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Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
TIME ^ | Aug. 09, 2009 | By John Cloud

Posted on 08/17/2009 10:30:29 AM PDT by BellStar

As I write this, tomorrow is Tuesday, which is a cardio day. I'll spend five minutes warming up on the VersaClimber, a towering machine that requires you to move your arms and legs simultaneously. Then I'll do 30 minutes on a stair mill. On Wednesday a personal trainer will work me like a farm animal for an hour, sometimes to the point that I am dizzy — an abuse for which I pay as much as I spend on groceries in a week. Thursday is "body wedge" class, which involves another exercise contraption, this one a large foam wedge from which I will push myself up in various hateful ways for an hour. Friday will bring a 5.5-mile run, the extra half-mile my grueling expiation of any gastronomical indulgences during the week.

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: food; loss; weight
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To: RobRoy
Rush Limbaugh said it best when he was dieting, and I paraphrase: You don’t lose weight by exercising. You lose weight by consuming fewer calories than your body burns.

Yes. Your body burns more calories when you exercise AND when you eat less.

21 posted on 08/17/2009 10:51:54 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: staytrue

That’s Olympic Athlete training...whole different ballgame. Not to mention his age! (Yes, I’m jealous!)


22 posted on 08/17/2009 10:52:25 AM PDT by tsmith130
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To: BellStar
This should not even be a question. Its the energy equation, plain and simple. Energy in vs energy out. Exercise by itself wont do it if you continue gorging yourself.

Weight loss is best achieved by restricting calories, plain and simple. For ALOT of people, this alone would go far in making them healthier, simply because so many people are obese.

Exercise is great, however, in that it adds its own benefits, and if you REALLY want to change your shape, you need to do some kind of resistance exercise to shape, tone, and grow the muscles.

23 posted on 08/17/2009 10:53:17 AM PDT by Paradox (ObamaCare = Logan's Run ; There is no Sanctuary!)
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To: mysterio
Exercise and eating less will. I'm living proof.

As am I! 110 lbs. since October 2007! Diet is ABSOLUTELY THE #1 problem with the obesity epidemic, but eating healthier is only part of the equation. With exercise added to the mix, that fat loss is catalyzed ten-fold, and you don't get into the "I'm eating rabbit food but not losing weight" mentality and slip back into bad habits.

If two people cut their diets back to lean meats, lots of veggies and fruit, healthy fats, and low to no carbohydrates, they'll lose weight at a constant rate. If one of those people exercises for 30 minutes a day (walking around the block with the dog, swimming, riding a bike), they'll lose weight MUCH faster, and the person doing diet-only will look at them and think, "Gee, this doesn't work for me, I'm ordering General Tso's chicken tonight! Woe is me!"

I only know this, because I struggled for 15 years trying to lose weight with exercise alone, and I can attest that until I stopped eating 1 large cheese pizza every week, a gallon of ice cream, three to six twelve packs of ultra light beer a week, etc., I didn't shed a single pound. And sure, I chalked up the weight gain to muscle mass but the mirror tells the true story. B-cup man boobs and a 46 inch waist trimmed to no man boobs and a 38 inch waist... those are my trophies.

24 posted on 08/17/2009 10:53:34 AM PDT by rarestia ("One man with a gun can control 100 without one." - Lenin / MOLWN LABE!)
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To: FreeReign

that’s about 2.7 miles/day, correct?


25 posted on 08/17/2009 10:53:36 AM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
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To: BellStar

It doesn’t matter what I eat or don’t eat. If I don’t exercise, I blow up like a balloon, not a look that I like. When I broke my foot last year I gained 15 pounds and I had to up the exercise to get rid of it as soon as it healed. It’s like brushing your teeth, you just have to do it.


26 posted on 08/17/2009 10:54:11 AM PDT by La Lydia
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To: staytrue

yeah, and he burns at least 12,000/day. most of us burn about a 10th of that i would say.


27 posted on 08/17/2009 10:54:27 AM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
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To: thefactor
that’s about 2.7 miles/day, correct?

I run about 6.5 miles three times a week. I ws up around 7.0 miles three times a week but I'm getting old.

28 posted on 08/17/2009 10:56:05 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: Free Vulcan

My excercise/diet routine:

1) Hershel Walker workout—5,000 pushups a week in sets of 80

2) 30 miles a week at a 10:50 clip

3) 9 hours on the elliptcal machine

4) 1/2 hour of daily stretching

5) various weight training throughout the week

I love to excercise and look forward to it DAILY!!

