Exercise

Description

Exercise's Effects on Weight

Exercising helps people reduce their weight, maintain weight loss, and can help fight obesity. In a one-year study, women who regularly averaged 3.5 days (176 minutes) of exercise each week lost significantly more weight than women who did not exercise regularly. Women who exercised more than 195 minutes a week lost nearly 7% of their abdominal fat. They made no changes in their diet plan.

Current guidelines of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise may be adequate to maintain cardiovascular health, but it may not be enough to prevent unhealthful weight gain. Recommendations published in 2003 and 2004 suggest that 45 to 60 minutes per day is necessary to prevent weight gain; children may need more activity.

Be forewarned, however, that the pounds wont melt off magically. Losing significant weight requires both exercise and calorie restriction. In addition, if a person exercises but doesn't diet any actual pounds lost may be minimal because dense and heavier muscle mass replaces fat. Nonetheless, regardless of weight loss, a fit body will look more toned and be healthier.

People who exercise are more apt to stay on a diet plan. Exercise improves psychological well being and replaces sedentary habits that usually lead to snacking. Exercise may even act as a mild appetite suppressant.

Nevertheless, exercise even without dieting adds health benefits. For example, one study found that overweight but fit people have half the death rate of overweight and unfit people. And, studies suggest that people who have trained for a long time develop more efficient mechanisms for burning fat and are able to stay leaner.

Lifting weights builds muscle, which burns calories more efficiently than other body tissues.

The following are some suggestions and observations on exercise and weight loss:

• The treadmill burns the most calories of standard aerobic machines. It may be particularly effective when used in short multiple bouts during the day. In fact, exercise sessions as short as 10 minutes in duration that are done frequently (about four times a day) may be the most successful program for obese people.
• The more strenuous the exercise, the longer the metabolism continues to burn calories before returning to its resting level. This state of elevated metabolism can last for as little as a few minutes after light exercise to as long as several hours after prolonged or heavy exercise.
• Resistance, or strength, training is excellent for replacing fat with muscles. It should be performed two or three times a week, it
• Fidgeting may be very helpful in keeping pounds off. Regular exercise is certainly the best course, but for people who must sit for hours at work, frequently shifting positions while sitting may have some benefit.
• It is important to realize that as people slim down, their initial level of physical activity becomes easier and they burn fewer calories per mile of walking or jogging. The rate of weight loss slows down, sometimes discouragingly so, after an initial dramatic head start using diet and exercise combinations. People should be aware of this phenomenon and keep adding to their daily exercise regimen.
• As people age, they also need to exercise more to keep off the same amount of weight.
• Changes in fat and muscle distribution may differ between men and women as they exercise. Men tend to lose abdominal fat (which lowers their risk for heart disease faster than reducing general body fat). Exercise, however, does not appear to have the same effect on weight distribution in women. In one interesting study women who underwent aerobic and strength training lost fat in their arms and trunk, but did not gain muscle tissue in these regions. On the other hand, they gained muscles but achieved no change in fat mass in their legs.

Warning Note. Because obesity is one of the risk factors for heart disease, so anyone who is overweight must discuss their exercise program with a physician before starting.