Why more exercise doesn't mean more weight loss

A new study suggests a bigger workout doesn't always mean better

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If your new year's resolution to hit the gym everyday hasn't gone so well, it's time to feel smug. New research suggests forcing yourself to excessively exercise won't actually make a difference if you're trying to lose weight.

We all know shedding pounds can feel like an uphill battle, but most people believe moving more is the best way to achieve the goal. It turns out though that people only need to do a moderate amount of exercise before they hit a plateau. After this, any extra activity won't really burn more calories.

Herman Pontzer from City University in New York realised he wanted to look into this theory when he was working in Tanzania with a population of traditional hunter-gatherers called the Hadza.

The Hadza walk long distances each day and do a lot of hard physical work. But despite these high activity levels, Dr Pontzer found they burnt around the same amount of calories each day as people living more sedentary modern lifestyles in the United States and Europe.

So he and his team decided to measure the activity levels and daily calories burnt of more than 300 men and women over the course of a week. The results are published in the journal Current Biology.

The researchers found more exercise meant more calorie-burning, but only up to a certain point. People who did lots of exercise saw no effect of their extra work in terms of calories used, compared to those who worked out moderately.

It means we should perhaps stop assuming that more physical activity always means more calories burned. There might be a 'sweet spot' for exercise – too little and we're unhealthy but too much and the body will adjust to adapt and stop us burning more. It's a reminder that focusing on diet is also really important when it comes to losing weight.

Dr Pontzer says:

"Exercise is really important for your health. That's the first thing I mention to anyone asking about the implications of this work for exercise. There is tons of evidence that exercise is important for keeping our bodies and minds healthy, and this work does nothing to change that message. What our work adds is that we also need to focus on diet, particularly when it comes to managing our weight and preventing or reversing unhealthy weight gain."


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