I subscribe to Dr J Berardi's site and get some pretty good emails regarding nutrition, training etc - this one, like many other had a few great eye opener points . .
2 Hours a Day and They Still Got Fatter!
In Dr Homann's study, 56 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 - all of whom were in a program run by the South Dakota Department of Corrections - volunteered to get involved in a 4-6 month wellness program.
The idea was to have the girls exercise for about 14 hours per week (2 hours per day consisting of various activities such as hiking, running, circuit training, step aerobics and basketball) while following the USDA Food Guide, as it appeared in 2003.
At the beginning of the study and again at the end, a host of measures were recorded, including:
A step test and timed mile for cardiovascular fitness
Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), skinfolds (for % body fat), waist and hips circumference for body composition
Shuttle run for agility
Standing jump, sit-ups and bench press test for muscular strength and endurance
And sit-and-reach and straddle tests for flexibility
So, what happened? Well, as expected, cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, agility, and flexibility all improved. That's great! What's not so great is that body composition measures worsened. Instead of losing body weight and fat, these girls, on average, gained 6lbs, increased their waist circumference by 1/2 and inch, increased their hip circumference by 3/4 of an inch, and increased their body fat by over 1/2 a percentage point. Now, I don't know about you. But this isn't exactly what I'd expect to happen if I went on a 14 hour per week exercise binge!
The USDA Food Pyramid circa 2003
(note: the pyramid has since been updated...thank god!)
As you'd imagine, I'm kinda disappointed to learn that it's actually possible to gain body fat when exercising 2 hours per day, every single day. You're probably disappointed too.
However, what's even more disappointing is the fact that it's possible while actually following a nutrition plan!
Remember, participants in this study were following the recommendations of the USDA - you know, that famous food pyramid that everyone talks about. The one that dietitians across the land recommend that we follow. The one recommending 6-11 servings of breads, cereals, and pastas each day.
(Now, it is true that the USDA has since changed their recommendations - for the better. But can you blame me if I'm a little gun shy on backing their new recommendations? Especially after the checkered history of the last food pyramid?)
Questions
Now, you might have some questions about the study design...as I did when first reading it.
After all, maybe the girls didn't follow the USDA plan to a "T"...
Or maybe they were going thru puberty at the time of the study and that explains the fat gain...
Or maybe being put in a detention center isn't exactly condusive to fat loss in the first place.
Well, after speaking with Dr Homann, I'm pretty confident that these factors can't really explain away the fact that these girls exercised for 2 hours every single day, while following the USDA's guidelines, and got fatter.
For starters, the girls were living in a detention center and they were provided all their meals. So there wasn't much room to cheat. Further, the girls were starting out quite over fat. Indeed, their average body fat was just over 30% to begin with. So they did have fat to lose. And their fat gain can't be explained by simply "getting older" or "puberty".For the full article
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