Exercise is excellent for health
There is no question that exercise is good for your body and mind. A Cochrane Review of the best available research found that exercise provides a range of health benefits even when study participants did not change their diets. The benefits of exercise include modest weight loss, lower blood pressure, reduced triglycerides in the blood, and a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Exercise also lowers the risk of developing dementia, and it can improve cognitive abilities.
Exercise has a minimal effect on weight loss. Exercise can help you maintain your weight loss, but losing weight requires you to reduce your caloric intake. A study published in the journal in 2017 found that 14 of the contestants on the weight-loss reality show Biggest Loser found that the contestant who lost the most weight ate the least. There was no correlation between high levels of physical activity and weight loss on the show.
Mathematician and obesity researcher Kevin Hall of the National Institutes of Health authored this study. He noted that the Biggest Loser contestants who kept the weight off six years after appearing on the show did so through daily moderate to vigorous exercise. This shows that reduced caloric intake is required to lose weight, and exercise is required to keep the weight off.
