Running that extra mile on the treadmill may not make you any thinner, a new study suggests, because exercise alone can burn only a limited number of calories. Instead, the body actually adapts to greater levels of activity, which may help explain why people who are trying to lose weight often hit a frustrating “plateau.” The research team followed more than 300 men and women from five different countries over the course of one week, measuring their daily activity levels and energy expenditure. As expected, people who were moderately active—walking a couple of miles daily or working out for a half hour two or three times a week—burned about 200 more calories than the ones who remained sedentary. But intense activity didn’t necessarily reap more benefits: Participants who logged the highest levels of physical exertion expended about the same amount of energy as those who were only moderately active. The researchers suggest that the bodies of extremely active people learn to use energy more efficiently during exercise and to burn fewer calories while at rest. “We think this is a really common evolutionary adaptation that all animals use to keep from outstripping their resources and to keep from starving,’’ study author Herman Pontzer of Hunter College in New York City tells CNN.com. Exercise can provide many health benefits, including weight loss, Pontzer says, but to shed a lot of pounds, “you probably ought to focus on changing your diet and watching how much you eat.’”
Crap, back to watching what I eat.
Taken from the February 16, 2016 edition of The Week Magazine. I am finially sorting through the papers on my floor. I think I need to dust down there.
No comments:
Post a Comment