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Why exercise alone wont help you lose weight?

We have long heard it that you have to exercise more in order to lose weight. The fitness industry, the biggest loser show, the media, and most government agencies have long stressed how important it is to exercise more in order to lose weight.


Despite the long help belief that exercise helps lose weight, large scale research studies have conclusively shown that exercise alone is almost useless for weight loss at a population level.

Here is a review of the research studies, articles in various news outlets and magazines summarizing the current research and scientific thinking on the role exercise plays in weight loss.

More articles on the science on whether exercise alone, without a restricted diet, can help you lose weight!


What is the latest research on the role of exercise for weight loss?

According to Dr. Prab R. Tumpati, MD, founder of W8MD Medical Weight Loss Centers of America, exercise is only proven to be useful in maintaining ones weight on population based studies. When it comes to losing weight, exercise alone, without a restrictive diet, is not very useful in helping one lose weight.



But we were told you need to exercise in order to lose weight by many? Is there any evidence in it?

Unfortunately, it is a myth that exercise alone helps one lose weight without a restrictive diet - partly because it takes about 18 miles of walking to lose one pound of body fat by an average person and by the time you walk about 3-5 miles, you get so hungry that you tend to eat more calories when you eat! Also, exercise tends to build more muscle tissue and muscle is considered almost twice as heavy as fat tissue! Both these factors negate the fat burning by exercise although exercise has some other benefits!

In fact, some of the heaviest people on the planet tends to be the heavy weight wrestlers such as those on the WWW network who tend to weight 300-400 lbs! If they do not exercise, nobody exercises! So, if exercise alone is what makes a person lose weight, how is it that these wrestlers are 300-400 lbs? 

Well established research has shown that exercise alone is pretty useless for weight loss!



What role does exercise play in weight loss?

The role exercise plays in helping one lose weight is more of a support role, than the lead role according to Dr. Prab. R. Tumpati, MD, a leading weight loss physician and founder of W8MD.
Studies have shown that if you do not exercise, and eat to your bodies satisfaction, you can gain a few pounds. However, if you exercise and eat to the bodies satisfaction, you will maintain weight, not lose weight, unless you restrict the caloric intake at the same time!



In other words, exercise helps maintain weight, not necessarily help you lose weight on its own!

What really works for weight loss, if exercise alone is useless?

Although there are over 20,000 books written, which means there are 20,000 diet plans, there are only 5 proven measures to help you lose weight, believe it or not.

What are the 5 proven measures to help you lose weight? How is obesity treated?

Obesity is treated using one or more of these proven strategies:

∎ a diet low in calories using VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) or LCD (Low Calorie Diet) Plans which are often low in carbohydrates
∎ increased physical activity only in combination with low calorie diet
∎ behavior therapy for correction of underlying factors leading to weight gain
∎ prescription medications like the new Contrave, Saxenda, Belviq, Qsymia, or older diet pills such as Phentermine, Phendimetrazine, Diethylpropion, Xenical etc.
∎ weight-loss surgery or bariatric surgery





I eat very healthy, exercise regularly but still can't seem to lose much weight. Why so?

The biggest mistake people make when trying to lose weight is confuse healthy eating as weight loss eating, according to Dr. Tumpati, a leading weight loss physician. According to Dr. Tumpati, losing weight should be focused on burning fat effectively! The secret to understanding how to lose fat weight is to understand how our body chooses which fuel it burns at any given point in time.

What are the three fuels that the body can burn for its internal energy needs?

The body can choose between the following three sources of energy at any given point in time.

1. Carbohydrates which becomes glucose in the body
2. Fat which becomes fatty acids and or ketone bodies in the body
3. The last resort option is protein, which can be ones own muscle tissue.

What determines which fuel the body burns for energy at any given point in time?

The body chooses its fuel source between carbohydrates, fat or protein based on the following:
The preferred fuel for the body is carbohydrates (glucose) which is plentiful right after a starchy meal. 

The carbs in the food become absorbed as glucose and fructose by the body and glucose stimulates the production of a hormone called insulin which in turn makes the body to convert excess glucose in to future sources of energy by converting in to fat. So, if the glucose levels are high and insulin levels are high, the body stores fat. 

