Further analysis on interplay between diet and exercise

I just read an article in the 11-08-09 NY Times magazine about the interplay between exercise and diet with regard to weight loss efforts. The article features some newer thinking on levels of intensity of exercise effort and specifically the burning of fat for fuel vs. carbohydrate. It is a counter intuitive relationship such that relatively lower intensity effort "burns" fat while higher intensity effort "burns" carbohydrate. This much is not really new info but the item in the article that is new regards the idea of "after burn" effect. It has often been touted, including by yours truly, that walking, for example two strategic times a day (separated by 8-12 hours), would effectively keep the metabolism on overdrive for the full day. Hence there would be an after burn effect. Turns out that this appears not to be the case with this newer research.

So the essence of the research in the article then focuses on the need to find dietary and exercise balance in specific efforts for weight loss. Give the article a read and see what you think.