I feel like it's one of those things that sits in the background and eventually has a decent effect over time (assuming you're not looking for unreasonably rapi

I feel like it's one of those things that sits in the background and eventually has a decent effect over time (assuming you're not looking for unreasonably rapid weight loss). It's an extra tool not, not a replacement for restriction (as well as a safeguard against a crashing metabolism). An easy run of three miles three times a week takes three half hours out of your week and can easily burn 1000 calories. If you're keeping an eye on calories in and don't go over to compensate, that's a pound every 3-4 weeks. That sounds glacially slow, but if you're doing CICO for six months it's an extra 8-9 lbs. And this is being conservative: given the lengths of willpower people go to in the calories-in side, going for a half hour run every day isn't that unreasonable. That will lose you an extra 17 lbs in six months. If you're trying to lose even 50-100 lbs, 17 lbs over six months is not insignificant (let alone if you're trying to lose 20-30lbs). I think the idea that it's not useful for weight loss comes from the fact that it's tough when you're starting, but then, so is calorie restriction. All of this is ignoring weightlifting, which is even better at making weight loss easier.