| Weight Loss - Exercise more effective than dieting |
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| Tuesday, 21 November 2006 | |
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The 12 month study covered 34 adults aged from 50 to 60 years old, with 18 of the participants using dieting alone and 16 using increased exercise alone to lose weight. While the dieting group lost slightly more weight (10.7%) than the exercising group (9.5%), they also suffered a decrease in muscle volume, knee strength and aerobic fitness. Thus the dieters were less fit than the exercise group at the end of the study. Although not proposed by the study, this might go some way to explain why dieting alone rarely offers long term weight control, with most dieters regaining all, or most of the weight lost after the diet period is over. Those who exercise will increase their metabolic rate, which controls the rate at which the body can burn off calories. "Exercise-induced weight loss provides the additional benefit of improving physical performance capacity. If push comes to shove and somebody wants to know if they should diet or exercise to lose weight, I would suggest exercise, provided they are willing to put in the extra time and effort and not offset the gains they make by eating more," said Edward Weiss, author of the study and nutritionist at Saint Louis University's Doisy College of Health Sciences. The findings of the research were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology. |
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