Spending more than 1 hour per day on physically demanding work or exercise helps offset gene weaknesses that otherwise make you gain weight. This is a different reason to exercise than burning calories. You might call it a “gene fitness” reason. The goal is to turn on more good genes that assist metabolism in comparison to your own “obesity genes” that will tend to dominate or activate if you are not very active.

The British researchers¹ genotyped 20,430 individuals ages 39 – 79 and analized 12 gene variants known to increase obesity risk. They compared this to their activity levels, both work and exercise, and followed the group for 3 ½ years. Those who were active more than 1 hour per day cut their risk for gaining weight by 40%.

This is an important study because it highlights the fact that exercise can turn on a variety of healthy metabolic genes, a concept that is different than calorie-burning alone. It shows that you can make up for a weak genetic dealing of the deck by improving your physical activity. That is something anyone can do.