Exercise? A fat lot of good that is for weight loss!

It's a combination of both. You can't get results with one without the other. It's so insanely simple to understand, I don't know why the concept isn't grasped by most people.

The major point of the article is, however, true. People commonly overestimate the numerical quantity of calories they're burning when they work out and often eat high-calorie foods as a "reward," with the calories they consume outnumbering the ones they shed.

Do they really? Talk about counterproductive! Food shouldn't be used as a reward.

I see their point. Teach kids to eat right and they won't become obese no matter what thier lifestyle (athlete, game tester whatever), instead of forcing fat kids to play dodgeball.

This should be in DT.

It's simple and no rocket science here.

If caloric intake > energy used, you get fat
If caloric intake < energy used, you lose weight

The above does not take into consideration whether food is wholesome, organic, red, orange, fatty, starchy whatever.

If you are in the first scenario you exercise, if second eat up.

How simple is it. Looking at the people in the Western world, I would say lot's of people with thyroid problems and lacking motivation to exercise.

The simple fact is, that unless you train like a pro athlete, you can't outtrain too many calories. A muffin with 600 calories takes a 6 mile run to negate.

Agreed. There is too much science going around and people are forgetting about the basics.

1) Eat so you can sustain your lifestlye

2) Exercise should be rigorous

So much fail I see every day. If only people stopped reading so much of the science out there and adhered to the above two, obesity would be less of a problem.

Gluttony and Sloth - perfect combination!

Exactly... people can only count on cutting calories so far.

Breyers is my reward

Interesting quote someone posted somewhere else:

"When it came to healthy living, exercise for regular people is relatively new. The average Joe and Joanne didn't really start exercising until the 50s and 60s. Guys like Joe Weider and Jack LaLaine started the revolution after WWII and it's been growing (too slowly) ever since. As the obesity trends began to rise in the 70s, jogging and nautilus became more popular. During this time various companies were selling goofy ways to lose weight. For some reason we quickly forgot that eating whole foods was the key to maintaining our weight. As food became more processed over the the past few decades we used other processed foods to help us lose weight. It was (and still is) a vicious cycle of addiction. The gain, lose, gain epidemic continues. I read a funny blurb the other day which clearly and plainly stated that if you avoided food with mascots you'll lose weight. Goodbye Count Chocula! Our grandparents didn't have gym memberships, spinning classes and fitness DVDs. They ate healthy whole foods and spent four times more time outside than we do. If your grandparents were obese it was a novelty for sure. Our behavior and habits put food-porn companies in business and we also have the power to destroy them by not eating their poison.

You control what goes in your mouth, no one else. Find ways to make healthy whole food taste good and eat it. Period!"


Tony Horton

bmr is a huge factor that people often dont know about or overlook

Well I think that before exercise became popular, people were getting plenty of physical activity - the poor via walking, physical work, etc. The rich via sporting pursuits, etc.

Also, in the classical world, being fit was was considered a fundamental duty of a male citizen. Being fat and pudgy was definitely looked down on.

Yup as Aristotle said, "excess as well as deficiency of physical exercise destroys our strength, and similarly, too much and too little food and drink destroys our health; the proportionate amount, however, produces, increases, and preserves it."

How so?