A recent Time Magazine article made a case for not having regular exercise in your life and stated that exercise has absolutely nothing to do with weight loss and weight control.
The author wrote that the more he exercised, the greater his appetite, the more he ate and the more weight he gained.
To have a personal experience like this is one thing, but to make the assumption that exercise makes you fat couldn't be less true or more irresponsible.
Fitness is important and can play a big role in weight loss.
When talking about diet and exercise, there are many factors that go into a successful weight loss.
Food and calorie intake are number one on the list, but genetics, attitude, support, and yes, exercise, all make the grade for successful weight loss.
There is still no other formula that works for weight loss better than this one: burn more calories than you take in.
That is the simple answer in a very complex equation.
It brings the question: Does fitness matter? In defense of the writer of that now infamous article, he does state that exercise plays a crucial role in diabetes control, heart health and in the prevention of certain cancers and he is right on that mark.
But the role exercise plays in our lives is a different experience for each person.
Individual needs are different as are the relationships we have with fitness, but there is a place for physical activity in everyone's lives.
As our national waistlines expand and childhood obesity continues to rise, the need for regular exercise is perhaps more important than ever.
60% of Americans don't move enough and this statistic hasn't changed much since Eisenhower was in office.
That does mean that 40% of Americans are walking and moving enough, but 80% of our health care costs go into lifestyle related problems.
This includes the people who smoke, drink and drive recklessly.
Most people are still watching too much TV, eating too many calories and simply not moving enough.
Technological advances play a part in why Americans are mostly sedentary.
Elevators, escalators, public transportation, and all the every day conveniences we enjoy may make our lives easier, but it adds to our general lack of movement.
Back in the hunting gathering days, we lived to find calories because calories are what keep us alive.
Back then; the credo was move or die.
We are no longer motivated to move.
Our calories are readily available and easily gotten.
The need to get outside and dig, plow, plant and harvest are replaced with fast food, frozen dinners and eating in restaurants.
The hunt for food is what led our ancestors to walk up to three miles a day.
That need is very long gone.
What exactly is moving more? What defines a mobile society? The basic national guidelines for physical activity to maintain heart health is to walk 10 minutes three times a day, five days a week.
30 minutes a day on most days is for most people a difficult prospect.
Breaking it down to 10-minute mini walks makes it more appealing and certainly makes it seem like an attainable goal.
But for those 60% of Americans that are sedentary, even that is too tall an order.
It's not just obesity that is putting people at risk.
It's lack of movement.
People who are fat but active and fit have half the death rate of normal weight people who are unfit.
Half the death rate is a huge statistic and all because they are active, not because they are thin.
Where we choose to live may make a difference in our perception of fitness.
Certain societies value exercise and see the need to incorporate fitness into our daily lives.
Generally speaking, European countries allow for easier bicycle travel and literally design their cities to accommodate pedestrian walking.
Studies show that people who live in dense cities tend to walk more.
Areas where people live farther apart have to drive to their destinations.
City planning and safe places to walk make the movement effort easier to attain.
But there is another study that shows that the opposite can be true.
When a city is too dense with people and buildings and is too crowded, it then becomes counterproductive to walking.
Safety becomes an issue, as does the feeling of never having private space.
Individual needs give in to the bigger citywide need to survive.
So what's a person to do? Statistics are against us.
Technology is against us.
Lifestyles are against us.
Time is against us.
The children of the next generation are battling for their lives.
We must absolutely look at the positives here.
We recognize there is a problem.
The first step in recovery is to know there is a problem.
The next step is to take action.
There is an underlying pulse, a change in attitude, and a subtle shift in how we as a nation think about fitness.
The video game industry recognized that they were part of the sedentary child problem and developed new games that incorporate movement.
In an age where only one percent of children walk to school, there is a move towards adhering to a recess and gym class schedule.
Schools are starting to think twice about eliminating physical fitness in an attempt to cut costs.
American educational experts should take a cue from our European neighbors.
Schools in Sweden have several fifteen minute fitness breaks throughout the day and have noticed that the students concentration levels improved and that they out-test Americans on all levels.
This is not surprising.
Exercise increases circulation and when blood gets to your brain, you think more clearly and concentrate more easily.
But the bottom line remains in the individual and familial changes in lifestyle.
Children learn from their adults and schools can only do so much.
Parents and guardians are the real key to lasting changes in fitness.
Getting out and walking together as a family or simply encouraging your child to walk or ride their bikes can make a huge difference fighting lethargy and weight gain.
If time is an issue, think of this.
There is no busier job than that of the President of The United States, but the last three presidents were exercisers.
They found time in their incredibly busy schedules to workout, run or play sports because they know how important fitness is for maintaining health, vitality, and focus.
They make the case for physical fitness and why fitness matters better than any statistic or study.
Does fitness matter? You bet it does.
It may not be the one single answer to a lasting weight loss, but increasing your physical output even a little bit can help to decrease certain diseases, increase heart health, improve your mood, increase your focus, betters your circulation and lowers blood pressure, cholesterol and yes, helps in your effort to lose weight.