Can't Exercise the Fat Away

In this episode Meatwad is trying to ‘exercise the fat away’ by power walking. What you don’t see in this clip is the pile of gummy bears he sets out for himself as his target to walk to. Once he arrives at the pile of gummy bears he eats them as a reward for his exercise. (Once again Carl is right on the money with his criticism of meatwads strategy)

As ridiculous as this sounds, this is exactly what many people do who start working out…they reward themselves with food after they complete a workout. This totally defeats the purpose of working out in the first place. (the other day I saw a large woman with a personal trainer, and she was eating a granola bar between her sets in the gym…I can only imagine how absurd the conversation between her and the trainer must have been that allowed a granola bar to become part of the workout)

Back to reality:

The so called ‘health benefits’ of physical activity and exercise are very similar to the health benefits of caloric restriction and the subsequent weight loss that follows.

If you think you can be ‘healthy’ without losing weight you’re missing half or most of the picture. The extra fat mass and added weight itself is a risk factor for many lifestyle diseases and therefore simply being active while eating more food (such that you don’t lose any weight) still does not address the issue of losing body fat (if you have excess bodyfat to lose).

There are many ‘meatwads’ out there who would rather tell themselves the lie that they can eat as much as they want and overcome any ill effects simply by exercising more, but those people will never get the body changing results they really want and likely wont be much ‘healthier’ either.

John

Posted by johnbarban in Fat Loss

Tags: Exercise, Fat Loss, Weight Loss |28 Comments

28 Responses to “Can’t Exercise the Fat Away”

Jordan D. Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 11:57 am
At the very least, do it for your joints! That’s a no brainer. Even if one is overweight but has a healthy cardiovascular system, good blood sugar levels, etc., and even if one doesn’t care about slimming down and looking better, why force your joints to lug around an extra 50 or 100 pounds? Joint pain is a basic quality of life issue.
Jaxon Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
That’s true excercise alone won’t absolve you of your lifestyle sins – if only we had a picture of Dorian Grey in our closets!
usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
“If you think you can be ‘healthy’ without losing weight you’re missing half or most of the picture.”

John, I think this is part of the core of the problem. Now that you mention this, I can recall countless conversations with friends, family, and strangers who are clearly overweight but talk about how they are nonetheless fine because they exercise. You are totally right that many health problems come not from a lack of exercise but rather from being overweight. Exercise is just a way to help you lose that weight, although most of us here already know that exercise is a poor, if not futile, way for 99% of people to lose weight (or fat, rather). It should be about your diet.

So in reality, these people have it DOUBLY wrong – (1) exercise alone won’t make you healthy as long as you remain overweight and (2) exercise is not a good way to lose weight!
usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Typo above. I meant to say:

“John, I think this is a HUGE part of the core of the problem.”
Jason Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
John, I was thinking about this; do you think a person can practically get their calories utilized from physical activity high enough to be equal to or greater than their bmr amount?

For example, if my bmr is 1750, to burn an extra 1750 in a day from physical activity.

I know food always wins in the battle of food vs. exercise, but that’s not to say exercise is insignificant.
Alex P. Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Considering that an elite marathon runner is going to burn only around 2,500 calories (more or less), burning that many calories in a day is overwhelmingly impractical at best, and a fast track to a wheel chair in the most likely case.

However, climbers on their summit day at high altitude mountains like Everest or K2 are thought to burn possibly 15,000 calories. However, considering you are slowly dying with every minute at that altitude, that scenario isn’t too pretty, either.
Kidafi Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I think that’s the core of the problem. I hear alot of women say (especially in the black community)that they are healthy because they workout but they are clearly overweight. They also believe that they are fat but fabulous once their hair and nails are done and they dress fine..lol..lol…Total ignorance I think!!! These same people say they don’t workout to loose weight but workout to be healthy… They clearly missed the boat!!…
I think John needs to do a post on fat acceptance…That would be interesting…lol.lol..
johnbarban Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Jason,

That is next to impossible. You’d probably have to run a marathon every day for that.

