Exercise isn't enough. You need to eat right too

After six months of regular exercise, a group of women aged between 18 and 35 lost no fat, despite exercising three times a week.

One group of women followed an aerobic exercise program, where they exercised on three nonconsecutive days per week (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for six months under the supervision of a personal trainer.

The first four weeks consisted of 25 minutes of slow jogging and/or brisk walking at 60% of their maximum heart rate. Every four weeks, workout time increased by 5 minutes. Exercise intensity was also raised 10% every week (from 60% of maximum heart rate at week one to 90% at week four).

At the beginning of the next four-week period, workout time increased by another 5 minutes, and intensity was scaled back to 60% maximum heart rate.

By week 16, the women were walking or jogging for 40 minutes at 90% maximum heart rate.

At week 17, the program changed. On Monday, the women did 45 minutes of aerobic exercise at 80–90% of maximum heart rate. They did interval sessions (four 5-minute periods at 95% maximum heart rate with 3-minute rests) on Wednesday, and 45 minutes at 80–90% of maximum heart rate on Friday.

Women following the weight-training program exercised on three nonconsecutive days during the week (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) under the supervision of a personal trainer. Each training session included a warm-up of low intensity cycling for 5 minutes, followed by 10 minutes of static stretching of all the major muscle groups used in training.

The program consisted of the leg press, bench press, leg extension, shoulder press, sit-ups, seated row, triceps extension, arm curl, and leg curl. The volunteer was given a target load range and attempted to keep each set within the target range by adjusting the load to allow the prescribed number (10) of repetitions. Rest periods were 60-90 seconds between sets.

At the beginning and end of the study, body fat levels were measured using a sophisticated technique called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA for short).

Despite all the exercise they did, neither group lost any fat.

Bottom line: If you want to get in shape, then exercise alone isn't enough. You'll need to eat right too. If you haven't been losing any fat, despite all the exercise you've been doing, now's the time to take a closer look at what you've been eating (see How to burn fat without losing muscle in the Members-Only Area).

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• Belly Fat and How to Beat It
• How to Fight Fat and Win (Members Only)
• The Maximum Muscle Plan (Members Only)
• The Myth about Muscle and Your Metabolic Rate

Reference
Poehlman, E.T., Denino, W.F., Beckett, T., Kinaman, K.A., Dionne, I.J., Dvorak, R., & Ades, P.A. (2002). Effects of endurance and resistance training on total daily energy expenditure in young women: a controlled randomized trial. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 87, 1004-1009