Weight Is Easier Gained Than Lost When Exercise Is Inconsistent

“Weight gain caused by inconsistent exercise cannot be lost by simply resuming a previous exercise routine, suggests a study published in the February 2008 issue Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official scientific journal of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). In an eight-year study of more than 40,000 runners, researcher Paul Williams, Ph.D., found that weight gain among men and women who decreased their running distances per week was significantly more than weight loss among men and women who increased their running distances per week by the same amount. ‘If you stop exercising with the intention of starting again later, you don't get to pick up where you left off,’ Thompson said. ‘You're likely to gain weight and get stuck with it unless you exercise a lot more. It's an ounce of prevention or a pound of cure, literally.’”