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Exercise Part 1: Basic Priciples |
Customization The word "exercise" means different things to different people. For a professional athlete, exercise may involve several hours of high intensity training nearly daily. For a formerly sedentary sixty year old man with diabetes and obesity, it may mean fifteen minutes of walking just a few times per week. Advice that would apply to the athlete would be dangerous for the diabetic. To be effective, and most important, to avoid injury and burnout, exercise needs to be specifically tailored to each person in a manner that accounts for health, physical condition, age, gender, goals, values, culture, income, time and weight. |
Does Exercise Help People Lose Weight? Yes, but even more it helps people maintain weight loss over the long term. How Does Exercise Help With Weight Control and Maintainance? Exercise helps in ways that are obvious and in ways that are not |
Direct Benefits of Exercise to Weight Control (and General Health) 1: It burns calories. 2: It prevents eating: This may sound stupid, but a person engaged in exercise is generally unable to eat at the same time. Here's a more concrete example: A 54 year old woman who used to eat fast food with co-workers at lunch decides instead to walk for that hour. Not only does her weight benefit from the calorie-burning caused by walking, but she is no longer able to spend the time consuming high fat food. Indirect (delayed) Benefits of Exercise 1: Increased resting metabolic rate. Nearly all exercise seems to increase resting metabolism to at least a small degree. Generally resistance training (weight lifting) seems to increase resting metabolic rate more than aerobic activity, but both forms help. 2: Appetite Modulation. For several hours after, exercise suppresses appetite and also seems specifically to reduce fat craving. Some of this effect may be related to the "natural high" of exercise that causes a change in brain chemistry. 3: Exercise Increases the Thermic Effect of Food. Studies show that regular exercise increases the percent of calories in a meal that the body burns during digestion. 4: Exercise Elevates Mood. Because people who exercise feel better, they are more likely to stay motivated to make all the lifestyle changes needed for weight loss. 5: Exercise Improves General Health: People who exercise are prone to fewer and milder illnesses than those who do not. This means less "down-time", and a lower chance that illness will 'de-rail" a person's weight control program. |
What is the "Best" Type of Exercise for Weight Control? Perhaps the simplest and best answer for many people is "ANY" kind of exercise. It is far better to do something physical (that is safe) than nothing at all. A point that we shall emphasise again and again is that the benefit of simply getting up and moving instead of doing nothing is so much greater than the benefits of one exercise type over another that for people who have long-remained sedentary, the point is mute. Do ANYTHING. Just make sure to start slowly, keep it low-impact and make it fun. |
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