[xiaoma]

Here's my experience:

Running was extraordinarily effective in helping me lose weight. However, it took quite a bit to do it. I was on a cross-country team in high school. That took me from slightly chubby to rail-thin. Every single person on the team who started out over-weight made great progress. One fat kid lost at least 30 pounds in just three months. Nobody I knew who kept running stayed fat.

Still, I have to say that my experience fits with the results of the experiment mentioned in the article. At one point after spending a few years doing little but sitting in front of the computer, I decided to lose about 25 kilos. I went out and did about the amount the "high exercise" group mentioned in the article did, and I just ate more as a result. However, after going over about 50km/week, I found my appetite suppressed. It was kind of like my body had found its equilibrium and my hunger was based upon how much I actually needed. I lost weight really quickly after that.

[ghshephard]

"cross-country team in high school" - I presume that means you were exercising more than 3 times a week at 30 minutes?

The premise of the article isn't about athletes (which you were) won't lose weight by engaging in their activity. Of course people who _regularly and continuously_ exercise are going to lose weight. Anybody who works with a bicycle rider who commutes more than 10-15 miles into work knows that there are no fat cyclists - And those who bicycle more are usually worrying about getting _enough calories_ to maintain their weight and keep up their conditioning/muscle mass.

The article was talking about whether it makes sense for your average cube-rat to go out to the gym three times a week for a 60 minute excercise regime - and the conclusion is no. It really doesn't help you lose weight because you end up eating more than you just spent in caloric expenditure from the exercise.

[xiaoma]

Yes. As I said, the turning point for me seems to be at about 50km/week. I probably did double that in high school. That came out to about 10 hours of running per week.

I agree completely about "cube rats" not being able to lose much weight from 30 minutes 3 times a week. The research mentioned in the first part of the article seemed pretty much in line with my experience. It really does take about an hour to an hour and a half a day to make a big difference in terms of weight loss.

I still think that it makes sense for cube rats to do cardio, though. Even if it's only 30 minutes a day, they'll still be quite a bit healthier, lower their risk of heart disease more than losing weight would, and even promote neurogenesis.

The human body just isn't well adapted to being a cube rat.