Taubes: Is Weight Loss From Exercising Or Are You Exercising Because You Lost Weight?

Given what we know about metabolic regulation, there doesn’t seem to be a direct mechanism by which exercise would increas fat loss. The indirect method may be by increasing insulin sensitivity of muscle tissue. I also have a sneaking suspicion that exercise might help clear excess insulin from the blood, so these things could work together. LPL response is complementary in fat and muscle, e.g. when insulin is low, LPL activity in fat is low (and HSL high) while LPL activity in muscle is high. So more fat gets released, muscle is better able to utilize both dietary and stored fat, etc.

Of course, this is not what is seen in animal studies. But diet probably plays a far more significant role in controlling insulin, i.e. you can exercise until you drop dead, but it won’t do you much good unless you change diet. If you do change diet in such a way that reduces insulin, then perhaps exercise will make a difference. We need a study comparing rats on identical low-carb diets doing various amounts of exercise.

Just guesses…

FWIW, there was a show on NOVA about a group of people who worked for the show and were being trained to run a marathon. This effort went on for something like 8-12 months. At the beginning and at the end after they had completed the marathon they took those x-rays you see on Biggest Loser of body fat composition. Bottom line was that only one person trying to lose weight showed a difference in body fat composition. One would have thought given these people had trained to run a marathon, which requires very intensive cardio workouts, they would have seen at least some difference in body fat composition. I understand Taubes viewpoint and the science seems to support his hypothesis. Diet seems to trump exercise for weight loss as this NOVA experience seems to show.

Not complete mud but not crystal clear either…’course I’ve not a great head for science or whatever.
When I went LC in JAN04, I noticed a marked increase in energy but my impulse was to get stuff done that I never had the energy to do…tear the carpet out of the basement, paint/redecorate a room, garden…not “exercise”. I did well for about 6 months, then came the first visit home to see my family since LC and I fell off the wagon and became stalled for nearly 2 years. Part was just stupid eating (not whole-hog HC but little things that I didn’t think were hurting me) and part laziness. I finally buckled down and started exercising more regularly and finally last summer I hit the 60 lb. lost mark (half way to my ultimate goal – YAY!). Once again stupidity got in the way, the exercise slowly dropped off and here I am now, 20+ pounds heavier…I think it’s a “Your Mileage May Vary” thing…what works for one, doesn’t work for another. I’m still fairly bumfuzzled – I am deep in ketosis, eating clean, trying to get the exercise in 3-4 times a week (more if I can) and yet I am not losing. Now what?

Researchers at Harvard have demonstrated that exercise not only aids in weight reduction, but helps in nearly every other aspect of health. To read more: http://harvardmagazine.com/2004/03/the-deadliest-sin.html

How come Olympic Champ Michael Phelps eats a high carb diet of 12,000 calories per day and has 4% body fat?

It is because of the 6 to 10 kilometers he swims daily, most of it sprints.

It is practically common knowledge among the women I know that exercise does NOT lead to weight loss. We are own own experiments. These are the details:

1. One woman joined a gym where a lot of her friends hung out and worked out 5 days a week for an entire school year – 45 minutes of cardio work at least. She did not lose a pound. She then cut calories and lost a bit of weight. She’s still struggling with her weight about 8 years later, and now she runs half marathons.

2. Another woman I know joined a gym and worked out every weekday morning before work at 6 a.m. religiously. She had been sedentary before, working at a desk job. Again, never lost a pound. Worked out for years but her weight stayed the same. Didn’t diet.

3. A good friend started running about 2 years ago and now does half-marathons as well. She gained 10 pounds in the last year.

4. My SIL has been running marathons for the past 12 years. In the past 2-3 years she’s probably gained at least 40 pounds.

5. My DH runs marathons – he’s about to run his 9th. He started running 9 years ago – he still can’t get rid of his “love handles” despite being otherwise thin. He doesn’t watch what he eats, but he doesn’t eat much – a smoothie during the day (no breakfast) and a reasonable dinner – steak and salad, for instance.

Weight loss is a popular topic among the people I know. It’s evident for our group that working out – even going from never exercising to exercising a lot – has no effect on our weights unless we diet as well. Then we inevitably fall off the diet. Those that work out just to have a healthier heart and more stamina seem to keep at it better than those of us that have started exercising to lose weight, who tend to give up when the weight doesn’t come off.

My brother, however, has lifted weights for years, but never did cardio, and he looks very fit. He probably has the best physique of anyone I know. I think I just learned something here!

As another marathoner, my weight has stayed consistently low while exercising or running, but when I stopped running (not changing my eating pattern) my weight went up slightly (5-8 pounds). Resume working out 5-6 days a week, and my weight almost immediately went back to goal weight. Granted this is just one more anecdotal account, but exercise is definitely attributabal to weight loss in my case.

