A new study has found that exercising may not actually help you to lose weight. That sounds like bad news, but the good news is that exercise does gets rid of 'unseen' but dangerous fat stored around internal organs such as the liver.
Carrying out between two to six months of endurance training led test subjects to lose little or no weight, research has revealed.
But the exercise ate away visceral fat that was cloaking their organs. It is this kind of fat that is notorious for causing health problems like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
The findings reveal how some people can appear healthy and lean, but carry a lot of unwanted fat on the inside.
Scientists from Liverpool John Moore's University and Radboud University in Holland looked at the results of 117 cases. They found that after training, the average weight loss of participants was only one per cent of their total weight. This ranged from nothing at all to 8.8 pounds.
But there was a 6 per cent reduction in visceral fat. One reason for this is that exercise inevitably increases muscle mass - which is much heavier than fat.
The scientists say that the difference is like losing 5 per cent in body weight by exercising, and simultaneously losing 21.3 per cent of visceral fat.
However, if 5 per cent weight is lost by calorie restriction alone, only 13.4 per cent of visceral fat will be used up, they say.
According to the journal Obesity Reviews, calorie reduction via dieting results in more weight loss than exercise. But then adequate amounts of nutrients have to be eaten to prevent health problems from appearing. That is the important thing to get right.
The researchers argue that while we are advised to keep our weight down, visceral fat may be a bigger health threat. Because exercise does not reduce weight, that does not mean it has been ineffective.
The data strongly indicates that physicians and medical practitioners ought to be careful when interpreting a lack of weight loss in patients undergoing exercise. That will be due to muscular mass probably increasing.
Professor Dick Thijssen, co-researcher said:
"These results clearly demonstrate that the powerful effect of exercise training on body composition cannot be detected on weighing scales.
"Don't let the scales mislead you, especially when exercise makes you fitter, gets rid of some abdominal fat and markedly improves health risks."
George Blays writes a weekly newsletter on ways to lose weight and other health issues. You can subscribe to it for free here.
George also writes a blog on health, fat loss, food, and dieting. Visit it here at George Blay's Blog
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