Exercise alone won’t help you lose weight, one of the nation’s top experts has claimed.
Professor Tim Spector, a prolific dietetics researcher and author, has acknowledged that exercise is “great” for your overall health, especially your heart.
He even insisted that “we should all do it”.
But in terms of weight loss, Prof Spector argued exercise was ‘not helpful on its own’. It goes against the advice of health agencies across the planet who say it is ‘key’ to beating the bulge.
Professor Spector acknowledged that while exercise is “great for your health” and “fantastic for your mood”, you shouldn’t exercise alone if “your goal is to lose weight”.
Professor Tim Spector (pictured above) said exercise has been ‘grossly overstated as an easy fix to our obesity problem’
Exercise — whatever it is — actually plays “very little role in weight loss,” he said on Steven Bartlett’s podcast, The Diary of a CEO.
Professor Spector, who trained as an epidemiologist and came to prominence for tracking Covid during the pandemic, said: “All the long-term studies show it doesn’t help with weight loss…
“It has been grossly overstated as an easy fix to our obesity problem.
“All the studies show it.
“The only caveat to this is that if you have changed your diet, improved your diet and lost weight, maintaining some exercise prevents it from coming back up.
“But by itself, if you don’t change your diet, there’s no point and that’s well known by all obesity experts and studies by now.”
He added: “It’s good for your health, I exercise. It’s fantastic for your mood, it’s good for your heart.
“We all should, but absolutely not if your goal is to lose weight.
“It’s a huge myth, especially perpetuated by gyms and fitness apps. It’s complete nonsense,” he said.
Professor Spector’s comments run counter to some of the most trusted health advice. “Being active is key to losing weight and keeping it off,” says the NHS.
He adds that eating fewer calories will help you lose weight, but keeping the fat off permanently “requires physical activity to burn energy.”
A calorie is a way of measuring energy – either the amount in food or the amount burned through activity.
People gain weight when they consume more calories than they burn in their daily activities. To lose weight, you have to use more calories than you consume.
Therefore, limiting calories – or exercising more – are the first steps for many who seek a lean physique.
Speaking on the same podcast, Professor Spector advised people wanting to lose weight to simply consider changing their diet.
He said calorie counting, while effective in the short term, was “complete nonsense” because most people who stick to the tedious diet “bounce back”.
Instead, he advised eating more plant-based foods, doing so within 10 hours, and avoiding ultra-processed foods.
Official guidelines suggest that adults should get 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week spread over four to five days.
Examples of vigorous exercise include running, swimming, skipping, and stair climbing.
Similar advice – which also includes muscle-strengthening exercises two days a week – exists in the United States.
A lack of exercise, combined with unhealthy diets, has been blamed for growing obesity epidemics across the world.
Two-thirds of UK adults are overweight, and more of us are expected to gain weight in the future. Rates are even higher in the United States.
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