Exercise Alone Cannot Help You Lose Weight, Study

Those who want to lose weight may be working out busily in the gym. However, exercise might also shoot up their appetite and increase their weight, said researchers.

The important key to maintaining or losing weight is to control your calories---"with or without increasing physical activity", according to dailymail.

Dr Richard Cooper and Dr Amy Luke, both from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, have studied the relationship between exercise and obesity for years. In the International Journal of Epidemiology, they wrote: "Physical activity is crucially important for improving overall health and fitness levels. But there is limited evidence to suggest that it can blunt the surge in obesity. This crucial part of the public health message is not appreciated in recommendations to be more active, walk up stairs and eat more fruits and vegetables."

Hence, the only way to lose weight is to reduce calories.

Numerous clinical trials show that a combination of exercise as well as less calories tends to give the same results as eating less. Other studies do not show any link between the energy expended through exercise and changes in the weight.

Moreover, just "extremely small" parts of the US population undertake physical activity that affects their long-term balance of energy. Hence, physical activity does not influence obesity, they said,

Thus, "While physical activity has many benefits, multiple lines of evidence lead to the conclusion that an increase in physical activity is offset by an increase in calorie intake, unless conscious effort is made to limit that compensatory response."

In fact, Dr Michael Mosley, who devised a new 5:2 diet, said that sometimes exercise actually can lead to increase in weight.

"A lot of people think that when you exercise, you can eat what you want - and that the gym will make you happy," he said. "But this is wrong."

Most of us tend to reward ourselves with 'treats' after exercise - or eat more after visiting the gym.

While "Exercise is a good way to keep weight off - but it's not a good way to lose it. Going to the gym will burn calories - but way less than we think. 1lb of fat is 3,500 calories - and fat is more energy-dense than dynamite' - so to burn 1lb of fat you'd need to run about 38 miles.'"

"If you run one mile, you burn roughly 100 calories," he told presenters Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes. "A muffin contains around 500 calories - so you would have to run for five miles or walk for 10 miles to burn it off."

And to burn a latte of 150 calories, you would have to run for 1.5 miles, or take a three-mile walk.

"That is why people never lose weight going to the gym in the long-run."