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Since 1980, the prevalence of obesity in the United States has tripled. It’s not surprising that losing weight is one of the most common New Year’s aspirations, as more than 40% of Americans are considered obese.
And there are many diet options. For the past 40 years, public health professionals and informal weight loss gurus have promoted all types of diets, including low-fat, low-carbohydrate, and every meal of grapefruit.
However, a new radical systematic review published in open access journals iScience In September, he claims that a healthier solution is to increase exercise rather than diet.
In the review, the author analyzed hundreds of academic papers on diet, weight loss, and fitness to determine the healthiest strategy for obese people.
They found that focusing on diet did not prevent weight gain in the long run. In fact, repeated diets increase the risk of gaining weight, creating a more serious problem called weight cycling, where you gain weight and then gain weight again. Weight cycling increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and death.
Instead, the authors found clear evidence that exercise is a surefire way for obese people to improve their overall health and well-being. Summarizing the data from all studies, the authors found that obese people who started exercising could reduce their risk of premature death by 30% without losing weight. Conversely, obese people who lose weight on a diet improve their risk of premature death by about 15% in some studies and less or no improvement in others.
In fact, reviews show that obese people who improve their fitness levels often have a lower risk of premature death than people of normal weight, but they are sick.
From time to time, reviews find that obese people lose weight when they start exercising. However, in many cases, new exercise plans do not lead to weight loss. Still, the data show that improving fitness often leads to changes in body composition, which in itself has health benefits. This is because exercise usually reduces visceral fat (the accumulated fat that surrounds the abdominal organs). Low visceral fat reduces the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.
Takeaway Message: If you want to make a New Year’s determination to improve your health, especially if you’re overweight or obese, it’s best to focus on exercise.
