A new study suggests that there is a number of calories that we can burn through exercise. So if your intensifying your workout regime and still not losing weight, here’s why.
The study looked at 332 adults living in the US, Jamaica and Africa. The group was a mix of active and sedentary individuals. The researchers measured the group’s activity levels using an accelerometer and measured the number of calories the participant burned over a week. The data showed that participants burned calories if they moved more but only up to a certain point. The more active participants, burned calories up to a certain level compared to the sedentary participants.
The research added to the data that suggests that, burning a lot of calories at one go is not a viable weight loss strategy. Herman Pontzer, associate professor of anthropology at Hunter College, and lead author of the study, said that “We can’t push the calories out [value] around too much, Our bodies work very hard to keep it the same.” This research may shift the public’s opinion, that to lose weight you need to exercise more. The professor went on to say “We would say that ‘If you want to lose weight, you probably ought to focus on changing your diet and watching how much you eat.’ Exercise can help and it’s really important [for health in general], but they are two different tools,”.
To burn more calories, Dr. Holly F. Lofton, director of the Medical Weight Management Program at NYU Langone Medical Center said “If you run all the time, try biking or swimming, and if you bike, try running or swimming, because using different muscles can increase your energy expenditure again, It may also be possible to decrease and then increase your activity again and get an increase [in calorie burning],”