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Episode 2928:
John Gilbert challenges the argument that exercise hinders weight loss by triggering overeating, as presented in John Cloud's Time article. He highlights the importance of exercise beyond aesthetics, emphasizing its role in long-term health and chronic disease prevention. Rather than dismissing structured exercise, he advocates for a balanced approach that combines physical activity with scientifically backed strategies for weight management and overall well-being.
Read along with the original article(s) here: https://bengreenfieldlife.com/article/fat-loss-articles/why-exercise-wont-make-you-thin-part-ii/
Quotes to ponder:
"The number on the scale does not and should not equate to self-dignity."
"Very few people are able to maintain a healthy weight without regular physical activity, and those who do are still at high risk of chronic disease due to being sedentary."
"If this were the case, 'wouldn’t those who exercise the most be the fattest?' And of course, this is not the case.”
Episode references:
Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: https://health.gov/paguidelines
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[00:00:00] Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep? That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily, is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations aren't just comforting, they can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep.
[00:00:24] So, press play on Good Sleep Tonight because a good tomorrow starts with a good night's sleep. Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily. This is Optimal Health Daily, Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin, Part II by John Gilbert with BenGreenfieldLife.com. And I'm Dr. Neal, your host and narrator.
[00:00:49] This is where I read to you from some of the best health and fitness blogs on the web. Now, today's post is actually a guest post on Ben Greenfield's site. This post comes from John Gilbert, a wellness coach. And the reason it has part two in the title is because it's a rebuttal to a Time Magazine cover story titled, Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin. I love this because I've actually written to Time Magazine as well.
[00:01:15] Sometimes the information, especially the health information they present is very misleading. And so one of the reasons I really love this post is I've done this very thing. And I've written letters to the editor saying, uh, you want to be careful about saying this or that when it comes to nutrition and health. So, without further ado, let's hear today's post as we optimize your life.
[00:01:41] Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin, Part II by John Gilbert with BenGreenfieldLife.com. The author of the Time Magazine article makes a few important points. Particularly, I enjoy his perception of exercise transcending the gym. Exercise, or more specifically in the author's view, physical activity, can occur anywhere and is often singularly thought of of taking place inside of a gym. Raising the awareness of this perspective is most definitely significant.
[00:02:11] The author also discusses how people will exercise to eat more food than they otherwise could without gaining weight. The awareness of this approach to exercise is also significant. Though these points are important, the confusion the article is likely to create in the public is a much greater negative than the positive points in the article. The article seems to perpetuate an already confused public as to what exercise physiologically does for the body.
[00:02:38] For example, he mentions, quote-unquote, fat turning into muscle and quite blatantly makes the enormous amount of research on exercising to improve a better quality of life quite insignificant. However, it could also be argued that his article perpetuates people to think about exercise more in the realm of the health benefits since he is encouraging people to move more, move more often, and without the focus on just aesthetics and weight loss.
[00:03:05] Yet, a more likely conclusion that can be made is that him de-emphasizing the health benefits of exercise may set people up for failure. This is because research demonstrates that those who exercise primarily for the health benefits as opposed to aesthetic benefits will sustain an active lifestyle longer.
[00:03:25] No matter how the article is argued to be interpreted, undeniably, the main confusion of the article resides in the flawed, in common sense and scientific evidence, premise of exercise preventing weight loss via stimulation of overeating. If this were the case, and I'll quote the American College of Sports Medicine, wouldn't those who exercise the most be the fattest? And of course, this is not the case. In attempts to provide a solution to the recommended 60 to 90 minutes of exercise per day,
[00:03:55] the author proposes very few details about increasing overall physical activity throughout the day. Without objective recommendations, the extremes of interpretation could lead people to think they were doing what they needed to lose weight, but without success and leaving them even more confused. If there's going to be a proposal of low-intensity physical activity being more important for weight control rather than a specific exercise routine, this needs to be explained beyond just generalities.
[00:04:23] Since confusion is detrimental to the public's accurate education on healthy living, so is the timing at which the article is released. This article comes at a time, no pun intended, when primary prevention efforts such as exercise need to be more than ever with the rise of so many chronic diseases. The article also undermines the momentum of a healthy lifestyle, including exercise. People need to be careful about taking this article at its face value.
[00:04:51] Hopefully, the inaccuracies in this article will spur an educated response from those in the mainstream health and fitness community. Already, those in professional and academic communities have responded to the Time Magazine article. An August 10 message to the American College of Sports Medicine members alerted them to the issue and invited them to join the campaign. Tools provided included a list of message points and a draft letter to the editor for members to adapt and send to local media. Many have done so.
[00:05:20] Others have chosen to blog on the issue or send out tweets on Twitter, add information to their Facebook pages, or otherwise communicate the importance of healthy lifestyles based on science and medicine. So you can see the American College of Sports Medicine rallied its troops in response to this article. A more succinct and well-educated response comes from Jim Whitehead, the executive vice president of the American College of Sports Medicine. And I quote,
[00:06:44] The bottom line is this.
[00:07:56] To summarize, I completely agree that the Time Magazine article was very misleading. We know from lots and lots of data that when people incorporate a regular physical activity routine, some sort of exercise that's consistent, it does in fact help them not only lose weight, but keep the weight off. And this is from lots and lots of really good data over the long term, studying people who have lost weight and kept it off, for example, for more than two years.
[00:08:24] That's hard to do in research. And it's amazing to me that in the Time Magazine article, they said fat turns into muscle. That is a huge myth, and it's physiologically not possible. Fat cells are one type of cell. Muscle cells are a different type of cell. Fat cells do not become muscle and vice versa. Unless you're from the planet Krypton or one of the mutants from the X-Men series, this is probably not going to happen for you. In fact, let me put it another way.
[00:08:54] When you exercise, does fat turn into muscle? No. Muscle, therefore, does not turn into fat when you don't exercise. What happens instead is your muscles get smaller, but they won't turn into fat. At the same time, your body might accumulate more fat, but again, one cell doesn't become and transform into another. So my bottom line, if you're thinking about losing weight, if you want to maintain your weight,
[00:09:20] definitely incorporate some physical activity or exercise into your daily routine, or at least make it as consistent as possible if it's not every day. All right, that'll do it for today. I hope you have a great rest of your Monday. I'll be back here tomorrow, as always, where your optimal life awaits. All right, great. Thank you.