The Myth of Moderate Exercise

Mostly right title, completely wrong conclusion.

The article starts off on the right track pointing out how terribly inefficient "exercise" is for weight loss:

"Obesity experts agree that daily exercise is essential for good health, but whether it can successfully lead to long-term weight loss is a question of much debate. What has become increasingly clear, however, is that the conventionally accepted advice - 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity most days of the week - is probably insufficient to spur any real change in a person's body weight. A study published July 28 in the Archives of Internal Medicine adds to the burgeoning scientific consensus: when it comes to exercise for weight loss, more is better. It suggests that obese people would have to exercise at least an hour at a time to see any significant difference in their weight."

Then explains how very starved these fat people were by the cruel researchers, aka experts:

"The study, led by John Jakicic at the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, followed nearly 200 overweight or obese women ages 21 to 45 through a two-year weight-loss program. The women were given free treadmills to use at home, regular group meetings and telephone pep talks to help keep them on track. Participants were also asked to restrict their food intake to between 1,200 and 1,500 calories per day, and were randomized to one of four physical activity intervention groups based on energy expenditure (either 1,000 calories or 2,000 calories burned per week) and exercise intensity (high vs. moderate). By the end of the 24-month intervention, the women who managed to lose at least 10% of their starting body weight (which was, on average, about 193 lbs.) - and keep it off - were exercising twice as long as health authorities typically recommend and expending more than twice as many calories through exercise as women who had no change in body weight. The biggest weight losers were active a full 68 minutes a day, five days a week (about 55 minutes a day more than they had been before the trial began), burning an extra 1,848 calories a week."

These numbers work out to between 914.29 and 1357.14 Calories per day.

These intakes are between fewer Calories than people in Dachau were fed and the intake of sedentary persons in Western Netherlands when the Nazis were interested in causing real pain - and, in fact, did, with much illness to boot.

These are also the numbers of the IMHO nutritionally homicidal sick care, diet, Big Pharma, etc., industries and their poster children.

Then the article goes way nutty, which is conventional and usual, demonstrating total ignorance on the part of the writer, editor, magazine and researcher without question:

"Still, the underlying question remains: are diet and exercise a reliable cure for obesity? Modern-day obesity researchers are skeptical - achieving thinness, they say, is not simply a matter of willpower. Research suggests that weight may largely be regulated by biology, which helps determine the body's "set point," a weight range of about 10 lbs. to 20 lbs. that the body tries hard to defend...

Jakicic, in fact, seems heartened by his findings. "I think the beauty of this study is that we now have a target" - a better idea of how much exercise is needed for weight maintenance. There is, of course, some variation in how people respond. Some of the study participants fared well with less exercise than the additional 275 minutes per week (about 55 minutes per day, five days a week) that the study's author now recommends for weight maintenance. Others needed more. But the keys to success, according to Jakicic, were embracing the weight-loss program fully, and finding a way around the daily obstacles to exercising - that's something he says many of his participants were able to achieve, regardless of their socioeconomic group. So, if you're aiming to lose weight and keep it off, his message is clear: don't slack off."

There is no "target."

There is only going farther along the path of wrong.

Exercise is and always will be a terribly inefficient way to lose weight.