Here’s a quick review of an older study (from 1997). In the study, they took middle-aged diabetics and randomized them to do either nothing, or to do 45 minutes of vigorous cycling on a stationary bike twice per week, plus one session of high-intensity interval cardio training (consisting of two minutes of vigorous exercise followed by three minutes of light exercise for five cycles, for a total of 25 minutes).
After two months, the people who did the exercise had lost 48% of their visceral fat, and significantly improved their insulin sensitivity and blood glucose numbers, even though they didn’t lose a significant amount of weight overall. You can read the full study by clicking here.
(Of note, the researchers also tested the addition of amino acid supplements in the study, but these did not have any significant effect.)
This study reinforces a few points I frequently make on this blog, but which I really can’t hammer home enough. Namely:
Exercise does only a little to help you lose weight. Despite that, it does a tremendous job of helping you to be healthier at whatever weight you are.
While you might have aesthetic reasons for wanting to be thinner, your health is in large part determined by your visceral fat, which you can’t see. And while losing weight certainly reduces visceral fat, even in the absence of weight loss you can redistribute the fat you have away from your viscera by non-dietary interventions such as exercise and stress reduction.
Even a small amount of exercise can go a very, very, long way. You can probably find time for two 45 minute cardio sessions and one 25 minute HIIT session per week, even if (like most of us) you lead a busy and chaotic life.
