9 Reasons You May Weigh Too Much — Reason 9

You exercise but don’t watch your food.

Exercise is truly our fountain of youth. It helps keep us healthy and vigorous. But you can’t count on it to be your main way of shedding pounds. It still matters how much and what you eat.

In fact, exercise may not even boost your weight loss when you’re dieting. This was demonstrated in one study that randomly assigned 383 volunteers to one of three set-ups: a reduced-calorie diet, the diet plus moderate work-outs, and the diet plus high activity.

People in all the groups lost weight, but more physical activity didn’t help.

Exercise may be more helpful for maintaining weight loss. The participants in the National Weight Control Registry, which tracks adult volunteers who have maintained at least a 30-pound weight loss for at least a year, have consistently reported that exercise is part of their success.

In this group, 90 percent of people exercise on average an hour a day. Nearly all of them increased their activity to lose weight while also changing their diet.

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