Can You Walk Off Your Belly Fat?

Once upon a time, we were led to believe that if we do some exercise and expect to burn 100 calories, we will actually burn 100 calories. A new study suggests that this expectation will not be fulfilled. At best, you are going to burn about 25 calories less than desired.

I know that sounds like a small difference. However, look at the math this way: What if you ate 25 percent fewer calories every day? Scientific studies have shown overwhelmingly that a 25 percent reduction in daily calorie intake will significantly improve your health far more effectively than exercising. Therefore, the results of this new study provide a critical bit of information that should influence our expectations about exercise on general health.

The results of this study, combined with the findings from numerous similar studies, explain why most people who exercise actually lose less weight than would be expected for any given effort expended. Bodies evolved complex compensatory mechanisms to balance the energy necessary to contract muscles with the energy available for other critical biological processes. This new study reported that the body automatically compensates (with some variation from person to person, of course) during exercise and holds back at least a quarter of the calories we might expect to expend.

Scientists have speculated that energy expenditure is not linear. Studies have reported that more activity does not necessarily result in greater daily calorie expenditure. Understanding the nature of this biochemical compensation is important because this evolved trait has become maladaptive for modern humans who consistently fail to burn off excess calories with exercise. Based on data from numerous controlled trials, the evidence for weight maintenance with exercise training is still inconclusive.

A recent investigation collected data from 1,754 adults who drank doubly labeled water (containing isotopes that allow researchers to determine the number of calories burned per day). The researchers also monitored their body compositions and basal rate of energy expenditure. This basal rate represents the number of calories someone burns by simply being alive.

The researchers subtracted the basal energy consumed from total energy expenditure to obtain an approximation of the energy expenditure from exercise as well as other movements, such as standing, sitting, and walking. As expected, more movement burns more energy.

However, the data revealed a surprising outcome. As each person exercised, they did not burn as many total calories as expected. Most subjects burned only about 72 percent as many additional calories as would be expected given their level of activity. The compensation was even greater in obese adults. Their bodies tended to reduce by 50 percent or more the actual number of calories burned by exercising.

How do you get rid of the belly fat?

The trainer for the popular NBC television show The Biggest Loser used to claim that more exercise was all that was necessary to lose weight. After many years of helping severely obese people lose weight, however, Bob Harper concluded that exercise is not the key; your diet matters the most.

Not only is Harper helping his clients to feel better and achieve their personal goals, but he is also helping them to live longer, healthier lives. Most of his clients became obese because they ate too many calories. Visit any gym or spa, and you will see that people exercising carry a significant amount of body fat overlying their muscles even as those muscles get bigger and stronger.

Excess body fat accelerates aging and increases our risk of dying because fat cells produce inflammation. Researchers recently investigated whether diet or exercise most effectively reduced the levels of inflammation in overweight or obese women. After 12 months, the scientists concluded that the greatest weight loss and most significant reduction in the level of inflammatory protein came only from dieting, not exercising.

The evidence overwhelming indicates that caloric restriction is the only valid, scientifically proven dietary intervention that can reduce body weight, slow the aging process, and improve mental health. It is also much cheaper—you will save money by eating much less food and paying for fewer tennis shoes, workout clothing, and gym memberships.