10 Reasons Why Exercise is Good for Your Weight

8/6/2019 10 Reasons Why Exercise is Good for Your Weight

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/10-reasons-why-exercise-is-good-for-your-weight 1/3

1

10 Reasons Why Exercise is Good for Your Weight

A recent Time magazine article, "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin," is misleading at best. Exercise is critical to losing weight and maintaining a

healthy weight, especially when paired with healthy eating habits.

Countless studies, numerous experts who study exercise, and the millions of people who have lost weight all attest to the fact that working out

works.

1. Exercise zaps belly fat

Regular moderate to high intensity aerobic exercise has the greatest impact on reducing abdominal fat -- the dangerous fat that

increases your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

2. Exercise controls calories

You need to burn more calories than you consume in order to lose weight. Regular exercise uses up excess calories that would

otherwise be stored as fat.

3. Exercise keeps lost pounds MIA

Ninety percent of people who have successfully lost weight and kept it off for a year do about an hour of physical activity a day.

4. Exercise boosts metabolism

You'll lose fat when you diet without exercising, but you'll also lose muscle, which means you'll burn fewer calories. The more muscle

you have, the higher your metabolism and the more calories you'll burn.

5. Exercise does more than the scale shows

If you gain 3 pounds of lean muscle and lose 4 pounds of fat, you've actually experienced a 7-pound improvement in your body

condition, despite the scale only showing 1 pound of weight loss.

6. Exercise curbs emotional eating

Working out has been proven time and time again to help regulate mood, which has a direct effect on people who eat when they' re

stressed or upset.

7. Exercise creates a healthy chain reaction

Healthy habits tend to cluster together. When people make positive changes, like getting more exercise, they tend to work on other

health improvements as well, such as eating better.

8. Exercise brings on the fun

Rock-climbing is more exciting than eating a celery stick. That's why it's sometimes easier to be active to stay slim than to maintain a

strict diet.

9. Exercise stops hunger

People who exercise and diet are actually less hungry than those who only diet, according to at least one study.

10. Exercise increases energy

Regular physical activity increases stamina by boosting your body's production of energy-promoting neurotransmitters. That gives you

even more motivation to get moving and shed pounds.

Many of you may not realize that I have been passionate about exercise for 41 years. Ever since I first read Dr. Ken Cooper¶s book Aerobics, I was

hooked. Unfortunately, for over 30 years I primarily pursued aerobic type of exercises. Nevertheless I have been exercising regularly since then.

It is one of the primary reasons why I went to medical school. I wanted to integrate exercise into health care. One thing you can count on in life is

change, and by the time I finally started my medical practic e nearly 25 years ago, exercise had become widely adopted in the culture and it was not

a struggle to convince people of the value of exercise.

So I progressed into other areas such as clinical nutrition and eventually mind body medicine, which has the most profound influence of all on your

health.

Just as my views on health have evolved, my exercise views have also morphed over time. Now aerobic activity is actually a mi nority of my

workout. My favorite aerobic workout is hiking up mountains over 10,000 fo ot elevation in the summer. It is absolutely awesome. Unfortunately I

don¶t live in the Rockies so I only get to do that occasionally.



2

But now I balance elliptical training with strength training, anaerobic cardio interval type training, and active isolated stretching every night.

Eventually I would like to develop a regular yoga practice as I believe that is an extraordinary tool to keep fit.

I remain absolutely convinced that exercise is one of the most important tools that you can implement to gain opti mal health. In my view it is not

possible to be healthy without regular exercise.

You probably know that next to optimizing your vitamin D levels, lowering your insulin levels to below 2 is one of the healthiest physical goals you

can have. Exercise is one of the most effective tools to normalize your insulin levels and can radicall y reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease and

obesity.

Time Magazine Really Blows it

That is why I was so shocked to see Time, one of my favorite magazines to stay current, run such a negative article on exercise.

Last week they published ³Why Exercise Won¶t Make You Thin,´ which downplays the benefits of exercise, and quotes a so-called expert saying

that, ³In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless.´

It is just shocking to me how such trash gets published. The poor lay person with little to no formal health education has an enormous challenge

sorting through this maze of health information.

Hopefully one of roles I help to serve for people is to provide them with a grounded observation of this type of misinformation, so they can have a

consistent perspective which will move them towards health.

Can You Be Optimally Healthy Without Exercise?

No, you cannot. A healthy diet and exercise go hand in hand when it comes to creating and maintaining optimal health. But especially if you are

struggling with your weight, exercise is clearly one of the key factors that can synergize the effects of hea lthy food choices.

Keep in mind that if you are overweight, you will need at least 30 minutes of exercise a day to experience any weight loss be nefits. Major studies

have shown that 60 minutes a day is best, and in my experience, these findings hold true.

The key is to get the right type of exercise. Avoid the mistake I made for over thirty years and just assume that aerobic car dio type exercises are

going to do the trick for you. I can confidently tell you that you need to have a comprehensive exercise st rategy that includes far more than cardio.

