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Walkng four miles only burns about 190 calories.

Energy expenditure is not linear, more activity does not result in greater daily calorie expenditure.

To enhance your cardiovascular system, exercise; to lose weight, only caloric restriction will work.

According to my smart phone I walk about 8200 steps, or about four miles, every day when I’m on the golf course. That translates to about four miles. According to my phone’s health app, I burned only 191 calories. To celebrate, I ate a candy bar containing 250 calories. You’ve all done the same; admit it.

Shouldn’t exercise burn more calories?

The answer is disappointing. In a review of 32 randomized controlled trials that involved a total of 4774 participants (Morze et al. 2021) with obesity, the average loss of weight of those who participated in a regular exercise routine, as compared to controls without exercise, was small; only about 2 kg. Nationwide surveys show that 43% of Americans are overweight by at least 10-15 kg. The authors concluded that the impact of exercise was modest in terms of clinically-meaningful weight loss. The current evidence indicates that although exercise is important for cardiovascular and bone health, it is not an effective way to achieve significant weight loss (Ponzer, 2022).

Why Don’t You Lose More Weight from Walking More?

Energy expenditure is not linear. More activity does not necessarily result in greater daily calorie expenditure or weight loss. This is why most people who exercise lose less weight than would be expected for any given effort expended. Why? Our bodies evolved complex compensatory mechanisms to balance the energy necessary to contract muscles with the energy available for other critical biological processes.

In addition, muscles evolved to be efficient so that they did not waste too many valuable calories. Studies have shown that our body........

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