Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is why it's baffling that gyms are closed for five months straight where I live. And taxes on soft drinks are very low, which adds to the problem. So many problems that could be fixed with a bit of common sense by the politicians.
Every study and simple math says the same thing. Exercise is the least effective way to lose weight. The amount of exercise you have to do just burn 500 calories is far more than most people will do. Besides, there are other ways to exercise. The last point, if you overeat anything you will gain weight.
Exercise to reset metabolism is a better goal.
Takes about 6 weeks of very short HIIT sprints (4 minutes of high intensity interval training with 30 second intervals of anaerobic effort, along with 2 mins of warmup and 2 mins of cooldown) to shift metabolism into a rate that will burn extra kcalories at rest (an order of magnitude more a day than from the exercise itself).
Note that this type of HIIT can make people feel ill. Use an HR monitor and work with your doctor. You also cannot hit the necessary level of effort using most gym equipment. You need full body climbers (best, recruits 95% of muscles, easy to hit anaerobic sprints) or full body ergo cycles or rowers (recruits 80% - 90% but harder to sprint above VO2 Max).
The recalibration then also lasts 6+ months, and only needs 2 - 3 HIIT sessions a week to last indefinitely.
// And still, yes, what doesn’t go in doesn’t have to get burned off.