The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[Mike]

I ran across this on REUTERS today. Seems someone outside of Medifast has figured out what Dr. Anderson has been saying all along.

No need to diet AND exercise to lose weight?

Thu Feb 22, 9:23 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study debunks the widely held belief that diet plus exercise is the most effective way to lose weight. Researchers report that dieting alone is just as effective as dieting plus exercise.

"For weight loss to occur, an individual needs to maintain a difference between the number of calories they consume everyday and the number of calories they burn through metabolism and physical activity," Dr. Leanne Redman of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explains in a press release.

"What we found was that it did not matter whether a reduction in calories was achieved through diet or burned everyday through exercise."

Thirty-five overweight but otherwise healthy adults -- 16 men and 19 women -- completed the 6-month study. Twelve were assigned to a diet-only group; they reduced their calorie intake by 25 percent. Twelve were assigned to diet plus exercise; they reduced their calorie intake by 12.5 percent and increased their exercise by 12.5 percent. The remaining 11 subjects made no significant diet or exercise changes.

Redman and colleagues found that the diet-only group and the diet plus exercise group lost roughly the same amount of weight, albeit by different means. They lost about 10 percent of their body weight, 24 percent of their fat mass and 27 percent of their abdominal "visceral" fat -- the deep internal fat linked to heart disease risk.

Therefore, if the goal is purely shedding pounds, diet or exercise will work, according to this study. However, as the researchers point out, regular exercise can improve aerobic fitness and lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

The study also found that exercise did little to tone specific areas of the body. Fat was reduced consistently across the whole body and not more in any one trouble spot.

"Our study then would indicate that weight loss cannot override the way in which any individual stores fat. Perhaps an apple will always be an apple, and a pear, a pear," Redman concludes.

This suggests that people are "genetically programmed for fat storage in a particular pattern and that this programming cannot be easily overcome by weight loss," the authors note in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2007.

[Seaside]

Gee, that is nice to know. I was feeling guilty about my lack of exercise (I have a gym membership after all) but there aren't enough hours in the day for me to get to the gym AND sleep, too.

This is very heartening! Thanks.

[Mike]

The concept with this (or any health management plan) is that the weight loss should come from diet (meaning what you eat - not a "diet"), and the maintenance comes from exercise. Thats why for the first 3 weeks you should either cut or reduce the exercise you are currently doing, and then slowly add it in.
Lose the weight, then maintain the loss.

[Seaside]

Thanks, Mike -- right now, I realize that the main battle is losing a huge amount of weight that piled on while my mind was seemingly elsewhere. Once I get to a healthy weight where I can exercise as I used to without risk of injury, I will work it into my schedule.

Right now, I am working one full time job, one part time job and going to school full time. I decided that being busy was not a good excuse for not taking care of myself and once and for all losing the weight that's holding me back from doing so many things that I want to do. But the thought of adding just one more thing to an already packed schedule was too daunting.

[horsey girl]

Surprise, surprise!

[DogMa]

Dr. Andersen would be the first to say that exercise is important, though. And not just for weight loss. The point of the program is supposed to be promoting good health, and exercise is hugely important for that. Even if you just take a 10-minute walk, it's a good idea to include some exercise in your day.

[Serendipity]

And, exercise has to become a habit for you. If you don't exercise at all during your weight loss phase, it will be harder to form the habit after.

[TonyR]

hmmm...then why have I been excercising to lose this 160 pounds in 9.5 months when I could have sat on my tush and lost 160 pounds in over a year?? JMHO

[nickieluv]

Well, I think if you take the study one step further and had a group that reduced calories by 25% AND exercised, then you'd see the weight loss benefits of exercise. It seems like they were only saying it's a numbers game, and you can either cut back calories a little and exercise or just cut back calories a lot. But of course if you reduce calories a great deal and do regular exercise, you are going to see faster results - as long as you keep things balanced.

Mike, thank you for saying that we diet to lose the weight, and exercise to maintain it. I'd been having that thought lately but didn't know if I was copping out. I'm all for taking a walk every day (when the weather is nice, of course) or parking the car farther away at the mall - but I was not up for 30 minutes of profuse sweating 5 days a week. I am hopeful that I will naturally become more active as the weight comes off - but if it doesn't work out that way, I know that I can add exercise into my life. I've done it before, just not routinely. This has taken the pressure off of me to perform in this way - and I can go back to Biki's mantra for as long as it takes for me to feel comfortable - 5/1/water, 5/1/water....

[Mike]

What this article said was that if you reduce your calories (such as using a plan like Medifast), you will lose weight just as much as if you reduced your calories by less and exercised to make up for what you didn't reduce the calories by.
The only reason I posted this was because there are many proponents of using exercise as the major method of losing weight. What Take Shape for Life proposes is to drastically reduce the calories first, for a major loss in weight, while maintaining muscle through proper nutrition. Then, after about 3 weeks, begin slowly adding in a little exercise to boost the weight loss (like walking, or light swimming). Then once you reach a healthy BMI, increase the exercise to maintain the weight loss.
Dr. Anderson explains this to people at the Super Saturday events. Never would anybody say to not exercise, thats just not healthy.

[Porky2]

Mike that article was music to my ears...lol! I am not a big fan of to much exercising especially since i had a stroke in 1997. I know that it's important however, and i do exercise for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. I'm all better now due to alot of rehabilitation. I'm glad there is that 3 week window between when we start this program, and when we are to start incorporating some exercise. I exercise just going back and forth to the bathroom a million times a day...lol!

Love,
Chynna

PS:By the way Mike, i registered all over again...now i'm Porky2 and not listed as a guest.