Dieters Reduce Calorie Intake Instead of Increasing Exercise, Poll Reveals
A new poll reveals that many dieters count calories rather than exercising to lose weight. In the recent study of the 2,000 people surveyed, only 59 percent claimed that exercise made a greater contribution to personal health that counting calories alone.
According to the study, when trying to lose weight, women count calories more than men do.
There are many low-calorie choices of food available on the market, which are causing people to just cut back on food intake rather than exercising.
A sports scientist who conducted the study said, “The trend of people swapping the gym for a low calorie meal is very worrying. Consuming fewer calories is no substitute for exercise. We cannot afford to become a nation of calorie-counting couch potatoes — the benefits of leading active lives are enormous.”
“I’m not surprised by the results. A lot of people find the idea of going to the gym quite daunting and so reducing calorie intake seems to be an easier option. We promote physical activity as opposed to going to the gym per se. Things like taking the stairs instead of using the lift and walking when ever possible to increase your energy expenditure throughout the day. The recommendation is 60 minutes of activity a day. That can be done in smaller slots,” said Charlene Shoneye, research dietician at Weight Concern.
Frank Mangano’s commentary:
The fact of the matter is this. Exercise can never be substituted for anything, especially reduced food intake. Reason being is this. Aside from aiding weight loss, exercise has countless other benefits including building strength in both muscles and bones as well as lowering blood pressure and reducing stress.
Cutting back on food intake and counting calories may help you temporarily lose weight but it does nothing for your heart and mind.
Eating the right type of foods is what people should be more concerned with as certain diets aimed at aiding weight loss can be extremely unhealthy.
If you’re serious about losing weight and more importantly achieving optimal health, maintain a diet low in bad fats while increasing your intake of healthy fats, avoid refined carbohydrates and by all means, start doing some type of exercise on a daily basis as a sedentary lifestyle causes more deaths than smoking.
If you’re just beginning, start with 30 minutes of continuous exercise per day, such as walking. Gradually work your way up to longer durations. Although smaller slots of exercise is better than not exercising at all, continuous exercise will yield substanically more health benefits.
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Posted: May 10th, 2007 under Dieting.
