Exercise != Fat Loss, Rant Included

Interesting, but ultimately irritating article, on how there's little evidence exercise results in fat loss. Sure, exercise ALONE won't do the trick, and yes, obviously exercise will make you hungrier, so if you keep blindly obeying your body's every dietary impulse, you're hosed (although you'll have more muscle underneath all your fat). But it is certainly possible to change your body composition through a multi-pronged attack:

• Exercise hard. Intervals and strength training. If it's not hard, it's not working.
• Stop eating crap. You can eat a lot, but it has to be good food, no simple carbs.
• Keep at it until it becomes a habit. In my experience, this can take many months, and the impulse to backslide never fully goes away (I've been into this four years now, and donuts don't look any less appealing to me now than ever).

In short, you gotta work for it. And not only is the work hard, but it's grossly unfair. It is not a level playing field. The work is harder for some (many) than others. For a lucky few, exercise produces a high. It hurts and requires willpower to see it through, but it also feels GOOD. It's even ADDICTIVE! For the rest of us, it's just torture, no corresponding rush or high, and this NEVER changes (although it does get easier). This is why it's important to find a sport you enjoy, as the fun of participating distracts you from the torture of exercising, and training for your sport gives you a purpose beyond fitness in the abstract.

Then there's the metabolic lottery. Insulin responses vary, how and where bodies store fat varies, the amount we crave crap varies. If you're one of the many who crave simple carbs and are prone to fat storage, then you're in for a lifetime of constant vigilance if you don't want to be fat. Believe me, I wish it were otherwise! I've read with some hope anecdotal reports that if you follow an evolutionary fitness-style diet your body will stop craving garbage, but in my experience that is not the case.

You have to want to be athletic more than you want to watch TV. You have to want to be athletic more than you want donuts. And for many, that's a very tough sell. In short, the good news is that it's possible. The bad news is that it's hard, and while it gets less hard over time, it never gets easy.