5 Reasons Time Magazine Got it Wrong

John Cloud wrote an article for Time Magazine recently, "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin" in which he wonders why he can't get rid of the "fat gut that hangs over my belt when I sit" even though he has exercised regularly for several years. He concludes that you simply can't lose weight by exercising.

So, Lance Armstrong and Usain Bolt are just lean and muscular by eating the right foods? I doubt it. It seems to me that John and Time missed a few things:

1. Just because you're thin doesn't mean you're fit. Equating your body shape with your degree of fitness is like comparing the size of your wallet to your financial health. It really depends on what's inside. Our society is overly obsessed with "thin" to the extent that some people who are thin are actually over fat. They have little muscle mass.
2. One way to control appetite following exercise is to burn fat during the exercise. Fat contains a lot of energy but it's hard to use it. Your body has to break it down which takes time. To do this, you'll use glycogen and a little fat during the exercise until gradually more and more of your fat stores are mobilized. When you finish exercising and you feel like you want to gnaw off your arm, you probably used up your glycogen stores. So, you eat something which adds back the calories you just spent or at least most of them.
3. All exercise is not the same. "Cardio" is a relatively poor way to mobilize fat unless you exercise for a very long time like Lance or Michael Phelps or Haile Gebrselassie. Most of us don't have that kind of time or motivation. Spending 40 minutes on an elliptical is good for you but has a relatively low caloric demand and very low post-exercise energy consumption compared with high speed intervals done on the same machine. Of course, 40 minutes of high speed intervals will tend to make you swear off elliptical machines for ever. It's very demanding.
4. Not all calories are the same. 100 calories from a Snickers Bar and 100 calories from 2 apples will have drastically different hormonal effects in the body causing a series of reactions that when repeated (not literally of course) can make you fat in a hurry.
5. The fact that you don't lose weight is NOT an excuse to quit exercising. Exercise is good for you even if you don't lose much or any weight. Your heart, lungs, bones, connective tissues all benefit from the activity. You can lower your blood pressure, cholesterol, improve your bone density whether you lose weight or not.

So how does John get rid of his fat gut? Here's a starter list:

1. Find your percentage of body fat and determine the safe level for your age and gender. Recognize that to see your abdominal muscles (which by the way is what you'll need in order to sit down and have no fat hang over your belt), your body fat levels will need to be in the athletic range. Unless this is your day job, be prepared to have some fat over your belt.
2. Eat four to five meals a day of 400-500 calories and make sure each meal is a blend of complex carbohydrates, moderate amount of protein and fat, and fiber. This will help stabilize your blood sugar and keep your muscles well fed while reducing the need for something quick when all of a sudden you feel starved. Eliminate sugar, alcohol, and anything with high fructose corn syrup.
3. Exercise using high speed intervals several days per week for 20-30 minutes. Scientifically proven to mobilize fat.
4. Use intense, short duration resistive exercise that requires many muscles to work at once (like squatting, pushing, pulling, etc.) and vary the routines, intensity, duration frequently. This creates an inefficient exercise program which is what you want. Efficiency in exercise means fewer calories burned.
5. Take 5-7 days off from #4 above every 4-6 weeks. Spend your time on flexibility, Yoga, steady-state aerobics (like cycling, walking, jogging).
6. Expect to lose between 1-2 pounds of fat per month on average. This is when most people give up. It's too hard, takes too long, etc. But, it's the truth. When you lose fat at this pace, you can create the lifestyle changes you need to keep it off. Otherwise, you'll backslide.

Unfortunately, most people don't know anything about the above so they buy the line that exercise is a waste of time in helping you lose fat and then they short change themselves over the long-term by not exercising at all.