Comments on: Clarifying "The Myth About Exercise"

By: nummyz

nummyz — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:14:58 +0000

in my honest opinion, “doctors and researchers” are the dumbest “smart” people in the world.

By: nmlavoi

nmlavoi — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:30:51 +0000

Jenny-
Thanks for sharing your expertise! For those who don’t know Jenny Evans is a legitimate expert on this subject (much more so than I am!) visit her website http://www.powerhouseperformancecoaching.com
-nml

By: Jenny Evans

Jenny Evans — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:27:10 +0000

I had to go through a cooling off period before I could comment. I’ve got a lot of issues with this but I’ll try and keep it short…
1. He’s really going for shock value here in order to get attention, and unfortunately it’s going to come at the cost of the many people who will use this as one of their reasons for not exercising.
2. Is the article really about exercise or about the psychology of the food choices we make? I feel like it’s more about the latter.
3. Anyone can form a hypothesis and find research studies to back it up. It doesn’t mean the research is sound. For instance, the ONE Clinical trial states the women gained weight – what happened to body fat and lean body mass? Using the scale to measure success is not the end all be all.
4. All exercise is not created equal. What about the intensity? Frequency? Balance of strength training and cardiovascular workouts? You can spend a lot of TIME in the gym or exercising, but if you’re not doing it appropriately you’re not going to get the results you want.
5. Nutrition is a critical component to balancing body composition. You can work out all day long every day, but if you’re not eating appropriately you’re not going to accomplish your goals.
6. Many studies show that long-term exercise does indeed stimulate appetite, but not enough to outweigh the extra calories burned during exercise. (I can provide references if anyone wants them.)
7. Finally, this article completely negates the other positive benefits of exercise. Is losing weight the ONLY reason for exercising? Hardly! What about improving health, immunity, sleep, mood, resiliency to stress, minimizing risk of disease or improving quality of life?

By: nmlavoi

nmlavoi — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:41:43 +0000

Cheryl,
Good to know I wasn’t the only one with that reaction! -nml

By: nmlavoi

nmlavoi — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:40:56 +0000

2otauri,
Yes it is true most people are ill-informed about what is IN their food, let alone how many calories it has. That is why it is important to educate not only on why movement is important, but eating well too. -nml

By: nmlavoi

nmlavoi — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:39:33 +0000

Julia,
You’re right on, and what I didn’t write is that Cloud failed to mention in the clinical trial study that the women were not only sedentary and overweight, but postmenopausal! He didn’t report the average age of the sample either, which brings in your comments about older individuals who are just trying to maintain mobility. Thanks for posting! -nml

By: 20tauri

20tauri — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 02:28:12 +0000

Thanks for the follow-up on this. As a longtime athlete who has pretty much failed to lose those “last 10 pounds” her whole life, even when playing very demanding sports for two hours a day, the Time article certainly caught my eye. I think at the end of the day you are right that the input-output calorie equation is the key thing to remember. But the insights about our eating patterns in relation to our exercise routines seemed to make a lot of sense in the article. We reward ourselves for being good even though we may not internalize just how few calories we burn during an hour at the gym . I would argue that if people were better informed about the contents of the foods they eat, they’d naturally start eat fewer calories and find it less depressing to exercise. I do think exercise is important, but understanding exactly what you are ingesting is even more crucial and empowering if your goal is weight maintenance or loss.

By: Julia

Julia — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:53:53 +0000

Interesting commentary by TIME, but not at all reflective of aging adults either. Most adults that are trying to stay active will cringe at “exercise,” yet the simple terms of “movement” or “activity” seem to be well accepted. And what Time neglects to comment on is the balance between simply moving from a sedentary lifestyle to one where the individual gets off the couch more than 3 x a day to get to the bathroom or kitchen. And in our older population, this is sadly a reality for some.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:39:37 +0000

I had a similar reaction when I read that article. Actually, it made me want to scream. Of course if you eat sweets and other unhealthy foods after you exercise you probably won’t lose as much weight, if any. Duh. Exercise + healthy diet works. What are they trying to do? Encourage overweight Americans to just give up? Even if you didn’t lose weight, exercise has so many other good effects, mental and physical.