Researchers have found that exercise alone is not enough to shed the pounds.
Dr Richard Cooper and Dr Amy Luke, both from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine made the discovery after studying the link between exercise and obesity for years.
Doing more exercise increases a person’s appetite, and they tend to eat more food as a result, the researchers said.
“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,” the researchers noted.
The researchers suggest that controlling calories – with or without increasing physical activity – is the key to maintaining or losing weight because there is limited evidence to suggest that exercise alone can blunt the surge in obesity.
The study was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
S.O.Z