The title of my talk was "Rebranding Exercise" and it makes the case for detaching exercise from weight loss and reattaching it to health.
As to why exercise needs to be rebranded? By preventing cancers, improving blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar, bolstering sleep, attention, energy and mood, and doing so much more, exercise has indisputably proven itself to be the world’s best drug – better than any pharmaceutical product any physician could ever prescribe. Sadly though, exercise is not a weight loss drug, and so long as we continue to push exercise primarily (and sadly sometimes exclusively) in the name of preventing or treating adult or childhood obesity, we’ll also continue to short-change the public about the genuinely incredible health benefits of exercise, and simultaneously misinform them about the realities of long term weight management.
Video's below where you'll also find links to every journal article I mention in the talk listed in order of appearance. The first 28 minutes has me covering the evidence with as much animation as standing behind a podium allows, but if you just want to see me get fired up and explain why rebranding exercise is important, skip ahead to the 28 minute mark where I extricate myself from the clutches of the podium and watch from there.
Huge thanks to PHE Canada and Doug Gleddie for the invite and to Brent Gibson from PHE Canada for recording and posting the talk.
References:
- Physical activity at the government-recommended level and obesity-related health outcomes: a longitudinal study (Early Bird 37)
- Effect of school-based physical activity interventions on body mass index in children: a meta-analysis
- Physical Activity Interventions in Schools for Improving Lifestyle in European Countries
- Physical activity and cardiovascular risk factors in children: meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials
- The impact of school-time activity on total physical activity: the activitystat hypothesis (EarlyBird 46)
- Do extra compulsory physical education lessons mean more physically active children - findings from the childhood health, activity, and motor performance school study Denmark (The CHAMPS-study DK)
- Fatness leads to inactivity, but inactivity does not lead to fatness: a longitudinal study in children (EarlyBird 45)
- Current physical activity guidelines for health are insufficient to mitigate long-term weight gain: more data in the fitness versus fatness debate (The HUNT study, Norway)
- Physical activity energy expenditure has not declined since the 1980s and matches energy expenditures of wild mammals
- Energy Expenditure and Adiposity in Nigerian and African American Women
- Energy expenditure does not predict weight change in either Nigerian or African American women
- Energy expenditure in adults living in developing compared with industrialized countries: a meta-analysis of doubly labeled water studies
- Reduction in Obesity and Related Comorbid Conditions after Diet-Induced Weight Loss or Exercise-Induced Weight Loss in Men: A Randomized, Controlled Trial
- Effect of change in physical activity on body fatness over a 10-y period in the Doetinchem Cohort Study
- Maintaining a High Physical Activity Level Over 20 Years and Weight Gain
- A Meta-Analysis of Pedometer-Based Walking Interventions and Weight Loss
- Exercise effect on weight and body fat in men and women
- Effect of Exercise on 24-Month Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight Women
- Impact of physical activity interventions on anthropometric outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis
- Weight training, aerobic physical activities, and long-term waist circumference change in men
- Population estimates of Australian children's exposure to food and beverage sponsorship of sports clubs
