Exercise: Be Wary of Compensating With Diet :

Recent research compared the impact of a 12 week exercise program on overweight and obese sedentary men and women.

Despite doing identical exercise regimes - the outcomes were very mixed.

As an average, each person in the group of 35 people lost around 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) over 12 weeks. However closer analysis showed there was enormous variability: one lost 14.7 kgs right up to a person that actually gained weight!

The supervised exercise was designed to burn 500 calories a day on treadmills, bikes and rowing machines.

If everyone was doing the exact same exercise - why the massive variation?
The study identified two kinds of people: Compensators and Non-compensators: which were "characterized by their different metabolic and behavioural compensatory responses."

Compensators: Ended up eating 270 more calories per day.
Non-compensators: Ate 130 calories less.

The Bottom Line
Extrapolating pounds lost by measuring the amount of exercise done is flawed. Some of us compensate by eating more food. There may also be metabolic processes at work that are beyond our control.

Be aware of increased appetite from exercise (if your goal is weight loss). Also remember that exercise is about so much more than simply weight loss.

Shortcomings
The study was small. There was also no mention of body composition or the kinds of foods that the subjects were eating.

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