Working Out Doesn't Work Off The Effects Of Poor Diet

Enthusiastic exercise won't cancel out the ill effects of bad diet, authors of a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine say. "Let us bust the myth of physical inactivity and obesity," the authors write. "You cannot outrun a bad diet."

All over the Western world people are eating more calories without burning them off by doing more exercise. Calorie intake, particularly of refined sugar, has soared, while physical activity levels have remained flat. Not surprisingly, obesity is now a worldwide epidemic. While most people clearly need more exercise, the answer to the obesity epidemic is not necessarily eating more.

Exercise Is Not Without Its Benefits

It's clear that exercise has major health benefits. A report from the United Kingdom's UK's Academy of Medical Royal Colleges described "‘the miracle cure’ of performing 30 minjutes of moderate exercise, five times a week, as more powerful than many drugs administered for chronic disease prevention and management." 

There is no doubt that regular exercise reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, certain kinds of cancer, and type 2 diabetes each by at least 30 percent. Regular exercise can sometimes (in conjunction with other treatments) even reverse cardiomyopathy, a potentially fatal condition. However, exercise is not a cure for obesity. 

The Problem Is Sugar

The reason working out is not enough to drop extra weight without proper diet is the peculiar role of sugar in human physiology. The human body does just fine (in most cases) with as much as 25 grams, or about 100 calories, worth of sugar a day in the diet. This can be either cane sugar or the fructose in fruit, berries, and high-fructose corn syrup, equivalent to two small pieces of fruit a day or about one-third of a common packaged snack. A small amount of fructose even helps the liver deal with glucose released from carbohydrate foods.

More than about 100 calories from sugar, however, or about 600 calories in total from all high-carbohydrate foods, overwhelms the body's ability to deal with sugar. Burning sugar releases free radicals. Free radicals are toxic. When the body has to release extra insulin to take sugar out of the bloodstream, it deactivates an enzyme called hormone-sensitive lipase. This keeps fat locked inside fat cells, even if you exercise. When this happens, your body can burn sugar (and that's not an altogether bad thing), but it cannot burn fat. Deactivating hormone-sensitive lipase also increases your appetite for sugar when you are under stress, since your body can't fuel itself to deal with the stress with fatty acids. You have to get your quick energy burst from sugar.

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Exercise Plus Bad Diet Increases Weight Rather Than Decreasing It

Unfortunately, that's not all. At the same time the body is deactivating hormone-sensitive lipase, it is reactivating another hormone called lipoprotein lipase. This hormone powers fat cells to take fatty acids out of the bloodstream and store them as fat. Not only can fat not get out to be burned during exercise, any excess fatty acids in your bloodstream as a result of overeating will be quickly stored as even more fat. For this reason, very few people lose weight when they exercise. Most people gain.

If Exercise Doesn't Take Off Excess Weight, What Does?

The point of this article is not to discourage anyone from exercise. Working out is good for general health. What exercise cannot do by itself is to help you lose weight. To lose weight, you have to restrict the amount of sugar in your diet. You need 100 calories a day or less in fruit and sweets (that's fruit and sweets together, not 100 calories of each), and no more than 600 calories a day of all carbohydrate foods. If you don't eat any fruit or sugary foods, you cannot have more than 150 grams (5 ounces) of all your carbohydrate foods. That's still 2 generous servings per meal.

Many calorie-counting diets allow for too much carbohydrate even while they restrict "energy" intake. The problem is that your body does not "count calories." It has energy needs, it has growth and repair needs, and it has to maintain your probiotic bacteria (hence you need some healthy plant foods every day). The macronutrients your body needs are measured in grams, not in calories. After all, your body doesn't "burn" protein, but most diets measure protein in calories.

What Works For Losing Weight?

Sugar is not absolutely toxic. However, if you cannot stop at 100 calories per day (25 grams, less than an ounce) it may be best not to eat any sugar at all.

Fruit is fine for phytonutrients, fiber, and vitamins. However, even if you are not diabetic, you need to limit yourself to two servings a day, and then only when you do not eat sweets.

Carbohydrates are OK in moderation. Boiled (not steamed) white (not brown) rice, boiled (not baked or fried) potatoes, and plantain provide carbohydrates in the form of starch. Your body takes longer to break down starch, so your pancreas does not need to release as much insulin, so your fat cells are able to release fatty acids into the bloodstream to be burned. That's where exercise comes in. If you are limiting your carbohydrate intake, then exercise helps you lose weight.

Your body needs some fat. Omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids, however, are actually toxic when consumed in excess. It's better to consume omega-9 fatty acids, such as those in olive oil, in moderation. Leaving all the fat out of a weight-loss diet can trigger gallbladder attacks.

You want to burn fat when you exercise, so don't drink sugary exercise drinks before you work out. It's OK to get your daily sugar quota in a drink or smoothie after you work out, since your muscles will be using glucose to rebuild their energy storage chemical glycogen. They make glycogen to "pump up" the muscle from glucose and water. You need both glucose and water for your muscles to rebuild after strenuous exercise.

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Working out hard is stressful. It's especially important to limit your consumption of sugar before, during, and after a hard workout. Your body releases "adrenalin" (catecholamines) during an intense workout that break down fat, but only if your blood sugar levels are normal, not high.