Maximize Your Weight Loss Efforts with the Right Kind of Exercise

One of the ³secrets´ that can boost your weight loss is called µinterval training,¶ meaning you take a short break in between each exercise.

I¶ve published many stories about the benefits of interval training, which has led me to incorporate interval training (sprints) with endurance cardio

training (running) in my own routine. But you certainly don't have to run to achieve these benefits. You can receive similar effects by using properly

supervised weight training.

Several studies have confirmed that exercis ing in shorter bursts with rest periods in between burns more fat than exercising continuously for anentire session. This has been shown to hold true even when the session is not done at an extremely high intensity.

In one such study, those who cycled for 40 minutes, alternating four -minute bursts at 90 percent effort with two minutes of rest, improved their

cardiovascular fitness by 13 percent, and were able to burn 36 percent more fat during a later hour -long moderate cycling session.

Another study took it even further, showing you can burn more fat exercising for 20 minutes than for 40 minutes!

In their trial, women either exercised for 20 minutes, alternating 8 seconds of sprinting on a bike with 12 seco nds of exercising lightly, or exercised

at a regular pace for 40 minutes. After exercising three times a week for 15 weeks, those who did the 20 -minute, alternating routine lost three times

as much fat as the other women.

The researchers believe this type of exercise works because it produces a unique metabolic response. Intermittent sprinting produces high levels of

chemical compounds called catecholamines, which allow more fat to be burned from under your skin and within your muscles. The resulting

increase in fat oxidation is thought to drive the increased weight loss.

An added boon of interval training is that it cuts down on the amount of time you need to exercise, which is great if you don ¶t have time for hour-long

cardio workouts.

Additionally, another important aspect for weight loss is to make sure you also incorporate strength training into your exerc ise routine. As described

above, muscle consumes more calories, even at rest, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you¶ll burn around the clock.

Examples of Anaerobic Cardio Interval Exercises

You can certainly do running sprints. This is the classic. You simply run for 50-200 yards all out, and then walk until you recover. You can do a few

of these to ten or more depending on your fitness level.

This was my first experience in interval training and although I certainly did these when I was younger and used to compete in college, when I

retried them I wound up getting a bone fracture on my butt bone (ischeal tuberosity) because my muscles literally pulled the bone apart when I ran.

This was probably related to my age and lack of flexibility from not being engaged in a good stretching program.



3

So I learned there are literally dozens of other activities you can do to achieve the same benefit, with virtually none of the risk .

I¶ve listed two examples of these below from the new fitness series that we hope to launch later this year. I hope to have ov er 100 exercises initially

and hundreds eventually. Most of the anaerobic cardio exercises can be done with little to no equipment.

Other Recommendations to Get the Most Out of Your Exercise Regimen

Your key to exercising effectively is to make sure you address certain variables. By doing so, you will get the most out of your routine. I¶ve already

covered the benefits of incorporating interval or sprint-type exercises and strength training± both of which will optimize calorie burning and fat loss.

Here are three additional variables to keep in mind to squeeze out the maximum benefits from your exercise routine:

Length of time ± Start where you are, meaning if you can only do 10 minutes a day, then start there and build up slowly. I would encourage you ,

however, to increase the amount of time you exercise gradually until you reach 60 to 90 minutes a day.

Frequency ± If you are overweight, you¶ll want to exercise daily. This should be your ³treatment dose´ until you¶ve normalized your weight or insulin

levels. Once normalized, you will only need to exercise three to four times a week.

Intensity -- Exercise hard enough so that it is difficult to talk to someone next to you. (When you exercise ³hard enough,´ your cardiovascular

system is under such significant amount of stress that the mere act of talking makes it difficult to provide your body with e nough oxygen.) However,

if you cannot carry on a conversation at all, then you have gone too far and need to decrease your intensity.

Exercise is the Only Drug that Should Be Part of Your Lifestyle

Please remember I recommend viewing exercise as a drug that needs to be precisely prescribed to achieve maximum benefits. The simple act of

³writing out a prescription´ for exercise is an excellent approach to taking a proactive approach for your health and weight.

If there is any way you can pull it off, I would strongly encourage you to consult with an exercise professional. There are m any outstanding trainers

out there and there hasn¶t been one trainer I have worked with that hasn¶t been able to teach me some great exercise tips.

Also remember that exercise is far less expensive than any other medical intervention, and it will radically reduce your risk of most every disease

you can come down with.

BUT, most importantly, it makes you feel GREAT.

I don¶t exercise because I want to avoid becoming sick, I do it because I LOVE the way it makes me feel.

It is the most wonderful sensation in the world to have plenty of energy, no pain when you move, and enormous flexibility to participate in just aboutany activity you can possibly think of.

Guess you can tell I am slightly passionate about exercise, but that is only because I know what it has done for me, the tens of thousands of

patients I have seen, and what it can do for you.

I've devoted many pages on my web site to all the wonderful health benefits of exercise. If you need some direction to get st arted, I urge you to

review my beginner's exercise page, which includes links to my most important exercise articles, and a free table you can download to keep track of

your fitness goals and progress.

Documents

10 Reasons Why Exercise is Good for Your Weight