London, Aug 7 (IANS): Are you planning to hit the gym to shed those extra pounds around your waist? Think again!
"Exercise can actually lead to weight gain ... nor does it improve mood," claimed Michael Mosley, the brain behind the popular 5:2 diet and co-author of 'The Fast Diet'.
"A lot of people think that when you exercise, you can eat what you want - and that the gym will make you happy," he said during a television show on a British channel.
"But this is wrong," he added.
"Exercise is a good way to keep weight off - but it is not a good way to lose it," Mosley was quoted as saying.
He explained that exercise helps burn calories much less than people generally assume, suggesting that the secret to losing weight may be hidden in not consuming those calories in the very first place.
"One pound (around half a kg) of fat is 3,500 calories -- and fat is more energy-dense than dynamite -- so to burn one pound of fat you would need to run about 38 miles (61.15km)," he was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.
"That is why people never lose weight going to the gym in the long-run," he noted.