Take that, TIME! – Study proves that diet alone will not lead to weight loss

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Recall the controversial TIME article that hit newsstands this past year. It was only a matter of time before the inter-tubes lit up with blog posts, tweets and articles refuting the content. It was like the “healthy living” industry’s hot topic — if we had an US Weekly in the healthy living world, it would have made the front cover. Everyone had an opinion.

Turns out that the article was a bit pre-mature. Turns out they may have benefited from some additional research.

A recent study has been published by scientists at Oregon Health & Science University and proves that reducing caloric intake alone is not enough to promote significant weight loss. Say what?! But didn’t TIME just convince everyone of the exact opposite?

This finding appears to be due to a natural mechanism that reduces a person’s physical activity in response to a reduction in calories.

“In the midst of America’s obesity epidemic, physicians frequently advise their patients to reduce the number of calories they are consuming on a daily basis. This research shows that simply dieting will not likely cause substantial weight loss. Instead, diet and exercise must be combined to achieve this goal,” said Judy Cameron Ph.D., a senior scientist at OHSU’s Oregon National Primate Research Center, and a professor of behavioral neuroscience and obstetrics & gynecology in the OHSU School of Medicine, as well as a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh.

“This study demonstrates that there is a natural body mechanism which conserves energy in response to a reduction in calories. Food is not always plentiful for humans and animals and the body seems to have developed a strategy for responding to these fluctuations,” explained Cameron. “These findings will assist medical professionals in advising their patients. It may also impact the development of community interventions to battle the childhood obesity epidemic and lead to programs that emphasize both diet and exercise.”

For more details on the study, check out the recent article on Science Daily.

diet and exercise prove to be equally important

What are your thoughts? DISCUSS!

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9 Responses to “Take that, TIME! – Study proves that diet alone will not lead to weight loss”

  1. Lisa Johnson said:

    I find this type of thinking ridiculous. To advocate no movement necessary negates so many health benefits. Fluid joints, balance, self-confidence all of these things are important too.

    And no one’s going to convince me that a 600 calorie burning Spin class isn’t going to help make your butt smaller!

    Great post!

    Lisa

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  2. Tweets that mention Take that, TIME! – Study proves that diet alone will not lead to wait loss | The Daily Balance -- Topsy.com said:

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by The Daily Balance. The Daily Balance said: Published a new post: Take that, TIME! – Study proves that diet alone will not lead to wait loss @http://tinyurl.com/y79xe4c [...]

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  3. Amy B @ Second City Randomness said:

    I remember when that article came out and I was so mad! It’s not just about weight loss, people- overall health is REALLY important!

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  4. Run Sarah said:

    Great post! I think a combination is important – people who restrict calories long term won’t continue to lose rate as their metabolism slows down. I think exercise helps keep your metabolic rate higher and a combo of exercise and diet is important, based on my own experiences.

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  5. Cara said:

    I had a long response written out that I think got eaten.. boo! Trying again.

    “This study demonstrates that there is a natural body mechanism which conserves energy in response to a reduction in calories. Food is not always plentiful for humans and animals and the body seems to have developed a strategy for responding to these fluctuations.”

    I can’t emphasis how much I agree with this. It’s the same mechanism that causes some people (like myself) to actually gain weight when training for long-distance running events. I’ve tried to explain this to a lot people who just don’t believe me, but it’s true! When you’re putting your body through long-endurance training or restricting calories, it essentially goes into famine mode. When you don’t have a lot of money, do you go out and spend every last bit you have, or try to conserve it and make it stretch further? Your body is making the same decision with regards to using up energy. Not knowing when you’re going to feed it again, it’s trying to hold on to every last bit of energy.

    I also think that everyone is a little different and for some, the effect I just described is greater than for others. Some people respond better to exercise and some better to diet. Anyone who wants to be successful should take some time to experiment and find what works for them. And be willing to adapt as necessary.

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  6. Jessica @ Healthy Obsessions said:

    I admit, I was previously in the mindset that all you needed to lose weight was just exercise and that you can eat whatever you want. However, after 25, that definitely was not the case. It’s balancing act betwee the two. On times where your exercising more, you may need to eat more in order to maintain a certain level of energy for your body. During times when you are not, you may want to watch what you eat because you are not expending more energy.

    I think that the TIME article should have not made such a general statement and perhaps instead gave the message that if you plan on not working out as much, think about cutting back on calories.

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  7. Sophie @ yumventures said:

    I think that combination is incredibly important, but you have to do what works best for your body. Maybe you are someone who really needs to cut calories and go for a walk every day. Maybe you are someone who needs to eat more to fuel some long distance running. Maybe strenth training works for you, or maybe it makes you build too much bulk. But I totally agree that neither one or the other can have a great effect. BALANCE is key.

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  8. Lara said:

    Well thousands and thousands of people lose signifcant amounts of weight on programs like Weight Watchers without exercise. I was a member for a few years and there were tons of people at the meetings who did no exericse at all, total couch potatos yet they lost lots of weight. People who are bedridden lose weight.
    I do believe people subconciously slow down when dieting and move less but that doesn’t mean they will not lose weight. It might be slower than if they were exercising but will still lose. In fact, for many people lots of exercise while dieting is very counter productive-too much stress on the body and the metabolism really slows down. Like with everything, a moderate approach i.e. don’t cut calories too low and don’t exercise intensely when trying to lose weight is best for most people.
    I am a huge fan of exercise and believe it to be essential for good health but this study shows nothing really. small study with 18 monkeys does not translatable to humans at all.

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  9. Work it – Let’s discuss the benefits of exercise – what are YOUR thoughts? | The Daily Balance said:

    [...] This is just another fantastic finding that proves that so many of us are on the right track? Remember all the controversy around the TIME article? Sure, exercise might not be the best or only answer for weight loss (diet plays a HUGE part!), but this obviously shows the other benefits that TIME didn’t bother to discuss. (read another study that proved TIME wrong). [...]

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