Yahoo Lifestyle Can exercise cause weight gain?
Study suggests exercise may cause weight gain. Photo: Getty
Scientists at Arizona State University believe this is due to over-eating after exercise, which can undo all those hours at the gym. To examine how different people’s bodies respond to exercise, they gathered 81 women in their 30s and put them on a three-month exercise program.
This involved walking on a treadmill at a fast pace, for 30 minutes, three times a week. Each woman had her weight; BMI and endurance level monitored before, during and after the program and was instructed not to change her diet.
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Surprisingly, after three months, almost 70 per cent of the women had put on weight, while only some participants remained the same or lost weight. Researchers believe this could be the result of individuals falling into the trap of thinking that exercise allows them to eat whatever they want.
And although previous studies suggest that women who weigh more at the start of a weight-loss program lose more weight, for Dr Glen Gaesser who led the study, this was not the case. His findings revealed that women who lost weight four weeks into his program continued to lose weight.
He suggests weighing yourself a month into any new exercise program to see if it’s working and if there is no change, or you gain weight, then take a closer look at your diet.
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Despite his results, Gaesser believes that being fit is far more important for overall wellbeing than losing weight, and he acknowledged that the women in his study reaped the other benefits of regular exercise such as improved immunity, reduced health risks, a healthy heart and better quality of life.
