Obesity and Activity

I was so excited when I started reading about a new fitness magazine for kids.

The article I found described how a Miami mother of four went looking for a magazine that would encourage her kids to live healthy, smart lives — but couldn’t find one.

So, she did a very gutsy thing: she started one and it now — two years later — has a circulation of 25,000.

The magazine is meant for kids. Although it always has a professional athlete on the cover (to attract readership), inside it provides fitness alternatives for all kids no matter what their athletic ability.

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? I thought so, but then I read the magazine’s motto:

“Fighting Childhood Obesity One Kid at a Time”

Wait a minute! Physical activity is supposed to be fun and enjoyable isn’t it? — NOT as a treatment for gaining weight.

It seems to me that the goal of fitness-related activities during childhood is to discover those activities you love and in which you can participate for the rest of your life.

Instead, if we turn exercise into a weight-loss effort, doesn’t that take some (or all) the fun away?

What’s worse is there’s no evidence exercise has any impact on weight. Logically you think it would — but, according to almost all the scientific evidence, it doesn’t.

Why can’t we let exercise be just about fitness? Fitness is a wonderful thing and has incredible health benefits — but weight loss just isn’t one of them.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of The Straight Scoop About Childhood Obesity

Isn’t is an established fact that increased physical activity prevents weight gain and is a critical component of any weight-loss program?

I read a lot about overweight and obesity and I can tell you that almost every weight-loss book, magazine article, program (e.g., Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem), media report, and news article recommends exercise as essential for losing weight.

This advice really is universal. Everyone “knows” that, to lose weight, you just need to increase your physical activity and eat healthier.

As a result of this assumed truth, there has been a massive effort to find ways to get kids to exercise more (e.g., requiring gym class, building side walks, creating bike paths, constructing recreational facilities, installing treadmills in schools — and even preschools).

But, there’s one problem with this emphasis on exercise for weight-loss — IT DOESN’T WORK.

Let me share the results of just one recent study.

In November 2006, the British Medical Journal published the results of a study performed in Glasgow, Scotland. 545 children in their preschool year were split into two groups. One group had no intervention and the other were required to participate in an enhanced physical activity program (3 thirty- minute sessions a week over 24 weeks, home based health education aimed at increasing physical activity through play and reducing sedentary behavior).

The results? At six-months and twelve-months follow-up, the researchers found that physical activity did NOT reduce body mass index in these young children.

Although most people might be surprised by this result, these researchers were not. Here is how they began their paper:

“Systematic reviews have reported a dearth of evidence from randomised controlled trials on interventions aimed at preventing obesity in children. Most intervention studies were short term, underpowered, and had other weaknesses such as failure toinclude a control group. More recent interventions have usually been unsuccessful. Only a single long term randomised controlled trial found benefits to the interventions.”

So, if there’s little data supporting the use of exercise for weight loss, why is exercise such a common recommendation?

Well, I think it’s because it sounds like such logical advice — to lose weight, just burn off more calories by exercising.

It might sound logical to exercise in order to lose weight. But, here’s the reality — it doesn’t work.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of The Straight Scoop About Childhood Obesity

Last week I reported on an article which suggested that the new video console — the Nintendo Wii — may help address the childhood obesity problem (not!)

Now a researcher in the UK has just published a study which looks at the health impact of an older video game — Dance Dance Revolution (DDR).

DDR is one the available games for the Sony Playstation. It consists of a dance pad with pressure sensors which hooks up to the video-game console and TV. The player stands on the pad and steps on the different sensors according to the instructions displayed and in rhythm with the game’s music.

My son used to play this game and seemed to be huffing and puffing pretty good after several games. I tried it but never got good enough to get much of a work out.

Anyway, what Dr. Liverpool (the primary author of this UK study) learned is that playing the game did increase kid’s heart rate but not their breathing intensity (I guess my son was a more aggressive dancer than the kids in the study).

Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that a child would need to play the game for more than an hour every day for it have any impact on kid’s weight.

Here’s the reality — this research on video games as the solution to childhood obesity is barking up the wrong tree. The right tree is kids learning how to eat.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of The Straight Scoop About Childhood Obesity

According to an article I just read, yesterday was the beginning of a worldwide reversal to childhood obesity.

This is such a big deal that I’m sure you’ve heard about it. In fact, I’d bet that a vast majority of the population in developed countries know about it.

Do you know what I’m talking about? It’s the introduction of the “Wii” — Nintendo’s newest video game console.

How is it possible that a video game (which is often blamed for the increase in childhood obesity) could now be the solution?

Well, the new Wii has a wireless, motion-activated game-control device that requires players to wave it around rather than just push buttons with their thumbs.

So, to play tennis, you must stand up and swing at the ball on the screen just like you’d swing a real tennis racquet. In fighting games, you throw punches at your on-screen opponent. Users have reported being drenched with sweat after just a couple of games.

Personally, I think this sounds very cool. I can’t wait to get to my local Best Buy to try it out. However, I’m very confident it won’t do anything to address our childhood obesity problem.

Sure, it makes all kinds of sense for kids to be more active — doing things that are fun. Without question, exercise — in ANY form — is the very best thing we can all do for our health.

But, more exercise is not the solution to childhood obesity — for any age group. In my course, I explain why.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of The Straight Scoop About Childhood Obesity