JB
Jason Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
How sad; yet I can easily get in 3500 extra calories in one evening from a trip to Cold Stone, some candy bars, and perhaps McDonald’s. Be careful what you eat!
usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Kidafi,

“These same people say they don’t workout to loose weight but workout to be healthy.”

I think that IS the core and crux of the problem! Couldn’t have said it any more concisely!
usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Maybe we could simplify it further by saying the followin?

Low body fat levels is the foundation to a “healthy” life.
johnbarban Says:
June 24th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
User,

That is exactly the point.

JB
Don Smith Says:
June 25th, 2010 at 12:38 am
Jon what is the most accurate way to asses one’s own body fat without a scientific measurement. Is there any way to determine it based on what you see. For example displaying minimal ab definition, 4 pack, 6 pack, etc. Thanks and your blog is a must read.
Jaxon Says:
June 25th, 2010 at 8:47 am
There is a lot of mis-information out there. At my job we recently got a health flier about calorie reduction and weight loss. The point was that reducing your calorie intake will also lower your metabolism, so excercise was the answer to losing weight! I was shocked this was actually distrubeted to us and it had all the prerequistie paper citations. If you read between the lines in such a statement it says what’s the point of even trying.

Then you read over mis-information about how excercise increases your appetite, so you over-eat and negate any weight loss from excercise. Once again.. why even try – that is if you believe this type of mis-information.

It has been my experience that excercise increases my strength, endurance, and flexibility (hence my physical capabilities), but my only true weight loss has come from calorie reduction.
johnbarban Says:
June 25th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
Don,

Why do you want to assess your body fat percentage?

JB
Sara Says:
June 25th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Hi John- I feel like this post was directed right at me ( I am sure many of your followers have said that at one point or another). Nonetheless I feel really stuck right now. I have lost 40 pounds working out very hard and restricting my calories enough to lose those 40 pounds. However I have a goal to lose twenty more pounds but haven’t lost a single pound in a little over 6 weeks (haven’t gained any back either). I am stuck because I have made such progress in my workouts however I am wondering if I should just stop the workouts and focus on the food (or lack there of). You don’t have to sell me on the reality of cutting calories, I am a firm believer in caloric deficits, fasting, etc. Just not sure what to do at this point. So….not sure exactly why I am posting this comment, I suppose for inspiration?? Love your blog, keep posting. Thanks, SH
Alek Says:
June 27th, 2010 at 11:52 am
“If you think you can be ‘healthy’ without losing weight you’re missing half or most of the picture. The extra fat mass and added weight itself is a risk factor for many lifestyle diseases and therefore simply being active while eating more food (such that you don’t lose any weight) still does not address the issue of losing body fat (if you have excess bodyfat to lose).”

Isn’t this perfectionism? I’m no scientist, but I’m pretty sure there’s a ton of studies to show overweight people who exercise are much healthier than overweight people who don’t.

Sure, ideally you’d both be not overweight and exercise, but half is better than nothing.
johnbarban Says:
June 27th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
Alek,

The ‘ton of studies’ that you assume exist, in fact do not exist. You’re making one of the biggest false assumptions in the health and fitness industry.

JB
usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
June 27th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Yeah, I was wondering about that too. How can you be sure of something when you don’t know? Other than wishful thinking of course.
usernametooshortnowitstoolon Says:
June 27th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
John, I was just thinking about sumo wrestler. I know “health” is relative, but are an exception because they are indeed healthier than most people? Or are they not an exception and are actually living a super unhealthy lifestyle? They do exercise a LOT, but consumer a LOT of calories. Something to complement Alek’s post above.

