Quick Studies: a snapshot of the latest research on diet, exercise, and more

When people exercise, they often don’t lose as much weight as scientists expect. To find out why, researchers randomly assigned 171 sedentary overweight or obese people to burn: ■ A: no extra calories, ■ B: roughly 100 extra calories a day, or ■ C: roughly 250 extra calories a day. All exercise sessions were monitored. After six months, group A had lost ½ pound, group B had lost about 1 pound, and group C had lost 3½ pounds. Based on how much the groups exercised, the researchers calculated that group B should have lost another 3 pounds and group C should have lost another 6 pounds. What happened? The people in groups B and C “compensated” for the exercise by eating roughly 100 extra calories a day.
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