Time Magazine: “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin”

Journalist John Cloud takes an in-depth look at our society’s current health problem from the angle of exercise and diet in this week’s Time article titled Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin. Notice I didn’t write weight problem. The difference is that ideal weight perceptions have fluctuated randomly in cultures throughout the ages and, more importantly, the ideal body weight for each individual differs based on their specific genetics and environment. If a person wants to become healthier then its probably a better idea to focus more on exercise. If the same person wants to lose weight then they’ll have to focus a lot more on diet. Doing both together is ideal.

The point is people shouldn’t be exercising for the goal of losing weight but instead to become healthier. Sadly, an increase in health is more of a subjective target than the objective and quantifiable numerical value given to weight. If a person loses weight because of it then that’s just an added benefit. I hope this article begins to tackle the “wisdom of the mob” that believes an exercise program is only as effective as the number of pounds shed on a bathroom scale.

Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin
by John Cloud

I have exercised like this — obsessively, a bit grimly — for years, but recently I began to wonder: Why am I doing this? Except for a two-year period at the end of an unhappy relationship — a period when I self-medicated with lots of Italian desserts — I have never been overweight. One of the most widely accepted, commonly repeated assumptions in our culture is that if you exercise, you will lose weight. But I exercise all the time, and since I ended that relationship and cut most of those desserts, my weight has returned to the same 163 lb. it has been most of my adult life. I still have gut fat that hangs over my belt when I sit. Why isn’t all the exercise wiping it out?

It’s a question many of us could ask. More than 45 million Americans now belong to a health club, up from 23 million in 1993. We spend some $19 billion a year on gym memberships. Of course, some people join and never go. Still, as one major study — the Minnesota Heart Survey — found, more of us at least say we exercise regularly. The survey ran from 1980, when only 47% of respondents said they engaged in regular exercise, to 2000, when the figure had grown to 57%.

And yet obesity figures have risen dramatically in the same period: a third of Americans are obese, and another third count as overweight by the Federal Government’s definition. Yes, it’s entirely possible that those of us who regularly go to the gym would weigh even more if we exercised less. But like many other people, I get hungry after I exercise, so I often eat more on the days I work out than on the days I don’t. Could exercise actually be keeping me from losing weight? …

Time Magazine

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August 7, 2009 | Filed Under Medicine