American College of Sports Medicine Responds to Time Magazine article

My friend Anthony Semone informed me the ACSM have posted a press release titled “Experts Debunk Myth About Exercise, Weight Loss” in response to the Time Magazine article covered in my previous post. The following is the full text of their press release (inset) along with my comments:

EXPERTS DEBUNK MYTH ABOUT EXERCISE, WEIGHT LOSS
Research proves value of exercise, nutrition

According to John Jakicic, Ph.D., FACSM, “There is strong evidence from the majority of the scientific literature that physical activity is an important component for initial weight loss.”

INDIANAPOLIS – Leading experts in exercise and weight management have taken strong exception to assertions that exercise can inhibit weight loss by over-stimulating the appetite.

The “experts” can take exception all they like, but it does not change the fact increased activity stimulates appetite and if a person is not measuring and restricting calorie intake they are more likely to end up with a positive energy balance, resulting in an increase in body fat. While exercise burns very few calories, hardly enough to be worth doing for that purpose, a large amount of calories is very easy to consume.

General physical activity and the types of exercise commonly recommended for fat loss contribute relatively little to a fat loss program, and will make either no difference at all or even make things worse if diet is not being controlled.

Responding to a statement recently published online and in print, Jakicic added that “The statement ‘in general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless’ is not supported by the scientific evidence when there is adherence to a sufficient dose of physical activity in overweight and obese adults.” Jakicic chairs a committee on obesity prevention and treatment for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and helped write an ACSM Position Stand on strategies for weight loss and prevention of weight regain for adults.

According to Jakicic and other experts, overwhelming evidence belies the assertion that exercise doesn’t necessarily help people lose weight and may even make the task harder.

“Again, it is clear in this regard that physical activity is one of the most important behavioral factors in enhancing weight loss maintenance and improving long-term weight loss outcomes,” Jakicic said. In fact, his own research, published in 2008, showed a high dose of physical activity ( 275 minutes above baseline levels) contributed to the greatest observed weight loss after a 24-month intervention. He noted that the scientific literature includes additional evidence to support physical activity, adding that a growing body of literature suggests the importance of physical activity to improve long-term weight loss following bariatric surgery.

Physical activity is definitely not one of the most important behavioral factors in weight loss. While being more active may be a minor factor, contributing to a reduction in energy balance, as I mentioned above it makes little difference unless diet is also controlled. Even then the effect is minimal at best, counterproductive at worst.

I have worked with a large number of people who had previously attempted to lose weight through increased activity, some with, and some without diet, and the increased activity alone has never made a significant difference. Those same people have no trouble losing weight even with a significant reduction in activity – typically dropping several hours of cardio for less than 40 minutes of strength training per week – once they improve their diet.

I recently trained a man who lost 34 pounds in two months, dropping from 263 to 229, with no exercise other than two weekly high intensity strength training workouts lasting less than 20 minutes each, and no additional physical activity beyond his usual daily routine. I have also trained a woman who lost 128 pounds in a little over a year, dropping from 245 to 117 and reducing her weight by over 50 percent using the same program, also without additional physical activity added to her usual routine.

Over the years, I have had clients who attempted to compensate for overeating by performing other activities in addition to their strength training workouts, but the additional activity never made up for their poor diet. In many cases, not only did the additional activity not help them lose weight, they actually got fatter. The ones that did eventually lose weight were able to because they started eating properly.

Diet is by far the most important factor in weight loss. Exercise, or physical activity in general, does not burn enough calories to be worth doing for that purpose, hardly enough to make a significant difference in energy balance alone. As I’ve stated previously, the proper role of exercise in a fat loss program is the maintenance of muscle while fat is lost, which can only be effectively accomplished with strength training, and the amount of weekly strength training required for this is far less than most believe.

Another noted expert and ACSM member, Timothy Church, M.D., Ph.D., described how his professional opinions were misrepresented in a recent news article. According to Church, the article should have touched on the following key concepts:

• Weight maintenance is different from weight loss, and should have been discussed. Virtually all people who lose weight and keep it off are exercising to maintain weight.
• Comments about children and physical activity were misleading. Studies have shown that kids are not necessarily more active after school (and therefore need good in-school physical education program), and that the focus with children should be on physical activity and prevention of excess weight gain. (Adults, however, more often must deal with losing excess weight.)
• Exercise and diet go together. Weight management is most successful when careful attention is given to both physical activity and proper nutrition.

All of these statements are based on the assumption exercise is being performed for the purpose of burning calories or that physical activity in general burns a significant amount of calories, both false.

It doesn’t matter whether a person is trying to lose or maintain weight, “cardio” or increases in general activity make little difference to either. Diet is the most important factor.

Preventing weight gain in children is more a matter of diet than physical activity.

Exercise and diet do go together if you understand exercise means proper strength training and not “cardio” or general physical activity for the sake of burning calories.

The biggest problem I have with these “experts” telling people physical activity will help them lose weight is it is very hard for many people to change eating habits, but much easier to spend a few hours a week doing some mindless activity like running on a treadmill or participating in a group dance or kickboxing class with a fun social atmosphere, and having been misinformed by these “experts” most people are going to take the easier path. Unfortunately, the easier path doesn’t work very well, and can actually make some people fatter as explained in the Time article.

Janet Rankin, Ph.D., FACSM, an expert in nutrition and exercise, supplemented the bountiful scientific evidence with a simple observation: “A practical response to the claim that exercise makes you eat more and gain weight is to look around. If this were the case, wouldn’t those who regularly exercise be the fattest? Obviously that isn’t the case.”

Gyms are full of people who exercise regularly but are still fat. Every gym I’ve been a member of has had at least a few fat aerobics instructors, and they’re spending more hours per week “exercising” than the members.

ACSM experts stressed that, particularly when so many struggle with the health consequences of overweight and obesity, it is important that Americans have accurate information based on science and evidence.

How ironic.

The  American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. More than 35,000 international, national and regional members and certified professionals are dedicated to advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine.

They my be dedicated, but they’re wrong on this issue. Exercise doesn’t make you lose fat. Proper exercise, strength training, can prevent the loss of muscle while fat is lost, and can contribute to an increase in metabolic rate as well as improving many other aspects of fitness and health, but fat loss is almost entirely a matter of diet.