With almost 40,000 gyms in the United States, the country claims more fitness centers than any other country in the world, and in over seven states, the obesity rate has climbed to over 35%.
Why you ask? Time to turn your long held belief upside down.
There is no measurable association between obesity and physical activity.
Studies prove that we’re burning as many calories as our hunter-gatherer ancestors. While they may have worked hard to catch their dinner, they also conserved energy when it was not needed. Today we do pretty much the opposite. We’re lazy all day and then go to the gym to burn off a few calories. Same calories. . . but our ancestors were more productive.
So why are we fat today? On average, we’re consuming 24% more calories than we consumed just 50 years ago. While a moderately active adult man requires about 2400 calories a day, today his caloric intake is closer to 3600 calories. More importantly, today’s adult is consuming highly processed foods that trigger much larger insulin responses than the unprocessed diets of Americans just a few decades ago. Does this make a difference? You bet it does!
When you consume highly processed foods, your blood sugar spikes within minutes triggering an insulin response necessary to clear the blood sugar. Over time, your insulin becomes elevated and sets off a series of hormonal responses that:
- increase storage of belly fat
- increase inflammation
- raise triglycerides
- lower HDL
- raise blood pressure
- lower testosterone in men
- to infertility in women
- raise your appetite causing you to eat even more
So in addition to how much you’re eating, what you eat really matters! In essence, you can raise your body’s thermostat by eating foods that don’t trigger a large insulin response and burn calories like our ancestors did.
So I’m certainly not suggesting that you should skip the gym, but rather skip the calorie laden processed food. 2400 calories of real food is a lot of food!
The most rigorous exercise routine won’t undo a poor diet.