Diet:

1) lean meats,fruits, and veggies

2) Less ingredeints the better

3) I avoid starchy carbs

4) ...and I take a two meals a week and eat whatever the hell I am craving.

However, according to the BMI charts,I measure a 25 which makes me overweight...


29 posted on 08/17/2009 10:56:32 AM PDT by Le Chien Rouge
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To: staytrue

The real lesson from the Michael Phelps diet is why athletes get fat 5 minutes after they retire. Unless he’s very studious he’s going to keep eating like that after he hangs up the trunks, and gain about 20 pounds a month.


30 posted on 08/17/2009 10:58:51 AM PDT by discostu (Somehow mister reliable was not where he was supposed to be)
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To: BellStar

It must be different for different people. Years ago, I taught aerobic dance 5 days a week. I ate whatever I wanted, and I kept my weight at 117 with 17% body fat. Literally, I ate ANYTHING in ANY amount. My diet was terrible. I quit teaching aerobics and stopped exercising. My weight ballooned. I have lost weight in years since then dieting, but it’s difficult to keep off.
I think it’s likely a combination, and calories do matter, however metabolisms are so different that some people CAN eat more calories than others and not gain the same amount of weight.
Light exercise probably doesn’t help much, for most people (altho it certainly doesn’t hurt).


31 posted on 08/17/2009 10:59:29 AM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: rarestia
I have also lost around 110. From about a 40 waist to 32.

I'll admit the maintenance phase has been the most challenging. But if I can help it, I'll never be fat again. I weigh daily and keep a public food diary. Helps a lot, and allows me to make my food choices for the day pretty effectively. I give myself a five pound range. If I'm at the bottom of that range, there's a good chance that will be the day I go buy a hamburger.

Like many Americans, I like fast food WAY too much. But everything in moderation, I suppose.
32 posted on 08/17/2009 10:59:54 AM PDT by mysterio
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To: FreeReign
i train other ways. my knees/shins/calves couldnt take all that pavement running.

i do plyometrics/kenpo/yoga as well as lacrosse leagues to keep my cardio up.

diet is extremely important though. when i eat like crap, i can see it.

33 posted on 08/17/2009 11:03:01 AM PDT by thefactor (yes, as a matter of fact, i DID only read the excerpt)
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To: tsmith130

According to the NY Post, the Olympic swimming sensation eats... 12,000 calories per day.

Here’s what a days food intake looks like:

...three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.
He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread - capping off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs - what he needs to give him plenty of energy for his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen - with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza.

Apparently he “washes all that down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks


34 posted on 08/17/2009 11:03:38 AM PDT by staytrue
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To: BellStar

Fat doesn’t start to burn off fat until you have been working hard for about 3 hours. That is when your sugar reserves are gone. Watch “The Biggest Loser” on TV and you will see them working their butts off (literally) as they burn 6000-7000 Calories a day but take in only 1500.


35 posted on 08/17/2009 11:04:18 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Obamacare: all the efficiency of the DMV and all the compassion of the IRS.)
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To: BellStar

I combine exercise with eating and drinking. Lifting the donuts to my mouth and chewing is a lot of work. Also, always keep your beer glass full so that you lift more on each swig.


36 posted on 08/17/2009 11:04:29 AM PDT by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: Brett66

It all depends on knowing what your body’s metabolic rate
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

How do you measure metabolic rate?


37 posted on 08/17/2009 11:09:07 AM PDT by wintertime (People are not stupid! Good ideas win!)
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To: thefactor
i train other ways. my knees/shins/calves couldnt take all that pavement running. i do plyometrics/kenpo/yoga as well as lacrosse leagues to keep my cardio up. diet is extremely important though. when i eat like crap, i can see it.

Yes diet is important. I would say it's half the battle.

38 posted on 08/17/2009 11:13:00 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: staytrue
five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen

There's the money line...and that's what I meant by Olympic Athlete TRAINING. I'll will give you that it seems like an unorthodox diet, but given the results, who am I to argue with it?

39 posted on 08/17/2009 11:14:48 AM PDT by tsmith130
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Fat doesn’t start to burn off fat until you have been working hard for about 3 hours

Uh...I'm not sure where you got that notion but it's wrong.

40 posted on 08/17/2009 11:16:31 AM PDT by tsmith130
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