21 Jun Why Exercise Alone Can Cause Weight Gain

A patient recently came into the office perplexed about why he was not losing weight.  He said that he had been walking for 30 minutes a day three times a week for the last few weeks and had not lost a pound.  Our scales in fact showed that he had gained a few pounds.  Does this sound familiar?  I hear this story all the time.

After more questioning, I quickly found the problem.  He loves Mexican food and Margaritas.  Occasionally those are fine.  He had been eating large amounts of Mexican food several times a week.  I was actually surprised he had not gained more weight than he did.

Have you ever followed this path?  If you have, you know how unproductive it is.  Exercise can actually increase your appetite.  If you are not intentional about reducing your calories, you may actually see your weight increase.

Multiple clinical trials have shown that moderate exercise, without calorie restriction, will not cause significant weight loss.  Exercise will help you keep the weight off.  Let’s repeat that.  Exercise will help you keep weight off, but will not cause significant weight loss.  The other interesting point is that studies show if you don’t exercise you will gain the weight back.  It takes both diet and exercise to lose weight and keep it off.  It is not diet vs. exercise. It is not one or the other.  It is both and.

What about well trained athletes?  They eat a ton of food and stay trim.  Elite athletes are the exception.  Their workouts are much more intense and longer than anything a normal individual can do.  A friend of mine swam for Vanderbilt in college.  Just to maintain his weight he ate 5,000-6,000 calories a day, but he swam 4-5 hours every day.  Elite cyclists in the Tour de France will consume over 10,000 calories on a hard mountain stage.

If you want to lose weight that way, be my guest, but not many of us can. The good news is you don’t need to attempt such an herculean effort.  A 175 lb person walking for 30 minutes at a 2mph pace will burn approximately 100 calories.  That may not sound very helpful, but with a well crafted, sensible diet that person will have success.

The real answer to weight loss is in calorie reduction.  You don’t need to reduce calories as much as you may think.  Start by reducing your portions by 1/3.  If you don’t lose weight, reduce by another 100-200 cal/day.  Keep doing so until you find a level that works.  Most women should not drop below 1200 cal/day.  Most men should not drop below 1500cal/day.

Your goal should be to lose approximately 1 pound a week.  If severely overweight shoot for 2 pounds a week.  Slow but sure wins the game.  Do not try to lose all the weight you gained over the last 20 years in the next 2 weeks.

Exercise for heart benefits.  Exercise for stress reduction benefits.  Exercise to help creativity.  Exercise to help memory.  Exercise to help you keep weight off.  Don’t exercise to lose weight.

Here’s to the Journey!