Exercise cannot turn the obesity tide

I lost 90 pounds without exercising.

I'm not saying that works for everyone, but I know exercise alone is not the panacea for the obesity crisis in America.

In fact you can exercise and not lose any weight. But it's extremely difficult to not to lose weight if you simply cut down on the number of calories you eat (no matter what the kind).

I lost 90 pounds by cutting my calories in half. In the process I learned to eat more healthy foods (because they are lower in calories). I stopped going to any fast food restaurants because I realized the hamburgers and fried foods were killing me. I realized over-sized portions were wrong, not only for my wallet but where I keep my wallet.

The TV reality show, "The Biggest Loser", shows an unsustainable amount of exercise. What they rarely show is the gigantic change in eating habits in order to lose hundreds of pounds.

To stop childhood obesity, we can't completely rely on exercise as Forbes.com reports:

Physical fitness programs in schools improve many aspects of children's health, but they don't appear to combat obesity, a new study in the Canadian medical publication CMAJ shows.

Improvements in blood pressure, muscle mass, bone mineral density, lung capacity and flexibility were some of the benefits experienced by the more than 18,000 students participating in "physical activity interventions" at their schools; however, the program's did not noticeably lower the children's body-mass index (BMI) -- a common measurement of obesity.