Myth: If You Eat or Exercise Consistently, You Will Never Gain Weight

A common myth is that people who exercise should not gain weight.  The common belief is that fat people are lazy and if they exercise it would fix their obesity.  The fact is that weight gain is mostly an input and not an output problem.  You need to be willing to make lifestyle changes and dietary adjustments as you age, change, and grow. 

I am going to attack this in two parts:  

• Diet.  Eating regularly will not in itself help maintain or lose weight.  It will help prevent you from having cravings or snacking, but the problem is that if you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight.  You must control your intake in addition to eating regularly to prevent weight gain.  Also, there is research to show that skipping meals will induce weight loss.  I do not recommend it because it will cause cravings and hunger.  There are many studies that show that diet is superior to exercise alone​[1]​,.

The Bottom Line:  In theory, both of these could be true, but the fact is they are unrealistic to maintain.  You must pay attention to what you eat and combine exercise and diet to prevent weight gain.  It is clear based on most research that diet combined with exercise is superior to promote long-term weight loss​[4]​, but no plan is guaranteed to keep the weight off without keeping the energy usage either balanced or negative.