Everyone hanging in there? Are we enjoying the Dog Days of Summer (which technically end of August 11th)? Are we soaking up that sultry heat and extended sunlight?

I normally enjoy this time of year, but what with everything going on around me, it just doesn't feel the same. I'm still exercising, but I'm also indulging in a few more foods (sugary ones!) to add a little respite to the situation.

While I'm not quite at the COVID 15 (15 pounds, not a new virus name), I know many of us have seen new numbers on our scale. And having been there before, we know it can escalate quicker than it can decrease.

It may seem obvious that those who exercise are less likely to be obese than those who are sedentary. But, interestingly enough, exercise does not seem to be very effective at helping most overweight people drop pounds, probably because exercise tends to make people hungry.

In a new study, which was published in Obesity, researchers in Australia  compared the exercise habits and obesity numbers in an enormous group of American adults, over a million!

The researchers noted whether or not the men and women reported having completed at least 150 minutes a week of aerobic activities, such as walking or jogging during the past month, which is the standard health recommendation for exercise. They also recorded whether they had reported having done any resistance exercise, which would include not just weight training but activities like yoga and calisthenics, at least twice a week.

The incidence of obesity, especially extreme obesity, was much lower among active people than the sedentary, whether their activity was aerobic or resistance-oriented.

But those men and women who reported completing both types of exercise — who jogged and lifted or walked and downward dogged, for instance — were about 50 percent less likely to be obese than inactive people and about 20 percent less likely than people who participated in aerobic exercise or weight training alone.

In other words, it appears that doing either aerobic or muscle-strengthening exercise is good for a healthy weight, but doing both is better.

As with most studies, more information is needed. But in the meantime, those of us hoping to keep our weight under control might want to consider adding some weights to our movement routines like walking, running and cycling.