Research
Energy balance
Individual responses to exercise are highly variable (ranging from significant fat loss to weight gain) due to heterogeneous compensatory increases in energy intake and changes in body composition.
Expect wide variability in weight loss from exercise. Some people may even gain weight on the scale due to increased lean mass. Focus on body composition (fat loss) rather than just scale weight, as individual biological responses vary significantly.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Not everyone performing regular exercise will lose weight and several investigations have demonstrated a huge individual variability in the response to exercise regimes... there was a large variation in the change in body composition... the weight gain of some participants was achieved despite the performance of supervised and measured exercise sessions
Why this rating
Supported by multiple medium-term trials showing wide ranges of individual response.
Source
Appetite control and energy balance: impact of exercise
John E. Blundell et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2015
DOI 10.1111/obr.12257
narrative_reviewCited 338×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Fat-free mass (FFM) and resting metabolic rate (RMR) are primary determinants of daily energy intake and meal size, challenging the adipocentric model that focuses solely on fat mass and leptin.Good
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