Me: Exercise does not cause weight loss. This is a fact that has been demonstrated so robustly in research that even doctors, who hate and fear evidence, are grudgingly starting to admit this.
Someone reading that post: Cool, but have you considered that exercise leads to weight loss?
Me: I am going to eat you
lololol "does too"
does it? not for women after childbirth
does it? not if you want to see an effect size of greater than 1 kilo (2.2lbs)
does it? not if you'd like to see a maintained loss greater than 3.3% of your body weight
does it? not for people with type 2 diabetes
does it? not for people exercising for their non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Interactive computer-based reminders to diet and exercise are useless.
I mean, I literally went to Cochrane Reviews, one of the best-respected sources for massive meta-analyses, and I just input the keywords "weight loss" and "exercise," and I'm tooling through the results. Every one of the damn things shows that we do not have high-quality research indicating that exercise leads to weight loss. So no. I'm right, and you need to adjust your worldview--ask yourself, if not for weight loss, then why? Re-read those sources: exercise improved muscle density, insulin sensitivity, and cholesterol. It's good for your blood vessels, it's good for your strength, it's good for your brain.
But it won't make you thin. Maybe two pounds, maybe five, but that's about it. If you're looking at short-term, like a year, sure, you can lose weight--but the effort will almost always result in your body going "oh shit, we're living in a famine" and you will regain it, and now, with your body at a new set-point, losing it will be harder. Regaining will be easier. Welcome to the life-destroying yo-yo.
#then what the fuck are we supposed to do?
Exercise and eat lots of fruits and vegetables and whole grains because those things will keep you healthier longer, regardless of how much you weigh, and pick up your pick-axe in the ongoing horribly slow and frustrating fight of chipping away at the idea that being fat is a bad thing that means you’re a bad person. I recommend the book Fat Talk for a good place to start.
Regular exercise helps your general health. Builds muscle. Reduces your heart rate. Keeps your body generally fit and flexible. Often, reduces stress because it gives you time to focus on something other than whatever was stressing you.
Eating good veggies helps digestion, your skin health, emotional balance, and has plenty of other benefits.
Exercise and eating green leafy vegetables have very minimal effects on weight. The biggest effects are on people who gained weight because of a debilitating condition - exercise and diet can help them get back to the shape that's their body's natural condition with their normal metabolism. Usually not quite to where they were before - bodies try very hard to hold on to mass after illness or injuries - but bodies also want to find their normal equilibrium.
Exercise will not turn a fat person into a skinny person. It has plenty of health benefits; "being skinny" is not a health benefit.
Repeat: "Being skinny" is not an indicator of health.
And occasionally I share this one around again:
A few years ago I was getting a pap smear. The doctor—whom I had just met that morning—had me in those cold metal stirrups and was rooting a
