Getting Lean: Harder for those that need it most

Life is not fair.

We hear stories where a wealthy person wins the lottery. Or of a gainfully employed person is presented with multiple job offers. Aging quarterbacks move their supermodel wives and families to a new team and win the Super Bowl in the first year.

And other times there are stories of someone who is trying to do the right thing, play by the rules, and gets caught up in bureaucratic red tape on a business, legal or immigration matter.

Recent research published in Current Biology is another example of how life can be unfair.

Researchers looked at 1750 subjects in this study and found that caloric expenditure was less at the end of the day after exercising. Making the problem worse was the fact that those with the highest BMIs (more obese) burned fewer calories. And older subjects burned fewer calories as well. 

Basically the study participants that were the most obese burned only 51% of the calories from exercise, compared to 72% of calories burned in individuals with normal BMIs.

What the researchers found was that obese people will adjust their resting metabolism to account for the calories expended during exercise. For every calorie burned during exercise, for obese people, they save about a half calorie while at rest.

So knowing this, what should we do?

1. Plan Conservatively

Instead of your hour hike burning 300 calories, realize this could be cut down and result in 150 to 225 calories burned. This is especially true of cardio machines that give you an estimate of the amount of energy expended. Cut this in half.

2. Journal Your Nutrition

Since the calories burned from exercise won't be as great as possible, it is that much more important to be aware of the inputs. Write down what you are eating, the amounts and times. This will help you recognize trends and see where to make changes to have the most impact.

3. Sleep Like a Baby

My sister has a newborn baby. And one of the things babies do is sleep, besides eat and fill their diapers. Not only do babies sleep a lot they have a very consistent routine on this and their moms don't let them deviate from this schedule ever. Steal a page out of the newborn's book and look to get to bed at a decent hour every night this week.

4. Recognize the Other Benefits of Exercise

While exercise has a negative impact on the calories burned during rest for obese and elderly individuals, this doesn't mean we should just give up when it comes to exercise as a tool to get lean. Regular, intense exercise leads to better nutrition and sleep. A great training session can also be very effective to relieve stress. Plus an active lifestyle is important for many other areas of our healthy including prevent injury, maintaining bone mass and making us more resistant to disease.

I remember a business colleague saying he enjoyed hearing good news. And he could deal with the bad news. What he couldn't manage was not knowing.

While this isn't great news, at least we're aware. We now know how the deck is stacked against us and we can plan accordingly.

Reference

Careau, V., Halsey, L. G., Pontzer, H., Ainslie, P. N., Andersen, L. F., Anderson, L. J., ... & Speakman, J. R. (2021). Energy compensation and adiposity in humans. Current Biology.