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by 60secz 1911 days ago
Exercise Activity Thermogenesis is about 5% of calories, so the least significant contribution in total calories.

Reduced NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis/walking/fidgeting) is a bigger factor by an order of magnitude.

100% of weight gain is due to net caloric surplus. The main contribution by far is eating more calories.

https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-1...
2 comments
webnrrd2k 1911 days ago
The best way that I've heard these ideas is "you can't outrun your fork".

In other words, loosing weight starts with portion control as the largest factor for most people.

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airhead969 1911 days ago
Yeap. Cardio exercise for weight loss alone is mostly wasted effort that wears joints and causes inflammation.

It's unpopular because the fitness crowd is so religious and ignorantly-stuck in anti-intellectualism, but the best strategy to lose weight is to gain as much muscle mass as possible with the less effort to accomplish in order to raise NEAT. It doesn't take a lot of time or effort (mostly dedication and planning) to stimulate muscle development effectively, and becoming a gym rat is essentially wasted time, money, and effort. It's nice to have cardio fitness too, but I would do the minimum to avoid too much IIB to IIA conversion like the anorexic-looking treadmill-only gym users do. If you want no glutes, avoid squats and lifts, and run a lot.

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nradov 1911 days ago
Cardio exercise doesn't wear joints out if you use proper form. Our joints evolved to move.

https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/does-running...

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nradov 1911 days ago
That's true, but there's more to overall health than just weight management. You can't under-eat a sedentary lifestyle.
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toiletduck 1911 days ago
You absolutely can. Eating less calories than your basal metabolic rate (calories burned just to stay alive) means stored energy will be burnt and body weight will reduce.
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nradov 1911 days ago
You missed the point. Sure a negative energy balance will cause weight loss. But even if you get to a BMI in the range considered normal you won't be healthy over the long term without frequent exercise. Just being thin doesn't help if you're weak.
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Leherenn 1911 days ago
Can't these 5% still compounds over time if you were at the equilibrium before? I have no idea how much it represents in weight gain over a day, but just 10 g/d is still close to 5 kg weight gain over a year.

Though I agree with you, it's more the overall activity that is way down than just gym/exercising.

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