So what’s worse: Eating more or exercising less?
A new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine reports that not getting enough exercise may be the reason behind America’s obesity epidemic–not calories.
Dr. Uri Ladabaum, who led the study, now says that people should focus more on exercise to keep their weight under control.
“We wouldn’t say that calories don’t count, but the main takeaway is that we have to look very carefully at physical activity,” says Ladabaum, who serves as a professor of gastroenterology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. “The problem is not all in the intake of calories.”
Ladabaum originally made these findings after reviewing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which took place between 1988 and 2010. He used this data to look for trends in obesity rates, physical activity, and caloric intake over the past 20 years.
From what he observed, the data actually showed that the amount of calories people consumed over this time period didn’t change significantly. But what did change significantly was the amount of exercise people were getting.
“We suspected there was a trend in that direction, but not that magnitude,” says Laudbaum. “People can get exercise in other ways, but most people don’t walk or bike to work, and most people are not in jobs that require physical activity.”
According to his findings, around 11 to 19 percent of people reported getting no exercise in 1988. However, that number grew to 43 to 52 percent heading into 2010.
Obviously, if you don’t exercise, you’ll have a hard time maintaining your weight.
This is something other experts also point out.
“The finger wagging Puritan in me wants sedentary folks to get off the couch and exercise, but my public health background cautions me to go beyond the data tables and look at the lives of Americans today,” says Pamela Powers Hannely, managing editor of the American Journal of Medicine, where the study was first published. “Single mothers in particular may have difficulty figuring out how to work exercise in to their already hectic lives.”
What You Should Do
If you’re struggling to maintain your weight, this study shows that focusing on your diet may not be the most important factor. Instead, focus on how active your lifestyle is–the more exercise you get, the better. For an easy way to stay active, try going for a short, 10-minute walk every few hours or so to keep your body (and that calorie burn) moving.
“Even though it is very difficult to prove directly that public health interventions promoting physical activity will make a difference, I think they will,” says Laudbaum. “This study should serve as a reinforcement of the message that we need to think of a multi-component solution where diet is a big part of it, and physical activity is a big part as well.”
Readers: How active are you on a daily basis?
Source:
Lack of Exercise Linked to Rise in Obesity – LATimes.com
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