So how does exercise relate to weight loss? Well we know that to lose weight you need to take in fewer calories as food than you burn through exercise and other activities. Exercise can help you burn more calories than without it, so weight loss should be helped by increased activity. While that’s true, it’s a bit more complex than that with real implications for losing weight. Before we discuss that we need to better understand some concepts that a discussion of exercise and prevention can best illustrate.

Beyond its effect on weight loss, one of the major benefits of exercise is in prevention. A recent study (1) in women underscores these key relationships. This study built upon the large Nurses’ Health Study. This study looked at data on over 88,000 women ages 39 to 59 from 1980 through 2000. None of these women had heart disease or cancer when the study began. Over the 20 years of the study, the women reported their diet, physical activity level and waist circumference every 2 years. The results found that women who were inactive and obese had nearly 3.5 times the risk of having coronary heart disease than those who were active and lean. The lead researcher, Dr. Frank B. Hu, noted, “A high level of physical activity did not eliminate the risk of coronary heart disease with obesity, and leanness did not counteract the increased coronary heart disease risk associated with inactivity.”

In the next post I’ll talk about some recommendations for exercise in healthy adults.

For Your Health – Dr. Bob

Footnotes: (1) Circulation. 2006;113:499-506