As the new year began, millions of Americans resolved to lose weight and to get into better physical shape. Many plan to do so by working out.
Eating healthier and losing weight was the top resolution in 2018. That was followed fairly closely by resolutions to work out to get in shape.
But an extensive review of research on weight loss found that exercising won’t really help you lose weight. To lose weight, you must eat less, especially less sugary, processed food.
To be clear, exercise has many benefits other than weight loss, so there are many good reasons to get moving or stay moving and to increase the intensity and frequency of your workouts.
Exercise reduces the risk of heart attacks, stroke and diabete. It lowers blood pressure and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Exercise also can be an important component of weight maintenance after losing weight.
More than 70 percent of American adults are overweight, with nearly 40 percent of them considered obese. That’s about one-third more than were obese in 2000. The highest prevalence of obesity was among women between ages 40 and 59, and obesity rates are higher among black women.
Childhood obesity rates also are on the rise.
In Maine, 30 percent of adults were considered obese in 2016, according to figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While that is below the national average, it is the highest rate in New England.
Obesity accounts for more than 20 percent of annual health care spending in the United States, nearly $200 billion a year. And those costs are expected to rise as obesity rates increase.
So, what to do? Going to the gym can help, a little. But, to really lose weight, we need to eat less. Exercise accounts for between 10 percent and 30 percent of the energy most people burn each day. All of that energy comes from food and drink. Because most of us can’t or don’t burn enough calories each day to reduce our weight, we must consume fewer calories.
Julia Belluz of Vox spoke to 20 nutrition researchers. They all had the same message. “Every reliable expert I’ve ever spoken to on weight loss says the most important thing a person can do is to limit calories in a way they like and can sustain, and focus on eating healthfully.”
Eating healthfully means consuming more fruits and vegetables and fewer sugary and processed foods.
The message is deceptively — and frustratingly — simple. Every year, Americans spend $60 billion on special diets, gym memberships, weight loss groups and other methods and equipment in hopes of shedding pounds.
So, why is there so much emphasis, including from the federal government, on promoting exercise over dietary changes? Researchers blame the food and beverage industry, which has a stake in convincing Americans that exercising is a top contributor to weight loss. The New York Times, for example, reported that Coca-Cola funded research to emphasize lack of exercise over an unhealthy diet as a cause of obesity. The company’s top scientist stepped down and the University of Colorado returned a $1 million grant to the company after the revelations.
President Donald Trump’s CDC director, Brenda Fitzgerald, partnered with Coke to promote physical activity in Georgia schools when she was that state’s public health director. The program did not address healthy dietary choices, such as drinking less soda.
With industry working against them, it is no surprise that Americans are confused about exercise and weight loss.
Here’s succinct advice from the British Journal of Sports Medicine: “You cannot outrun a bad diet.”
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