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On TIME Magazine's Article: "Exercise Doesn't Work"

I subscribe to Time Magazine for the waiting room at my Wellness Center.  A few weeks ago the Time magazine came with a cover that had me skip a breath.  The tagline: “Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin” (by John Cloud).

Oh dear.  It was like I was watching the sky falling as I read it.  The blue sky and its puffy clouds that had always been above my head were falling to the ground and everything I knew to be true was no longer true.  Really…this is how it felt!  So, wait – exercise is not a useful tool in weight control?  Well, let me recap quickly what the author says in a nutshell (but please read it for yourself - http://bit.ly/Eynbh)

  1. Short bursts of sweaty activity make us more hungry and fatigued
  2. Evolution has us prone to eat when we have strong hunger signals
  3. Fatigue from the short burst of intense activity has us wanting to spend the remainder of day in a sedentary sort of way.
  4. So the 200 calories burnt in the 30 minutes spent on the elliptical machine this morning has since been cancelled out by the electrolyte drink or coconut water or granola bar I ate mid-morning because I was starving.  

The author goes to say more about “human nature” and “willpower” and some other interesting concepts that I allowed myself to get wrapped around for about the last week and a half; during which time I took a sabbatical from the gym, feeling duped and lost.  

“Ok, Sarah, pull yourself together” is where I finally got after getting away from these enticing expert reports.  This is another “expert” idea amongst at least 25 more that came out that same week.  If I allowed each of these ideas to come in like the wind and change the direction of my path I would be changing directions every hour.  Here is the conclusion have I finally arrived to after being with my thoughts and my gut on this subject:

  1. I feel like an entirely new person when I am physically active.  I leave the gym, the class, or the walk with what feels like a newly wired brain that is happier, clearer and more in touch with the bigger picture.
  2. Exercise does sometimes make me hungrier.  However I have my daily and weekly commitments to support me through the experience of hunger.  No food will come between breakfast and lunch today, no matter what (this is one of my commitments).
  3. If activity generates more hunger – well then good.  I could use more practice at being hungry.

Ok.  The sky is back in the sky.  Activity is back to being valuable to me.  Exhale.