Exercise and Weight Loss

June 1, 2010 at 5:49 pm | Posted in Health & Nutrition, Health R&D, Lifestyle | Leave a comment
Tags: exercise, fat loss, lifestyle, weight loss

Just when you thought that getting out of bed early to go jogging in the rain, or pumping iron for hour after boring hour in the gym, was the key to losing weight along comes science and rains on our parade. Not so says the research!

A recent article in the New York Times Magazine (click here for the complete article) reported on new science:

“The newest science suggests that exercise alone will not make you thin, but it may determine whether you stay thin, if you can achieve that state.”

It seems that the basic formula for weight loss (burn more calories than you consume) is typically violated by exercise. For many of us, women especially, as we exercise we get more hungry and eat more!

The really unfair part of this is the gender bias; women’s bodies being more efficient than men’s in maintaining the level of body fat (see my blog on why fat not weight is the issue). Some of this bias may be related to a need to maintain energy stores for reproduction.

Good news is, however, that exercise does have a major impact on health and life expectancy (see my blog – lifestyle and health)

A lack of exercise is implicated in some pretty serious stuff that most of us would rather avoid:  

• Coronary heart disease
• Cerebrovascular disease
• Colorectal cancer
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Chronic kidney disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteoporosis

So it seems that we might just as well get into the habit of increased activity for good health.

Then, when we have lost the excess fat that is going to kill us faster than a lack of exercise, we need to continue with the lifestyle changes that will improve our chances of dying from the least likely cause of death – old age!

And, while you are in the mood for some lifestyle changes; take a long and serious look at high quality, natural, food form supplements comprising real food nutrients to give your body the essential resources to defend, repair and build.

Living in an environment that is, increasingly, hostile to good health we need every advantage we can get.

Of course, we could be like my friend “Jack” (not his real name, for obvious reasons) who got really excited when his weight dropped enough for his BMI to go from “obese” to just “overweight”.

Not that this is an accomplishment to be dismissed – it is a huge effort that required discipline and serious commitment.

But, it’s just such a mind numbingly crazy state of affairs when a person has to be classed “obese” before their brain kicks in and they start doing what they should have been doing way back while the odds of a long and healthy life were more in their favour.

Seriously, we all need to get really committed to making lifestyle changes right now.

Stay happy or at least smile a lot; it tends to annoy the hell of all those grumpy people