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?
Probably lose weight intially, but weight shouldn't be the standard you go by since muscle is 3 times heavier. You'll be burning off the protein first, then the carbs, then lastly the fat. Your measurements should shrink, but your weight may well go up as you replace fat with muscle. Why the whole height-weight metric is worthless. If we relied on that then nearly every athlete would be considered morbidly obese having so much msucle that for their height it would seem they must be fat when they're anything but.
Don't need equipment to exercise and get fit. Didn't use a thing in basic training. It's simply a question of how badly do you want it? And are you going to make it a lifestyle change and commitment? No sense starting an exercise regime unless you're going to make it part of the rest of your life.
When you quit exercising, all that muscle reverts to fat. So exercise is something that if you don't keep at it any gains will be lost once you stop. Look at what happened to Arnold Schwarzenegger when he got into politics and stopped having time to stay tone. He became a fat bastard.
circa 2012
