> Exercise is the best way to reduce weight for all but the most unfit.
Not so. That hour of walking you suggest is easily replaced by simply reducing caloric intake slightly. In fact, you have to watch intake anyway, because when you exercise, your body automatically increases your appetite to compensate for the additional energy expenditure.
"He will have to climb twenty flights of stairs to rid himself of the energy contained in one slice of bread!" Newburgh observed. So why not skip the stairs, skip the bread, and call it a day?
The reasons to exercise include all sorts of health and fitness benefits, but losing weight is pretty far down the list. Even top athletes always have to be careful with diet and often weigh their food with gram scales.
"... That hour of walking you suggest is easily replaced by simply reducing caloric intake slightly. ..."
One thing I have found is exercise done before eating reduces appetite. Slight reductions in food is difficult if there is an abundance of high fat/high calorie food. Especially if it tastes good. One insight into the relationship between food, exercise and culture is the Japanese in places like Okinawa [0] & Sakaemura [1] who have:
- low calorie, low fat diet
- high energy output (mostly via farming & activities such as karate)
- social networking
contributing 4-5 years on average longer lifespans it is thought through leanness. [2] They key thing appears to the combination of diet, exercise and societal connection. Exercise is one of the keys to leanness but not the only one.
One thing you can bet on. If you don't exercise, eat the wrong foods and too much of it you will loose fitness.
If your goal is only to reduce weight, reducing calorie intake works. Losing weight is a giant red herring anyway, though. A lot of people that say that want to lose weight really just want to be more healthy and fit. They don't want to be lugging around a sack of fat all day long.
In any case, I've found it far easier to manage my calorie intake when I have an extra 1000 calories/day to work with. For people who just eat because they have to, that might work. But I love food, and I think most people do as well.
> Exercise is the best way to reduce weight for all but the most unfit.
Not so. That hour of walking you suggest is easily replaced by simply reducing caloric intake slightly. In fact, you have to watch intake anyway, because when you exercise, your body automatically increases your appetite to compensate for the additional energy expenditure.
http://nymag.com/news/sports/38001/
"He will have to climb twenty flights of stairs to rid himself of the energy contained in one slice of bread!" Newburgh observed. So why not skip the stairs, skip the bread, and call it a day?
The reasons to exercise include all sorts of health and fitness benefits, but losing weight is pretty far down the list. Even top athletes always have to be careful with diet and often weigh their food with gram scales.