As you know by now, I’m a big believer in science.
When it comes to exercise, nutrition and overall health, science beats theory every time.
🙂
That’s why I want to share with you the results of a groundbreaking study co-authored by scientists from the University of Virginia and Arizona State University.
In a nutshell, the study showed that “obese people typically lower their risks of heart disease and premature death far more by gaining fitness than by dropping weight or dieting.”
Researchers found that sedentary, obese individuals who start exercising and improve their fitness can lower their risk of premature death by as much as 30% or more, even if their weight doesn’t change.
But wait, there’s more:
– A massive study published in Circulation found that working out two to four times beyond the minimum recommended physical activity levels led to a significantly lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
– Another study involving nearly 200,000 adults with obesity showed that those who were physically active had a 21% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 24% lower risk of cardiovascular mortality compared to those who were insufficiently active.
Of course, we’d all love to drop a few pounds and look better in our clothes … and out of them.
😉
But there are two takeaways that I think are important here:
1. Nutritional intervention has been shown in study after study to be more effective for weight loss than exercise alone.
2. Weight loss isn’t the only benefit of exercise, and so it shouldn’t be our sole motivation for doing it.
How about being stronger and more capable?
How about being more resistant to disease?
How about getting out of pain?
How about living longer … and better?
Those seem like much better reasons to me than dropping a dress size or fitting into skinny jeans.
I don’t know about you, but I’m about to go knock out some deadlifts instead of stepping on the scale.