Exercise paradox - Wikipedia

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2024-10-28 14:00:03

The exercise paradox,[ 1] also known as the workout paradox,[ 2] refers to the finding that physical activity, while essential for maintaining overall health, does not necessarily lead to significant weight loss or increased calorie expenditure.[ 3] This paradox challenges the common belief that more exercise equates to more calories burned and consequently, more weight loss.[ 4]

The exercise paradox emerged from studies comparing calorie expenditure between different populations. Fieldwork on the Hadza people, a hunter-gatherer tribe in Tanzania, revealed that despite their high levels of physical activity, the tribe burned a similar number of calories per day as sedentary individuals in industrialized societies.[ 5] [ 6] This finding, led by Duke University professor Herman Pontzer, contradicted the expectation that more active lifestyles would result in higher energy expenditures.[ 7]

In 2012, Pontzer and his team of researchers analyzed energy expenditure in 30 Hadza adults using the doubly labeled water method. Participants consumed water enriched with two distinct isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen. The team later assessed the concentration of these isotopes in urine samples, which correlates with the body's daily carbon dioxide production and, consequently, daily energy expenditure.[ 8]