Clearly, if your objective is to lose body fat then you must combine a healthy nutritious diet with physical activity - the two absolutely must go hand-in-hand or you will never lose weight. But the moment you exercise you greatly increase the propensity to put on weight regardless of the diet.
By not falling for the exercise myth you will be much better equipped to look after your own health and to finally lose weight easily, safely, and permanently. The purpose of this book is to greatly enhance your health and well-being (and help you lose weight if that is your objective). And you can best do this by avoiding all kinds of exercise and switching instead to physical activity.
Read on to discover the truth about exercise and why it should be avoided in all its forms. Thank you for giving your time to this book, I promise it will be worth your while.
Russell Eaton, author
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Section 1: The Evidence
Have you ever wondered whether exercise does in fact help you lose weight? Why is it that so many people who do regular exercise remain overweight? There is an almost universal belief that exercise helps you lose surplus body weight. But the scientific evidence is clearly saying that exercise actually makes you fat.
When you examine the evidence relating to exercise and weight loss you quickly realize that in fact there are no peer-reviewed studies published in credible mainstream medical journals supporting the contention that exercise is in any way good for health or good for weight loss.
The few studies that specifically examine the effects of exercise on weight loss are either confounded by human life-style factors or they fail to prove any direct link between exercise and any kind of lasting healthy weight loss.
And when studies relating to exercise and health (or exercise and body fat) are published, they are invariably misinterpreted and misreported because of the strong prejudice in favour exercise, and these result in misleading headlines. It should also be borne in mind that such studies are usually sponsored directly or indirectly by the health and exercise industry. Here are some typical examples:
Plosmedicine Study, 2012
News headlines: 'Exercise helps you live longer'
A study by Plosmedicine published in November 2012 concluded that " More leisure time physical activity was associated with longer life expectancy across a range of activity levels. " This generated press headlines such as " EXERCISE INCREASES LIFE EXPECTANCY REGARDLESS OF YOUR WEIGHT ." Source: Steven C. et al, Leisure Time Physical Activity of Moderate to Vigorous Intensity and Mortality: A Large Pooled Cohort Analysis, http://www.plosmedicine.org
When you examine the data in this study, you see that no distinction is made between (A) physical activity that does not make you breathless/sweaty and (B) exercise that does make you breathless/sweaty; there is a world of difference between the two as explained throughout this book.
So we don't know if greater life expectancy was gained from (A) or from (B) or some mix of the two. The study draws conclusions (about the number of longevity years gained from exercise) from lifestyle factors such as giving up smoking rather than from exercise itself. Other factors such as the following make the Plosmedicine study unreliable:
A. The study is based on averages rather than on specific individuals. It could be that individuals who did intense exercise in the study did not, in fact, gain a longer life. It could also be that individuals who avoided exercise and limited themselves to physical activity that did not make them breathless/sweaty did in fact gain a longer life. We simply don't know because average figures across the whole cohort were used when drawing conclusions about increased longevity.
B. The data collected by the study was based on self-reporting rather than on objective scientific observation. Participants