Now don’t go start drinking to lose weight! I find it shocking that the women who drank moderately actually ate fewer calories from carbs. I wonder if this applies to men as well?
- VADM Regina M. Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A., Surgeon General
Students have walked during recess on Wednesdays for almost two years in three teams to match the distance of the Pacific Crest Trail. -School exercise in walking is cause for a celebration
MY COMMENT: Congratulations to Cindy Morehart for implementing this fabulous, yet simple progam!.
Think you’re going to lose fat faster by exercising?
Conclusions: Despite similar effect on fat losses, combining CR (calorie restriction) with exercise increased aerobic fitness in parallel with improved insulin sensitivity, LDL cholesterol, and diastolic BP. The results lend support for inclusion of an exercise component in weight loss programs to improve metabolic fitness. -Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise
COMMENTS: This study split subjects into 3s- controls, a group that reduced calorie intake by 25%, and a combination group with 12.5% reduction in calories combined with a 12.5% increase in physical activity. The findings support previous research- you don’t accelerate fat loss by adding exercise when caloric deficits are the same, however the added benefits are significant. Other research has found that weight loss is more likely to be maintained in those who continue to exercise.
Despite 14 years of public education campaigns, only one-third of Americans know about national recommendations for a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day, and fewer than half meet that goal, a new study has found. -everydayhealth
MY COMMENT: For effective weight loss and maintenance, it’s more like 60 minutes, however that depends on your level of intensity. Don’t forget, you can also “accumulate” minutes throughout the day.
“In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless” -Eric Ravussin, chair in diabetes and metabolism at Louisiana State University
Facinating article in Time Magazine called Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin that protrays exercise as a villian in the weight loss struggle. What’s the real story?
FACT: It’s true that exercise does not speed up weight loss. In my book, Lose It For Ever, I cite research that supports this fact.
FACT: Most people trying to lose weight cannot do so using exercise by itself without a change in diet.
FACT: It is extremely difficult to compensate for a high calorie diet with physical activity.
FACT: If you looked at a breakdown of weight that is successfully lost in comparison studies, exercisers lose more fat and less muscle compared to those who just diet.
FACT: While exercise does not speed up the weight loss process, those who practice it regularly have a much higher probability of keeping it off compared to dieters.
FACT: It’s much easier reduce calorie intake by 300 than it is to burn 300 calories through activity.
FACT: It’s a no-brainer that exercise provides more health benefits than you could possibly derive from anything else modern medicine can provide. That should be reason enough.
MY THEORY: There is more to weight loss than reducing “the energy gap”. I believe the real value of exercise and successful weight loss results from changes within the body that improve your ability to convert food into energy. Diet doesn’t do that. I also am convinced that the optimal weight loss/weight maintenance program requires a balance of activity and sensible eating.
…most studies have shown that cutting calories is the key to initial weight loss. It’s easier to skip 500 calories of high-fructose colored water in a day than it is to run 5 miles. However, followup research has shown that the best way to keep the weight off is with a regular exercise program. -runnersworld
MY COMMENT: Your best chance for success is a moderate approach with diet and physical activity. Extremes on either side of the equation generally end in failure.
Check out squeezeitin.com for ideas on adding different exercises to tasks of daily living. Can you get fit this way? I doubt it, but something is better than nothing.
I perfer buying a selection of exercise equipment including dumbbells, Exer-tubing, fitness ball, push up handles, pull-up bar (the kind that hangs in a doorway), and the Lebert Equalizer Bars, piling everything in a corner, then pick something out to work on every day.
I hate to say it, but if you want muscle tone you have to fatigue that specific group to near failure repeatedly. Sorry, but I just can’t see that happening while doing laundry or dishes. You will see results, however in just minutes a day with heavy enough dumbbells, Ex-tube upper and lower body work, push-ups, e.t.c. done first thing in the morning, during tv commercials, before bed, or whenever you can fit it in.
The difficulty, Dr. Blair says, is that it’s much easier to eat 1,000 calories than to burn off 1,000 calories with exercise. As he relates, “An old football coach used to say, ‘I have all my assistants running five miles a day, but they eat 10 miles a day.’” -nytimes
MY COMMENT: It’s easier to lose body fat by cutting calories out of your diet than trying to burn them off. Ideally you should do a combination of both. The primary benefit of aerobic exercise is not how many calories you burn but the change that occurs within the muscle.
Recent Comments