Do you see exercise as another method to lose weight? New research shows that it’s time to focus less on how many calories you consume during the sessions – and more on the many other health effects.
To “eat less and move more” – this is probably advice most people with a few extra kilos have heard. But is it really as simple as it sounds? According to a new study published in Obesity Review, it’s more complicated than that. Erik Hemmingsson, obesity researcher at the School of Gymnastics and Sports in Stockholm, agrees.
The study clearly shows that the body has its own system to regulate our energy consumption, and that our behaviors, for example training and exercise, only partially lead to an increased total energy consumption. For some people, energy consumption really increases as much as you would expect, while for others, the body reduces energy consumption at rest to compensate for the energy used during exercise. People who were overweight were usually those who had a body that wanted to conserve energy, he explains.
Not surprised
Erik Hemmingsson has also written the book Slutbantat, which when it was released in 2018 received a lot of attention. Not least for his controversial claims that dieting does not work, but that it is instead bad character that is the reason why so many people are overweight today. In other words, he is not surprised by the study’s results.
No not really. It is in line with what we have seen in other studies on how our metabolism differs between people, for example between those who are of normal weight and those who are overweight. People who have recently lost weight, for example, get a “stingier” body, because the body tries at all costs to regain the kilos that have disappeared.
Learn to listen to the body
Erik Hemmingsson believes that one way to improve public health is actually to put less focus on what the scale shows.
The body will still win in the long run, and we only risk making the situation even worse. We must learn to listen to the body and its signals, and not hold on to it. People who weigh more than they would like, i.e. most of us, have a body that is in many ways set to a certain excess weight, also called a set point, including through communication between the fat cells and the brain, which affects our energy metabolism.
Exercise to feel better
Although it is difficult to lose weight through exercise, Erik believes that it can be a good idea to help the body regulate weight by moving for half an hour a day if you are otherwise sedentary.
Very few people will get any results on their weight with the help of exercise alone, but on the other hand, you can help your body regulate your weight in a good way if you are quite sedentary. For the regulation of energy to work optimally, a certain minimum level of movement is required, half an hour a day is enough.
He is also careful to point out that this is not a reason to cancel the gym card or stop training – on the contrary.
There are few other things that affect our health as much as movement and exercise. It’s a fantastic strategy for feeling better, both mentally and physically, and the effects are also immediate. As an example, the pharmaceutical industry has tried for many decades to produce pills that mimic the effects of exercise without success, but why cross the river for water?
Conclusions from the study
- When we are physically active, calorie consumption does not increase to the same extent as we previously expected.
- On average, the study participants expended only 72 percent as much energy as expected when they exercised.
- The effect was even more pronounced in people with a higher BMI – in fact, the reduction in energy expenditure varied between anywhere from 27.7% to 49.2%.
- This means that some basically burn no extra calories at all by exercising.
- The researchers arrived at the results by measuring the so-called “basal metabolism” of the more than 1,700 participants, that is, the amount of energy that is used at rest for, for example, the organs to function.
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