Exercising to Lose Weight? Not Enough.

Are you relying on workouts as the ultimate solution to weight loss? If so, it might be time to rethink your strategy.

While exercise undeniably plays a crucial role in promoting overall health and fitness, studies reveal that it's not as effective for weight loss as many believe. Research on the Hadza tribe offers intriguing insights for those aiming to shed pounds.

Calorie Burning: Active vs. Sedentary Lifestyles

When Herman Pontzer set out to study the metabolism of the Hadza, a hunter-gatherer tribe in Tanzania, he expected their daily calorie burn to be remarkably high.

Their constant physical activities—like walking, jogging, lifting, and carrying—suggested they would expend far more energy than a typical sedentary office worker.

However, Pontzer’s 2012 study delivered surprising results. After adjusting for body size, the Hadza's daily energy expenditure was almost identical to that of the average office worker in the United States.

Despite leading such an active lifestyle, the Hadza weren’t burning significantly more calories than people who spend most of their time seated at a desk.

What Is the “Constrained Total Energy Expenditure Model”?

Pontzer, now an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University and author of the book Burn (2021), was astonished by the findings.

They prompted him to develop a new theory about metabolism known as the “constrained total energy expenditure model.”

According to this theory, the human body is capable of regulating the calories it burns by scaling back or pausing certain biological processes when physical activity increases.

This adaptability effectively keeps total calorie burn within a relatively narrow range.

Pontzer further explained, “We've examined individuals with extremely active lifestyles, such as marathon runners crossing the U.S., and those who are largely sedentary. Interestingly, they end up burning about the same amount of calories.”

This discovery sheds light on why many people fail to see significant weight loss through exercise alone, even though it greatly benefits their overall health.

Source: hindustantimes

The opinions shared in the GymNation blog articles are solely those of the respective authors and may not represent the perspectives of GymNation or any member of the GymNation team.