Cardiologists Say Exercise Isn't Just for Weight Loss. Concerning a Healthy Heart

Exercise is about much more than just losing weight, yet given how strongly obesity is linked to ill health, it can be difficult to make weight loss the main objective.

Three American cardiologists explain why it is such a serious error in a recent commentary.

Emerging research indicates that physical activity can still increase the health and fitness of our hearts, extending our lives even if no visceral fat is burnt.

The cardiologists Carl Lavie, Robert Ross, and Ian Neeland contend that merely increasing physical activity is more significant than emphasizing weight loss when it comes to enhancing health.

The authors clearly spell out their supporting documentation, yet the argument is contentious and will undoubtedly spark more discussion.

The cardiologists are particularly interested in a study that revealed that measurements of activity are a significantly better indicator of long-term health than a person's body mass index or body fat content. This study was published in the International Journal of Obesity in August.

This study demonstrated that increased physical activity virtually decreased the risk for cardiovascular-related fatalities and all-cause mortality during the following 12 years among 116,228 adults.

This was true even if a person's waist size grew throughout the same time frame.

The cardiologists write in their editorial that this discovery is "completely consistent with other data suggesting that exercise is associated with benefits across a wide range of health outcomes in connection with no or minimal weight loss."

"However, substantial evidence suggests that a singular focus on weight loss as the only indicator of success for strategies that aim to reduce obesity is not justified and, more importantly, eliminates opportunities to focus on other potentially important lifestyle behaviors that are linked to substantial health benefits."

In other words, by focusing too much on weight loss and not enough on reducing sedentary behaviors, doctors may be failing their patients.

While acknowledging the "strong and unequivocal evidence" that obesity is a health risk factor, the editorial's authors also draw attention to a "obesity paradox," wherein obesity is occasionally linked to a lower mortality risk.

Scientists from a variety of disciplines have questioned modern medicine's limited perspective on obesity in recent years.

Two exercise physiologists made the case for "a weight-neutral strategy" for treating obesity in their 2021 review from the previous year.

The 2021 review discovered that exercise can reduce the majority of cardiometabolic risk indicators linked to obesity, even when weight loss is not accomplished. However, losing weight did not always translate into a lower mortality risk.

In fact, a recent study of 10,000 heart disease patients found that, regardless of BMI, body fat, or waist circumference, those with superior cardiorespiratory fitness were more likely to survive the subsequent 15 years.

The new editorial claims that the discovery that obesity and associated health risks can be significantly decreased even in the presence of minimal weight loss by adopting a physically active lifestyle and a healthy diet is encouraging and gives the practitioner and the adult with overweight/obesity additional options for effective treatment.

The authors of the editorial have also looked into the issue. They cite an investigation by Lavie from 2018 as an illustration, which revealed that changes in physical activity were a stronger predictor of both overall death and mortality specifically from cardiovascular disease. While losing weight did not demonstrate this risk reduction.

The research is mounting and indicates that there may be more nuance than many of us had been led to think in the connection between physical exercise, heart health, and fat loss.

Some specialists believe that a person should be considered healthy regardless of weight if they are sufficiently active.

These recent findings provide people more control because of how unpredictable weight loss and increase can be.

You might only need to start moving if you want to feel healthy and fit.