Some random articles while googling this topic:

http://www.thedoctorweighsin.com/journal/2007/12/5/why-dont-sumo-wrestlers-die-of-heart-disease.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article5945365.ece

I’m interested in hearing your educated explanation. Thanks!
Alek Says:
June 28th, 2010 at 6:45 am
“The ‘ton of studies’ that you assume exist, in fact do not exist. You’re making one of the biggest false assumptions in the health and fitness industry”

Probably. I guess I was just mislead by authority. I.E because they said it exists, I just somehow “remembered” in my mind that they must exist.

Thanks for that clarification.
Alek Says:
June 28th, 2010 at 6:52 am
On another note, inspired user above… I’m pretty sure I saw a documentary about the longest living people… One was an island with skinny vegetarians, the other was an island with obese Italians who just feast all day. They leads the world in longevity from what I remember.

I’m also pretty sure I see a lot of studies now coming out saying stuff like “overweight people actually live longer”, at least as quoted in the mainstream media. I’ve only researches this longevity thing for a bit, not nearly as much, but a quick skim tells me there is definetely no consensus on anything. And honestly CR (just from my observation of how patterns in science and movements go)… CR seems like the current “it” fad. Like they want it to be a magic bullet, so they’re attaching to it. Then (I’m assuming) in 5-15 years it comes out they over-estimated it, and actually in humans doesn’t do crap.
johnbarban Says:
June 28th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Alek,

Caloric restriction works very well in rodents (some rodents can live up to 50% longer).

With most biological research the rodent model is where we start, and then we try it in humans (this is how drugs are created and tested)

Caloric restriction is impossible to ‘test’ in humans for a lifetime for obvious reasons.

To get a consensus on BMI and longevity we’d have to pick an age as a goal (90 years 100 years?) and look at the numbers that way.

Living to 70, 80, or 90 are different things and the quality of the life that ends at 70 might be very different than the life that lasts to 90.

JB
Alek Says:
June 28th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Sure, but that’s the point isn’t it? By now with rodents they’ve cured half of all diseases known to man, invented the most amazing drugs… And then they try to port them over to humans, and it doesn’t translate at all.

All I’m saying is I “sense” some emotional estimation on this whole CR craze. Like people want it to be true, and are attaching themselves to it like crazy… as if though there isn’t a long history of almost everything working in rodents, and then not being applicable to humans.
johnbarban Says:
June 28th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Yeah I was at an anti aging conference and it seemed that everyone there was really hoping to live forever. Unfortunately I think that technology isn’t here yet.

There were people there who were dosing themselves with growth hormone and just assuming it was somehow going to help them live longer. CR is no different. It’s another thing they want to believe in so badly.

The issue with humans is that we can’t study it in any shorter time than an entire generation. So for CR specifically for life extension, it really does take some people to adopt it as a lifestyle on their own and then we can see if it does anything. You just can’t study it any other way. So it’s pretty good for us if some people will adopt it as a lifestyle on their own.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

JB
JustDan Says:
June 30th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
We can add rhesus monkeys to the list of animals that calorie restriction has been beneficial. The link below is from the Wall Street Journal on-line version.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124718227356220229.html
Lillea Says:
July 7th, 2010 at 1:43 am
It’s strange what some people believe.

I knew someone who claimed that for about an hour after doing the very challenging ‘Grouse Grind’ (a 2.9-kilometre hike up the face of Grouse Mountain in BC, sometimes referred to as “Mother Nature’s Stairmaster”), a person could eat whatever they wanted because the calories would all be burned off. Beyond that timeframe, no, it would all go to fat. So, she would pig out at the restaurant at the top of the mountain after her hike to take advantage of this supposed magic window.

Is it any surprise that she was not as slim as she wanted to be?
Adonis Index Contest Winner Shares His Best Tips & Tricks Says:
December 27th, 2011 at 10:23 am
[...] Ryan revealed that before finding the Adonis Index he was eating a lot, definitely more than his body could burn. [...]

Can’t Exercise the Fat Away

28 Responses to “Can’t Exercise the Fat Away”

Leave a Reply

Blogs

Books

Archive