I actually touched on some of this in a previous thread. Go to the thread I linked below and read my three responses starting at post #6. I talked about how elevated insulin is the real problem and that lowering insulin levels will ultimately result in fat loss. I talked about the myth of “calories in verses calories burned” and that it’s really about the types of foods that we eat, rather than total calorie count.
Yes, indeed, if you eat a lower calorie diet, rich in sugars and highly refined starches, you will have a hard time losing body fat.
Exercise helps speed the process of fat loss in people who are significantly overweight but not because “exercise burns calories.” We burn calories when we sleep or sit and read websites. We are always burning calories. And, the body will adjust our basal metabolic rate at rest depending on how much we’ve exercised and how much we’ve eaten. Exercise vigorously for an hour and you’ll feel tired the rest of the day. You will spontaneously move around less for the rest of the day. Your brain will also compel you to eat more , especially soon after exercise is completed. The body maintains homeostasis. If you vigorously exercise and burn calories, the body will attempt to regain back some of it’s energy stores in anticipation of future exercise endeavors.
The real reason exercise causes overweight people to lose fat is because it helps with insulin sensitivity. Or another way to say it, exercise reduces insulin resistance. More insulin sensitivity means your pancreas doesn’t have to release as much insulin at meals, and now more fat will come out of adipose tissue in between meals. In a paridoxical sense, exercise helps you burn calories while you sleep. It improves insulin sensitivity, lowering total insulin amounts needed throughout the day, and thus fat comes out of adipose tissue and is burned during the prolonged period of fasting. Our longest time of fasting is usually after our last meal, while we sleep, before the next breakfast meal.