Losing weight through sport: Researchers know why it doesn't want to work
Created: 07/01/2022, 2:35 p.m
By: Jasmin Pospiech
If you move a lot, you lose weight – right?
But what if the kilos don't tumble?
According to research, this often happens.
Because sport alone is not enough.
Since the spring, many people who want to lose weight have been torturing themselves again with sweaty workouts in order to lose excess pounds.
After all, the long-awaited beach holiday in the summer holidays
is coming up soon
.
But if nothing changes on the scales even after weeks, the
frustration is great
.
Many then ask themselves: Why am I not losing weight if I move so much?
This question is also dealt with by
Prof. Dr.
Karsten Köhler
, Head of the Professorship for Exercise, Nutrition and Health at the Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
He conducts research into how exercise affects body weight.
With an amazing result.
Stubborn belly fat: This banal reason just won't let the big belly go away.
(Iconic image) © Patrick Pleul / dpa
Losing weight through sport: Researchers know why it doesn't want to work
While most believe that simply moving more and burning calories that quickly, the body is not that easily tricked.
Because: “Anyone who does
more sport
tends to adjust their eating habits.
We call this '
compensatory eating
'.
This has to do with our psyche, which wants to reward us for the effort, but also with appetite-regulating hormones that are released after exercise and
trigger the feeling of hunger
," says Prof. Dr.
Koehler in a press release.
In concrete terms, this means that we feel very hungry after a workout.
Then we particularly like to reach for sweet and fatty foods, i.e. high-calorie ones, in order to compensate for the calorie deficit that has arisen.
Exercising alone to
lose weight
is not enough.
Roughly speaking, it is suitable for maintaining the existing weight, the researcher explains, but not for reducing kilos.
In addition, the body is reluctant to give up (fat) reserves.
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Lose weight through sport: Mediterranean nutrition is healthy
Instead, you also have to restrict your diet and calorie intake.
"If I also restrict my
diet
and don't give in to hunger, the body reacts by shutting down metabolic processes that are not essential.
So he adapts to the new situation and readjusts himself.
This is shown by data from our experiments,” says Köhler.
And further: "The greater the deficit, the more I put the body in an
emergency
, so that it shuts down these metabolic processes."
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But crash diets are counterproductive.
There are successful weight loss concepts such as low carb or intermittent fasting.
Nevertheless, the expert advises to think long-term and change your diet.
“However, I myself am a friend of the
Mediterranean diet
, as recommended by the German Society for Nutrition (DGE), because this balanced diet is evidence-based, i.e. proven to be healthy,” advises Köhler in conclusion.