Could it be that the previous anecdotal evidence of lack of weight loss could be hitting plateaus? I don’t know what else to explain it by in relation to my history with running.

That said I don’t believe its mechanism for weight loss is simply burning Calories. If it was it would be a linear relationship with the amount of exercise to the weight loss, and that certainly has not been the case. I think it is much closer to increasing one’s metabolism in relation to a stressful situation.

It took me a couple of months of weight loss before I had the energy to move my butt. But I always took what Mr. Taubes wrote and said in some of the lectures I’ve seen to mean that while exercise is a poorer choice to drive weight loss, it’s good for other reasons. Like to look good naked.

Dr. Berkeley’s point that “Exercise remains a crucial part of the formula for health. And health is the real reason that we seek to control our weight” brings us around full circle. Most people would not refute the health benefits of exercise; the issue is with exercise being promoted by the health community as a part of a formula to lose weight (and usually paired with a low fat diet). We’re still left wrangling with how much and what kind. People who believe it’s necessary for weight loss instead of simply gaining health begin to associate it with moral fortitude. How many times have we heard people calling themselves lazy, slothful, or other denigrating terms because they either don’t exercise or don’t feel that they’re doing enough? They may be doing enough for their health, and if it doesn’t really contribute to weight loss, doing more isn’t necessary and may not be optimal, but detrimental. Maybe the problem with being a couch potato stems from what the person is eating on that couch and not fall from the alleged lack of movement.

RE: “Do you think that’s too much?”

Well, yeah, I do, especially since it seems that you started to gain weight when you added the weight training (and people don’t usually gain that much in muscle weight that quickly). I’m thinking that your muscles mass may have already have been reduced from the weight loss and cardio. Adding the weight training may have sent your body into further stress mode. Too much exercise can raise blood sugar/insulin levels, causing fat gain. How to know? Here’s a resource that might be helpful for determining the actual effect that exercise has on the body and whether you are doing too much. Why head in the opposite direction of where you want to go (stronger and leaner) if you don’t have to, even if it does feel good? Note Methuselah’s point above: “Now that I am low carb I do a fraction of the weekly exercise (all non-cardio) and am a lean as a greyhound!”

http://www.drdebe.com/makinghormones.html

I was interested in reading this column as I thought Taubes may actually clarify/specify his obfuscated and incomplete claims on exercise and fat loss that he outlined in GCBC.

Right out of the shoot, the book itself is outstanding in many ways. It is one of the most comprehensive books on nutrition I have ever read.

The problem is, is that Gary never distinguishes between the types of exercise as an intervention for fat loss. If he were to say that doing only long, slow cardio is not very effective for weight loss – I’m on board. If he were to rail against the notion that you can just work out and don’t have to change your diet and still lose – again I’m with him. Also, we can’t assume that he doesn’t see weight loss and fat loss as interchangeable terms. A major discernement.

Unfortunately, Taubes ignores much of the evidence that performing well-timedy bouts of metabolically-stimilating resistance training, HIIT and lower intensity cardio will produce more effective fat loss.

In terms of Fred Hahns take, I agree with him that resistance training is crucial for body composition, but there is also a place for cardio exercise.

On Taubes’ assertion that exercising makes you hungry – again there is evidence of the contrary. He seems to cherry pick his studies here. Here are some studies that show otherwise:
(hat tip to Tom Venuto for these)

Blundell JE, cross talk between physical activity and appetite control: does physical activity stimulate appetite? Proc Nutr Soc, 62, 651-661. 2003
Donahoo WT, Variability in energy expenditure and its components. Curr Op Clin Nutr Metab. 7: 599-605. 2004.
King NA, et al, Individual variability following 12 weeks of supervised exercise: Identification and characterization of compensation for exercise-induced weight loss. Int J Obes, 32, 177-184, 2008.
King NA, effects of exercise on appetite control: Implications for energy balance. Med Sci Sport Exer, 29(8): 1076-1089. 1997
King, NA, The relationship between physical activity and food intake. 57: 77-84. 1998.
Lluch A, Exercise enhances palatability of food, but does not increase food consumption, in lean restrained females. Int J Obes, 21: supp a129.Melzer K., effects of physical activity on food intake. Clin Nutr, 24: 885-895. 2005
Slentz CA. Effects of the amount of exercise on body weight, body composition, and measures of central obesity. Arch Intern Med. 164: 31-39. 2004
Titchenal A., Exercise and Food Intake: what is the relationship? Sports Med, 6: 135-145. 1988
Yoshioka M, Impact of high-intensity exercise on energy expenditure, lipid oxidation and body fatness. Int J Obes. 25, 332-339. 2001

Taubes’ assertions to me come across as another angle for which to create a stir. His claims are pretty bold but he does not supply the extraordinary evidence to satisfy his extraordinary claims.

