The basic principle of weight loss is straightforward: if you consume fewer calories than you burn, you’ll lose weight. In practice, though, this isn’t usually so easy or simple. Alongside counting calories or eating smaller portions, many people add exercise into the equation when trying to lose weight to help tip the balance.
Yet, research shows that exercise may only have modest effects on weight loss. But before you ditch your workouts, it’s important to note that exercise still plays a really important role when it comes to health—perhaps especially in keeping the pounds off after reaching your goal weight.
### Why Exercise Doesn’t Always Result in Huge Weight Loss
Several processes help explain why exercise doesn’t always lead to significant weight loss. For instance, exercise can stimulate appetite, leading to increased food intake. People may also subconsciously move less throughout the rest of the day after doing a workout, which means exercise may have less impact on their overall calorie deficit.
Additionally, the body becomes more efficient over time, burning fewer calories while doing the same activity. This process, sometimes called “metabolic adaptation,” reflects the body’s tendency to defend against weight loss. From an evolutionary perspective, conserving energy during periods of intense physical activity probably protected our ancestors from starvation. But in today’s world, metabolic adaptation is one of many factors that can make weight loss difficult.
### The Importance of Exercise
Although exercise may not be the main driver of weight loss, it seems to play a crucial role in maintaining weight loss. In a study of over 1,100 people, physical activity was shown to have little effect on the amount of weight a person initially lost. However, performing higher levels of activity after losing weight was strongly linked to maintaining the weight loss.
It’s also worth noting that exercise is associated with measurable health improvements including better cholesterol, lower inflammation, improved blood sugar control, and enhanced insulin sensitivity. These benefits are linked with a lower risk of health problems such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
These many health benefits highlight just how important it is to exercise both while losing weight and maintaining weight loss. Evidence also suggests that combining exercise with weight loss drugs (such as Saxenda) may help people maintain their weight loss better than using the drug alone.
### Why Exercise Works for Weight Maintenance
It may seem confusing that exercise isn’t especially effective for losing weight but can help prevent weight regain. The reasons behind this paradox aren’t fully understood, but several mechanisms may offer an explanation.
First, when we lose weight, our resting energy expenditure (the amount of calories our body burns at rest) decreases by more than you would expect for the amount of weight lost. This decrease contributes to weight regain. However, exercise raises total daily energy expenditure, which can help to partially offset this drop.
Second, weight loss usually results in the loss of both fat and muscle. Losing muscle lowers resting energy expenditure and can contribute to weight regain. But exercise, especially resistance training (such as Pilates or lifting weights), can help preserve or even rebuild muscle mass. This boosts metabolism and may aid in long-term weight maintenance.
Physical activity also helps maintain the body’s ability to burn fat. After losing weight, the body often becomes less efficient at using fat for energy. But intense exercise can improve fat burning and metabolic flexibility—the ability to switch between burning carbohydrates and fat depending on availability. This helps the body continue to burn fat even when calorie intake is low or weight is lost.
Exercise improves insulin sensitivity as well, reducing the amount of insulin required to regulate blood sugar. This is beneficial since higher insulin levels can promote fat storage and reduce fat breakdown.
### Additional Benefits of Exercise
Exercise has many indirect effects that can aid in weight maintenance. For example, it can improve sleep quality, enhance mood, and reduce stress levels. These factors help lower the stress hormone cortisol, which could reduce fat storage.
Regular physical activity also helps regulate appetite and blood glucose levels, which may reduce cravings and limit overeating.
### Individual Differences and Types of Exercise
It’s important to acknowledge that everyone is different, meaning we all respond differently to exercise in terms of calories burned or changes in hunger after a workout. Different types of workouts also offer unique benefits for health and weight maintenance:
– **Aerobic Exercise:** Activities like brisk walking, cycling, or running burn calories and, at higher intensities, may enhance the body’s ability to burn fat for fuel.
– **Resistance Training:** This type of exercise helps build and preserve muscle mass, supporting a higher resting energy expenditure and aiding long-term weight maintenance.
### Conclusion
Exercise may not be the most powerful tool for losing weight, but it can help sustain hard-earned weight loss. Perhaps most importantly, it offers many physical and mental health benefits that go far beyond the numbers on the scale.
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If you care about weight loss, consider reading studies about an orange that could help obesity, and a berry that may prevent cancer, diabetes, and obesity. For more health information, explore recent studies about ginger’s role in weight management and the benefits of green tea—a cup of weight loss.
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