‘Avaust 17, 2008 Miracle Zinc: People Power: How Julie & Julia: Mery] The Simple Pill Corazon Aquino Streep Has Fun That Saves Lives Changed the World 2S: With French Food Of course it’s good for you, / but it won't make you ‘ lose weight. Why it’s j ) what you eat that ( really counts. Mill www.time.com IIWhy . - Exercise Won't Make — You Thin You've heard it for years: to lose weight, hit the gym. But while physical activity is crucial for good health, it doesn’t always melt off the weight—in fact, it can add some. Here's why BY JOHN CLOUD Pain—and then gain Whether because exercise makes us hungry or because swe want fo reward curseves, many people eat more (and tat worse) after going tothegym doughnut ‘Sugarcoated 200 caloriesS1waiTe THIS, ToMORROW 15 ‘Tuesday, which isacardio day. Til spend five minutes warm. ing up on the VersaClimber, a towering machine that re ‘quires you to move your arms and legs simultaneously. Then I'll do 30 minutes oma stair mill, On Wednesday a personal trainer will work me like a farm animal for an hour, sometimes to the point that Tam dizzy-an abuse for which I pay as, such as I spend on groceries in a week ‘Thursday is "body wedge” class, which involves another exercise contraption, this one a large foam wedge from which will push myself up in various hateful ways for an hour. Friday will bring an ‘8skm run, the extra halfkilometer my grueling expiation of any gastronomical indulgences during the week. Thave exercised like this—obsessively, a bit grimly—for years, but recently I began to wonder: Why am I doing this? Except for a two-year period at the end of an unhappy relationship—a period when Iself-medicated with lots of Italian desserts—I have never been overweight. ‘One of the most widely accepted, com: ‘monly repeated assumptions in our cul: ture is that if you exercise, you will lose ‘weight. But I exercise all the time, and since I ended that relationship and cut ‘most of those desserts, my weight has re ‘turned to the same 74 kgit has been most of my adult life. {still have gut fat that ‘hangs over my belt when I sit. Why isn't alltheexercise wiping itout? Its a question many people could ask. More than 45 million Americans now be- Jong toa health club, up from 23 million in 1993.Inthe US. some sx9illiona year is spent on gym memberships. Of course, some people join and never go. Still, a ‘one major study—the Minnesota Heart Survey—found, more people atleast say they exercise regularly. The survey ran from 1980, when only 47% of respondents said they engaged in regular exercise, to 2000, when the figure had grown to 57%. ‘And yet obesity figures have risen dra matically in the same period: a third of ‘Americans are obese, and another third count as overweight by the U.S. govern ‘ment's definition. Yes, its entirely possible that those who regularly go to the gym ‘would weigh even more if they exercised less, But like many other people, I get hungry after exercise, so often eat more ‘on the days I work out than on the days 1 don't. Could exercise actually be keeping ‘me romlosing weight? ‘The conventional wisdom that exercise isessentialforshedding weightisactually fairly new. Asrecentlyasthe 1960s, doctors 7