Exercise burns calories and helps you lose weight, is a very popular saying.
A new study that looked at how exercise affects our metabolism found that for every 100 calories we expect to burn as a result of exercise, most of us actually burn less than 72 calories. This means that simply closing your mouth is a more effective exercise than running.
Research shows that our body tends to automatically compensate for at least a quarter of the calories we expend during exercise, and undermines our efforts to lose weight through working out. The results also show that people with extra pounds suffer from caloric compensation, which makes weight loss through exercise even more elusive for them.
Yet research also suggests that calorie compensation varies from person to person, and that learning how a persons metabolism responds when he/she works out may be the key to optimizing exercise for weight control.
As we all know, in theory, exercise significantly helps with weight loss. As we move, our muscles contract and more energy is needed to activate ones body. The amount of energy required varies from person to person, but by and large in order to lose weight we need to burn more calories than we consume that day.
But this result rarely occurs. Quite a few past studies have found that most people who start a new workout program lose weight more slowly than expected based on the number of calories they burn during their workout, even if they strictly maintain their diet.
Then, using statistical models, the researchers were able to tell if the calories burned during an activity increased people's daily energy expenditure as expected, meaning if people burn relatively more calories as they move more.But researchers found they didnt tend to burn more calories.
The researchers concluded that exercise burns a few calories, period. They also said that to lose weight, you need to eat less.
But just before concluding, its important to remember that despite the data found in the present study, even people whose bodies compensate for 50% or more of the calories they expend during exercise will burn more calories a day than people who never leave the house.
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Exercise won't help you lose weight. Here's the disappointing reason why - The Jerusalem Post
