Exercise not likely to rev up your metabolism

Studies bust myth that working out gives you a fat-burning boost

****

“Bottom line is that we once thought that exercise would burn calories, especially fat calories, for a long period after a bout of exercise,” says exercise physiologist Gerald Endress, fitness director for the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center who was not involved in the research. “This does not seem to be the case.”

****

The new paper offers additional evidence that exercise does not boost metabolism as much as widely believed, Endress says. In addition to the misperception that exercise greatly hikes fat burning after exercise, there is also the false belief that weight training dramatically increases metabolism by adding muscle, he notes.

While it’s true that a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat — about seven to 10 calories a day versus two calories — most people don’t put on enough muscle to make much of a difference, Endress says.

More at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30826120/

Of course, exercise is obviously a Good Thing, for other reasons.

I've been wearing a Heart Rate Monitor for the past couple of weeks.

ACCORDING TO MY HR MONITOR (and for whatever THAT is worth). If I exercise and burn 300ish calories... I burn another 25 calories sitting on my butt reading the board after exercise that I wouldn't burn if I hadn't exercised.

So we are talking 100-125 calories a WEEK. Hey, I'll take it. But it isn't very much. LOL!

i agree with you guys. i hope people will still want to be active.

as for exercise, i know I have noticed that if I change my routine, i lose weight. just changing an exercise machine (treadmill versus elliptical), i feel the pants get looser in about a week. Also, lately, i have slowly increased the amount of weights i am lifting and i also feel a difference. (i have gone up by almost 20 pounds in most exercises) I am no scientist. i can only go by what works for me from trial and error.

quote:

Originally posted by Brie:


I would hate to think that someone read that article and decided that it wasn't worth the time to exercise.

I thought the same thing. Regardless of how many calories I burn after exercising, I know I feel better and have more energy. This in turn makes me want to do more-like clean, or do yard work and then I actually am burning more post-exercise calories.

Jill

I hate the articles that focus on metabolism. There are so many benefits to exercising - cardiovascular, stress/emotional and buring calories. Who cares if you don't burn extra calories when you stop working out? The reality is that you burned them WHILE you working out which is why exercising does help in weight control/loss.

I would hate to think that someone read that article and decided that it wasn't worth the time to exercise.

I heard this same thing about exercise not being very effective in weight loss from a speaker at the Y of all places and was very surprised.

It makes me wonder, "If that is the case, then what exactly IS the reason for my weight going from 246 to 188?

Weight training does not add muscle, you are born with all the muscle you will ever have but it builds up those muscles and makes them stronger.