Three to four hours after a meal, glucose levels go down to baseline level, and the insulin levels also go down to baseline provided the person is not "insulin resistant"

However, partly due to the misguided efforts from the food pyramid, which misunderstood the fat, and made low fat, high starch diet as healthy, the current so called healthy diet is modified to be low fat and high starch. This means that our bodies are overexposed to starch and the subsequent high insulin production which has the effect of not only making one store this excess starch in to fat but also make one insulin resistant.
What is insulin resistance and how can it lead to weight gain?

Insulin is a hormone that is traditionally believed to control blood sugars. Although it does control blood sugars, the other important function that insulin plays is the it harder for a person to burn fat as high insulin levels at baseline that happen in individuals that are insulin resistant make a person unable to burn fat in between the meals!
That means that the person who is insulin resistant (up to 71 percent of all adults and many children, are believed to be insulin resistant), three to four hours after a meal, the blood sugar is dropping, insulin levels are high leading to what is called hypoglycemic reaction that sets in intense craving for sugary or starchy foods.

I always that it is my weakness for starchy foods that is making me gain weight. Could it be that my insulin resistance is what is making me crave the carbs to begin with?
Absolutely. It is one of the most misunderstood topics as to what makes a person crave the carbs. In fact, this underlying metabolic process called insulin resistance is what drives the overeating,  and craving for starchy foods! However, we are used to this "blame the victim" for obesity, overeating or food cravings without understanding what is making the person crave those foods to begin with. The underlying process of insulin resistance is what drives the overeating, not the other way round!

Is blaming the obese blaming the victim without understanding what is making that person overeat?
Yes. Watch this amazing Ted Talk by Dr. Peter Attia, that explains why blaming the obese is blaming the victim.

I am tired of the fad diets! I have tried many of these and need a weight loss program that is based on scientific evidence. Where can I find one?

As the worlds leading weight loss program that is evidence based and aims to reverse the true causes of weight gain such as insulin resistance, stress eating, eating disorders, sleep disorders, nutritional deficiencies, metabolic factors, genetic factors, hormonal imbalances, medications, and other reversible causes that make one gain weight, W8MD medical weight loss centers programs are unlike any other non-surgical weight loss program.


What Makes Medical Weight Loss Centers of America's weight loss program different?

Evidence based medicine is the difference! As the nations leading evidence based, physician supervised, insurance physician weight loss program offered in many states, W8MD medical weight loss centers of America will help lose weight using evidence based, proven measures for fast and safe weight loss under careful physician supervision, not a fad diet!

As most W8MD weight loss centers accept most health insurances for physician weight loss visits, with minimal administrative cost of an additional $50.00 biweekly that includes up to two weight loss prescription medications or meal replacement supplements, losing weight has never been easier! 

Think W8MD (W'eight'MD) for weight loss!

1-800-W8MD-007

We have locations in many states and do get patients from far and near as our physicians are some of the most experienced and well trained in the new field of obesity medicine.

Physicians add W8MD weight loss program at your medical office!


As one of the very few non-surgical physician weight loss programs in the country that is based on evidence based medicine, W8MD Medical Weight Loss Centers physician supervised weight loss programs are the last hope for many trying to lose weight!

W8MD’s NYC Weight Loss, Sleep & Medspa
Manhattan, NY – 401 E 55th Street New York, NY 10022
Poly-Tech Sleep, W8MD Weight Loss & MedSpa – King of Prussia, PA
 Coming soon – W8MD Weight Loss, Sleep & Medical Spa Cherry Hill, NJ
Weight loss success stories

FANTASTIC program! Truly a life changer!  The first several months I lost on average 3 pounds a week. I have now lost 87 pounds in 10 months and I'm still losing! I can say it feels almost effortless, for with the elimination of most carbs plus the medication I have ZERO cravings and minimal hunger.

My cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar have all returned to normal having previously been considerably elevated. I look and feel twenty years younger (I am 57.) Staff is friendly and supportive, and the science works.

I did not think that I would be able to achieve such results, and certainly not in less than a year. I am amazed at my success, and I could not have done it without Dr. Tumpati and W8MD.  D. M. *

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