WHY EXERCISE doesn’t actually help you lose weight. I dunno, but it sure influences the quality of the weight you have. But note this: “Diet also plays a role. According to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, people who consume a lot of easily digestible carbohydrates (most Americans) are going to be less willing to exercise because of the metabolic effects of such a diet. Energy that ends up trapped in fat cells (just one of the awesome side effects of a high-sugar diet) isn’t available to fuel the rest of the body, and one of the results is lethargy.”

Back to the Gary Taubes thesis. The other side of it is, exercise makes your body look better when it’s slim, so you have more incentive not to cover up those nice muscles with fat. At least, that’s how it seems to me. Call it the Rippetoe Corollary.