If Taubes were just raising a minor objection to certain aspects of the exercise = weight loss theory, I don’t have a problem. The problem I have, is that he presents his “exercise is useless for fat loss claim” with the same conviction as he does with the lipid hypothesis topic.

Thanks for allowing me to express my opinion, Jimmy! Perhaps you can coax Gary into a clarification on how he defines “exercise”? Until he makes such a qualification, I have to call him out on making misleading blanket statements.

I’ll part with this study conducted by Kraemer et al. that took a diet only, diet + endurance training and diet + endurance + weight training.

12 week results:
- Diet only group: -6.68 kg fat loss (-2.96kg lean mass)
- Diet + Endurance: -7 kg fat mass (-2.0 kg lean mass)
- Diet + Endurance + strength: -9.97 kg fat mass
(only .33 kg lean mass loss)

For more of Gary Taubes’ position on exercise and losing weight, see The Scientist and the Stairmaster, http://nymag.com/news/sports/38001/

I think Mike’s claim that “Taubes’ assertions to me come across as another angle for which to create a stir. His claims are pretty bold but he does not supply the extraordinary evidence to satisfy his extraordinary claims” is a bit harsh. Since Gary is a scientist and not a researcher, he focuses on what the research seems to show. Nothing is hard and fast; some conclusions are made by a preponderance of the evidence. His method of explanation is more of a story than a proclamation of truth, a “what if?” He uses phrase such as “seems to” or “tends to” or “might be.” So I don’t think that Taubes is making extraordinary claims; he’s merely presenting the past and current thoughts on the subject, based on a wide variety of studies and expert opinions. As he says in the article referenced above, “There was a time when virtually no one believed exercise would help a person lose weight. Until the sixties, clinicians who treated obese and overweight patients dismissed the notion as naïve.” He then goes on to explain how that attitude changed and why the notion stuck.

Gary is spot on correct. I have been telling people for over a decade now that exercise is not the solution for fat loss. I always ask my clients “How do you think you got over fat in the first place?” Their answer is always “I eat too much.”

Fact: There are scores of over fat and fit people and scores of lean couch potatoes. This is inarguable. But you will NEVER find and over fat or obese person who eats correctly.

Exercise is for reversing the loss of lean tissue and adding some – a lot if possible. This leads to a faster metabolism, denser bones, stronger muscles and improved blood markers including insulin sensitivity.

Strength training and low carbing are the roads that lead to leanness and robust health. Why not give it a try and see?

Jimmy, thanks for the pointer to your test showing you are high insulin even after a low carb meal.

What I’m trying to say, and not getting through – there is a difference between controlling carbs, and controlling insulin. As you are demonstrating, one can have low carbs and still have insulin high enough to prevent fat loss. It takes just a little insulin to prevent fat coming from fat stores.

What can raise insulin even with low carbs?

- eating all daily protein in one or two meals (all eating raises insulin a little, and a big protein load higher)

- eating frequently – contributes to a lower first phase insulin release, then an inevitable a high second phase insulin

- sweets eaten alone between meals – the taste of sweet, with or without calories, raises insulin in some people.

- fruit eaten without protein (you don’t get the glucagon rise) – I think all low-carb writers advise this. Fat slows down some but without the glucagon rise, it is harder.

- exercise that raises cortisol (moderate or higher cardio) , frequent enough that cortisol is often high

Put all these together and it would be really hard to achieve fat loss. JMO.

Well insulin stays high for 2.5 – 3 hours in healthy people after eating a medium size meal. It can be > 3 hours longer than that if one has a genetic “lively” insulin response, or if the metabolic organs are tired from years of trying to handle too many whites and sweets.

3 meals 5-6 hours apart to me seems ideal (and is working for me). That way, each meal can be medium, I can be satisfied, and it gives insulin enough time to come down before refeeding.

The question always comes up: how come some people thrive on eating every 2-3 hours? My personal take on that is, a) I can’t; b) they might not have genetic lively insulin; c) their muscles might take up glucose better; e) they might be able to do sugar-burning exercise without excess cortisol, unlike me; d) they might be younger with less internal damage; e) they might be cruisin for a bruisin; f) their insulin system is different; g) they are satisfied on meals so small as to make insulin small too (ugh). I wouldnt do it any more is all I know.

Disclaimer: neither Atkins nor Eades talks about meal timing in this way. I got this more from recent research and I would recommend Byron Richards’ “leptin diet” as a good intro) so perhaps not traditional low carb in Jimmy’s Atkins tradition

Purely anecdotal but I started a resistance and cardio training programme at the beginning of the year and after six months had lost no weight (but had lost inches). Two months ago, I started low-carbing and immediately lost three kilograms, which I have kept off.

Now I am trying to work out how to lose more!

To Barbara Berkley, MD

Wow did you really read Taubes book or are you just a medical mafia troll?