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Are dieting and exercise over-rated?
Lose weight by listening to hunger signals, doctor says
Restrictive diets and too much emphasis on exercise as a means of weight loss may actually worsen the outlook for those who struggle with extra pounds, says an Arizona doctor who developed a different approach to weight loss.
"So much focus on exercise for calorie burning may have led people to view exercise as a way to earn the right to eat when the right to eat should be in the constitution," says Dr. Michelle May, a family physician in Phoenix.
"All diets are a variation on the one theme of restrictive eating, taking in less, burning more calories. But this doesn't matter if we don't address eating habits and instinctive eating."
Instinctive eating is a way of identifying genuine symptoms of hunger (headache, stomach growling, hunger pangs, queasiness, irritability and low energy) and allowing those symptoms to serve as an "organic" way to know when to eat, May says.
She developed a weight management approach called "Am I Hungry?" that is based on this principle of learning to eat only when hungry.
Other doctors agree exercise is important for general health but not the most effective means of weight loss.
"Exercise is not a strong enough weight-management tool. It's great for cardiovascular fitness and bone health. These are all wonderful things, but to get thin by doing it you pretty much have to give up your day job," says Dr. Mary Vernon, a specialist in obesity treatment in Lawrence, Kansas.
Exercise improves health in general, but needs to be "comfortable, convenient and fun," May says.
With files from The Medical Post.
Check out www.macleans.ca/health for more information.
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