Exercise Doesnt Work For Fat Loss: A Personal Trainers Story

     I'm a Personal Trainer and my job is to get people fit and help them to lose body fat. So you may be surprised that I am making such a bold statement: 'Exercise Doesn't Work for Fat Loss'!

Should this not mean that my entire existence is pointless?

Well, as it is my job to ensure that my clients get results, I need to make sure I am up on all the latest research, and when research tells me exercise doesn't work, I need to take notice - as do you.

A study by researchers at the University of Texas came up with this conclusion, after studying 100 previously sedentary participants - half of whom stayed sedentary and half began exercising. The exercisers followed a programme of 5.5 - 6 hours of activity per week, including weight training and interval training for a total of 12 weeks. The rest did nothing. The subjects were between 35% and 40% body fat to begin with. All the training was designed by Dr John Berardi, a highly respected trainer and nutritionist, although significantly there was no dietary intervention.

The shocking result was that the exercisers didn't do much better than the non-exercisers.

Yep, without changing their nutrition, 12 weeks of high intensity training resulted in a loss of only 1 pound of fat with 2lb gain in lean muscle (weight gain!).

Another recent study published in April 2008 issue of Nutrition and Metabolism showed a very similar result - 10 weeks of intense training showed hardly any change in body composition - there was some fat loss, but nothing exciting. Not when you consider that most of us really want to 'burn fat fast' and are desperate to get results, this is not encouraging.

Most of us would be so discouraged that we would give up on the exercise altogether - which is absolutely not what we should be doing.

So what is the 'take-home' point I'm making here?

Well, that you cannot out-train a bad diet for one! And you definitely cannot exercise and then 'reward yourself' with a larger portion at dinner or a dessert!

It is absolutely critical that you look at making changes to your diet as well as increasing your exercise levels, otherwise all your efforts could be a waste of time. So, where to start?

Eat 5-10 portions of vegetables EVERY DAY! -

Eat a portion of lean protein with every meal (and ideally some protein in each snack) Eliminate white, starchy, refined carbs (wheat-based products, sugar, pastries, cakes, cookies, white rice, white potatoes, white pasta etc.) and replace with smaller portions of wholegrain carbs (sweet potatoes, oats, quinoa, brown rice, wholegrain pasta, wholegrain - ideally sourdough - breads). Focus more on veg though.

Include good fats: cook with coconut oil, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on veggies or salads (with apple cider vinegar for extra fat burning and health promotion), have small portions of nuts (almonds / walnuts) with fruit as a snack or in your salads, try avocado instead of mayo...

Drink plenty of water, eliminating sodas altogether, even the diet ones! Tea and coffee in moderation and without sugar or excessive cream (a little organic cream in coffee can be OK)

Keep an overall check on calories - to reduce without counting calories just reduce your current intake by 10%. If you see no results after a couple of weeks, reduce by another 10%.

Think 90:10% - let yourself off the hook occasionally, but make sure it is only 10% of your weekly total, so as not to obliterate all your results.

Experiment! Try a new whole food every week and make it your mission to find healthy foods that you positively love to eat - I certainly love my food, eat plenty of it and feel great, as it is nourishing me, not sapping me.

Exercise is definitely a vital part of the fat loss equation - as well as having a hugely important impact improving health, wellbeing, energy and performance. Dieting alone to lose weight results in muscle loss and a reduced metabolism, propagating the 'yo-yo' weight loss / gain cycle most people are well aware of. But exercise alone is not enough!

Exercise and nutrition, along with sufficient rest and recovery, are the keys to losing fat and maintaining your new physique for life.

Copyright (c) 2010 Caroline Radway

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