. Read beyond the headlines.  This study was not designed to compare the effectiveness of diet and exercise for weight loss.
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  3. Weight loss improves health whether achieved by dieting or exercise.
  4. Physical activity improves health in ways beyond weight loss.
  5. Both physical activity and nutrition strategies are needed to effectively manage body weight and improve health.

 

Welly, Rebecca J., et al. “Comparison of Diet vs. Exercise on Metabolic Function & Gut Microbiota in Obese Rats.” Medicine and science in sports and exercise (2016).

 

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