[DanBC]

I'm just asking if anyone has any research that shows exercise helps people lose weight.

Lots of things that seem obvious turn out to be mot true or much weaker than people thought when put through a proper trial.

To answer your specific question: muscle weighs more than fat, so if a person reduces fat percentage but increases muscle percentage will they lose weight or not? They'll be fitter and healthier, but will they be lighter?

[deletes]

No they won't be lighter, but they will still lose weight.

You unfortunately used the phrase in the literal meaning lose weight, while it is commonly used to indicate that someone is going to start reducing their fat percentage and improve the body shape. If the word phrase has a different meaning to you, fine, but whenever it was used in conversations I was involved in it had that definition, thus the confusion. You should have used the word mass and there would be no misunderstanding.

Exercise will definitely work, but it might not strictly lower your mass.

[DanBC]

But do you have links to any research to show that people lose weight - that people lower their fat percentage?

Read through this thread. Sometimes people spout utter nonsense about nutrition. While "exercise makes you lose weight" sounds reasonable I'm keen to see what the research says.

So far someone told me that I'm talking shit and a bunch of people downvoted the post that requested research, but no one has provided any links to any research.

[pizza234]

This is happening because the message is: nutrition science is a very problematic field, and it's at the opposite of being straightforward and/or evident.

If you want this kind of researches, you will find by yourself lots of researches that support one thesis, then lots of researches supporting the opposite.

I've stopped reading nutrition research, because it's essentially a jumble of conflicting, unfounded theories.

The smartest thing one can do, for this specific question, is this: go to a sports club, then ask to the people: when you stop practicing your sport, do you get fatter? And conversely, when you started, or in periods of intensive training, do you get leaner?

If you're really curious about the subject, do that, you will get the answer.

I've been practicing sports for 20+ years, so I know the answer, and the experience of any person who's been practicing sport intensively for decades, is worth way more than a platoon of armchair academic nutritionits can possibly theorize.

This should remind that research (at least, this type of research) should be grounded and not detached from reality.

[adventured]

This is more fun: we have an extraordinary living specimen that demonstrate the effect in action: Michael Phelps

Unless you can find another way to explain why his 10,000 to 12,000 calorie diet - that included pancakes and sugary energy drinks - didn't result in massive weight gain, as it would in a sedentary person.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/08/13/the-michael-phelps-di...

http://nypost.com/2008/08/13/phelps-pig-secret-hes-boy-gorge...

Breakfast: Three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. Two cups of coffee. One five-egg omelet. One bowl of grits. Three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar. Three chocolate-chip pancakes.

Lunch: One pound of enriched pasta. Two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayo on white bread. Energy drinks packing 1,000 calories.

Dinner: One pound of pasta. An entire pizza. More energy drinks.

[wpietri]

As far as I can tell, you're answering a question that nobody asked, one something like, "Does exercise burn calories?" We all know that's true. The question was, "Do you have any research to show that exercise is effective in helping people lose weight?"

As a fat guy who has run 15 or 20 races (including a triathlon) at this point and is training for another, my personal experience is that adding exercise doesn't help me lose weight.