I rank exercise as the third most healthy thing you can do in life. Right behind eating healthy food and having a routine fasted interval of some kind. Probably tied with getting good sleep. So exercise is great. But I think in general we have misunderstood how it works with regard to weight loss.
Most who exercise to lose weight aren’t successful. January gyms fill and many are gone by March. They don’t find the weight reduction they seek.
What those who quit exercising are not seeing is that exercise is mainly about getting strong and conditioned. These are really positive things! However it is the diet that is primarily about changing body composition.
You Can’t Outrun a Bad Diet
To be clear, I do run into people who manage weight primarily through exercise. The issue is their diet usually is not too bad. And this state can persist if the drive and ability to maintain the exercise does not lapse. But how about losing weight without exercise. It’s possible!
This is really great news for everyone but it is especially joyous for those who are physically unable to exercise. There are many situations where due to injury or debility of some kind people are not able to exercise. You can still lose weight without exercising through a fasting practice!
Amazingly about 75% of the calories we burn come from our resting metabolic rate. That’s breathing in and out, keeping the blood flowing, remaining conscious and keeping the body temperature up. So you start running that system in Pathway B you are going to burn off body-fat.
There are also many people who are not able to exercise due to other factors. Life demands, work schedules and family responsibilities can all make an exercise practice difficult. Of course we should all try to make time for exercise but let’s be honest. Sometimes it is just not practical.
During these times it is helpful to know that fasting is a practice that can help keep your weight in check even if you can’t be hitting the gym to stay conditioned. Fasting can actually give you more time in a hectic schedule.
In my article Losing Weight I outline how the body can either be in a food burning pathway or in a fat burning pathway. Furthermore in the article on Insulin and Metabolic Adaptation I explain that when we are in food burning Pathway A but the calories are insufficient to meet our needs we are blocked from accessing the fat by higher insulin levels.
Exercise Could Make Things Worse?
Perversely, if the diet is not in the right place, exercising for weight loss can actually make things worse in the long term. In the short term you can overcome the body’s attempts to maintain Pathway A and many lose weight initially. But there are consequences to this. If you drive the negative adaptation harder the setup results in an even more pronounced bounce leading to a stronger drive to regain the weight when exercise stops.
This effect was demonstrated in a fascinating study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Researchers enrolled participants in the 2008 season of “The Biggest Loser” into a long-term observational study. They performed basal metabolic monitoring at the beginning of the study and at intervals during the show.
The individuals on this show participated in extreme exercise. They also ate low calories but they were spread out throughout the day. What the researchers showed is that all of the individuals who participated had massive negative adaptation. Their metabolism slowed way down.
Even though the participants lost an enormous amount of weight that sad fact is their metabolism was slowed so low that when they returned to even somewhat normal eating the weight came back on. In medical circles this is referred to as “The Biggest Loser Effect.” You don’t see people from this show coming back and bragging about how they kept the weight off. That paradigm leads to crash weight loss and rapid weight regain.
Simple Fasting is the Place to Start
This is why I counsel people about simple fasting. Exercise is not required. It is a simple practice. You dial in the diet in a sustainable pattern that helps to minimize hunger and aligns the food intake into Pathway A and balances things out with time in Pathway B.
Now, once you get into Pathway B then exercise is the perfect complement if you can do it. You are in the fat burning pathway. All the energy is coming from your stored reserves just like you would want. There is no need for your body to negatively adapt. Just make sure you get the diet right first. I have a number of patients who lost weight without exercising and then subsequently felt better enough that they could start exercising. Now that is a beautiful progression!
There are many advantages to exercising in the fasted state. Check those out here.
Trying to lose weight with fasted exercise? Make sure you are not consuming sports drinks for your routine exercise. Water is fine. And no artificial sweeteners!