DGS49
Diamond Member
Many, many makers of exercise equipment claim that their happy and satisfied customers have lost weight due to using their treadmill, stepper, elliptical machine, or whatever.
I notice that they don't directly make the cause-effect claim, but rather use statements like, "I lost 30 pounds since I started using my...!" This doesn't really say that the machine was the reason for the weight loss, but the implication certainly is there. When you dig a little deeper, you learn that the person went on a diet AND started using the machine.
When I was a runner I never gained or lost weight in any measurable amount, regardless of whether I was running 10 miles per week or 25. When you consider that you MIGHT burn an extra hundred calories per mile of running/jogging (over your base metabolism), it would theoretically take running an extra 35 miles to lose a single pound. Assuming no increase in calorie consumption. That is a shitload of work to lose a pound.
So my conclusion is that you cannot lose weight by exercise. Exercise can be a good supplement to a weight-loss diet; it takes your mind off food and does burn some extra calories, but I have never seen anyone lose anything more than an initial 5-10 pounds of "water weight" by exercising. And that invariably comes back after a relatively short period of time.
Anyone have any different experience?
I notice that they don't directly make the cause-effect claim, but rather use statements like, "I lost 30 pounds since I started using my...!" This doesn't really say that the machine was the reason for the weight loss, but the implication certainly is there. When you dig a little deeper, you learn that the person went on a diet AND started using the machine.
When I was a runner I never gained or lost weight in any measurable amount, regardless of whether I was running 10 miles per week or 25. When you consider that you MIGHT burn an extra hundred calories per mile of running/jogging (over your base metabolism), it would theoretically take running an extra 35 miles to lose a single pound. Assuming no increase in calorie consumption. That is a shitload of work to lose a pound.
So my conclusion is that you cannot lose weight by exercise. Exercise can be a good supplement to a weight-loss diet; it takes your mind off food and does burn some extra calories, but I have never seen anyone lose anything more than an initial 5-10 pounds of "water weight" by exercising. And that invariably comes back after a relatively short period of time.
Anyone have any different experience?