​TRUE or FALSE? EXERCISE BOOSTS METABOLISM.

If you google the question: “ Does exercise boost metabolism? ”, you will see thousands of articles that it does. One of the first ones that popped up said: 'Cardiovascular exercise (also known as aerobic exercise) is anything that involves or improves your body’s oxygen consumption. Examples include cycling, jogging, sprinting, skipping, rowing and walking. These types of exercise boost your metabolism quite simply because they require additional calories to perform'.

Thanks to these kind of articles, our population did start to exercise more. I myself used to exercise anywhere between 5-10 hours a week, in addition to being  active almost all day long. Jogging, cycling, swimming were a part of my life for many years in addition to the 10,000 steps someone who invented the first pedometer came up with because it sounded good and not because it was backed up by science and the idea has caught on with everyone, so did with with me.

I never had weight issues, but worked out hard, and my diet, even though I now know that it was mediocre ( the recommended low fat and high carb ) was still better than the Standard American Diet that 60 or 70% of people are on.  

Back to the exercise, even with more exercise, at least people in the US have unfortunately gotten fatter. One in 3 Americans is obese and 70% are OVERweight. Part of the remaining 30% are the so-called skinny fat (that is another topic).
 
WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN ?
Short answer is that it is not the lack of exercise that has made people fatter, but the food people eat. It is the food that we are addicted to  because the so called food scientists that big companies hire make us want more and more of it.  Sugar can be more addictive than cocaine (studies prove), so OUR POPULATION IS BIOCHEMICALLY DEPENDENT ON THOSE PROCESSED FOODS. Some of us exercise more to burn it,  and constantly fight weight gain. NOT A WAY TO LIVE and BE HEALTHY. Life is all about finding balance and health, and when you are preoccupied with burning calories all day long, so you do not gain weight, it becomes unhealthy.  You want to eat and exercise for health. Once you start addressing your health, pounds will shed too and for good.

BACK TO THE QUESTION
There is am anthropologist, Herman Pontzner who have traveled the world studying the metabolism of different people. His findings were published in his book “Burn” ( Penguin ) that blows the lid off how we really burn calories, lose weight, and become healthy. He explains why it’s so hard to burn calories through exercise and why extreme dieting is so dangerous.  If you read the book, you will find the following information shocking as it is completely different from what we had known, believed and learned as even fitness professionals ( if you are one ).

Pontzner has found that EXERCISE DOES NOT INCREASE OUR  METABOLISM AT ALL.  He claims the number of calories we burn per day stays pretty consistent regardless of activity level; the average 9- year old burns about 2000 calories a day, and adult over age 50 about 2,500, depending primarily on body size.  That’s pretty much your daily calorie budget.  When you exercise more, however, your body lowers the number of calories it burns performing other functions, such as inflammation or hormone production. So the number of calories you burn per day — your metabolism — remains constant, whether you work out or not, but EXERCISE IS SO IMPORTANT FOR OTHER REASONS.

 When you exercise, your inflammation levels go down. Because your body is spending your energy budget on exercise, it spends less on creating chronic inflammation. Think of inflammation as a luxury — it’s what your body will do with extra calories if you have them.  And inflammation contributes to most of the diseases of aging. So, YES! YOU DO WANT TO EXERCISE, BUT FOR DIFFERENT REASONS. YOU WANT TO EXERCISE TO AGE LESS AND TO GET SICK LESS.

Finally, so THE answer to the " DOES EXERCISE INCREASE METABOLISM  is “FALSE”
When you exercise a lot, and especially doing the activities as commonly thought of increasing metabolism and the above mentioned rowing, cycling, jogging e.t.c, your body actually goes into a preservation mode. It wants to turn off its metabolism to decrease the risk of starvation (from an evolutionary standpoint).
 
Exercise is for health, but you need to rebrand the way you think of exercise and stop thinking of exercise as a way to successful weight lose. You will not get the most bang out of your buck with long cardio workouts that will only make you more hungry.  I have lived it.  As mentioned before, I used to bike, jog, swim. I  ran marathons, have done triathlons and was on a swimming team for most of my childhood years.  When I suffered injury to my hip, my knees and my foot in my 30ies, I was forced to quit what I had been beating my body down with for years and  even was addicted to. Now,  at 43, I work out 10 times less.   I eat healthier because I do not get as hungry.  I look healthier  and younger.  My life is balanced.  I have completely transformed the way I look at exercise and food, and I love it.  I  can help you do the same. 

​MK

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