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Diet and Exercise
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Diet and ExerciseAbout Dieting: In many cases the goal is weight loss. Weight-loss diets restrict the intake of specific foods (targeted dieting), or food in general, to reduce body weight. What works to reduce body weight for one person will not necessarily work for another, due to metabolic differences and lifestyle factors. Also, for a variety of reasons, most people find it very difficult to maintain significant weight loss over time. There is some thought that losing weight quickly may actually make it more difficult to maintain the loss over time. It is also possible that cutting calorie intake too low slows or prevents weight loss. Physical Exercise accelerates Weight Loss: An average man of 165 lbs who just rests (or only walks a few steps) burns 1,440 Calories per day or 1 Calorie each minute (Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)). Physical exercise is an important complement to dieting in securing weight loss. Aerobic exercise is also an important part of maintaining normal good health, especially the muscular strength of the heart. To be useful, aerobic exercise requires maintaining a target heart rate of above 50 percent of one's resting heart rate for 30 minutes, at least 3 times a week. Brisk walking can accomplish this. While exercising, the caloric expenditure increases due to the increase of the physical activity, furthermore exercise (both aerobic and anaerobic) would increase the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) for some time after the workout, this ensures more calorific loss. However, to accelerate the weight loss, Dieting must be incorporated; the minimum safe dietary energy intake (without medical supervision) is 75 percent of that needed to maintain basal metabolism. For our hypothetical 165 lb man, that minimum is about 1,300 calories per day. By combining daily aerobic exercise with a weight-loss diet, he would be able to lose weight in half the time of just exercising alone. Calories: How many do you need? Calories measure the amount of energy that is supplied by carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in food. The energy supplied by food is needed for vital body functions like growth, movement, and thought. A weight gain results when the number of calories consumed is greater than the number of calories used. When the number of calories consumed is less than the number of calories used, there is weight loss. There is no weight change when calories consumed equals calories used. Each person's energy balance is directly related to a combination of their behaviors, environment, and genetics. Food labels identify the amount of calories and nutrients per serving. But how many calories do you need to fuel your daily activities? The National Academy of Sciences makes the following daily calorie recommendations:
Excess calorie consumption plays a major role in being overweight. The convenience of fast food restaurants, pre-packaged foods, and soft drinks affect our food choices. These are likely to be high in fat and calories. Large portion servings also increase caloric consumption. People who do not know the basics about nutrition or understand food labels are less likely to make healthy food choices. Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are the major nutrient components of the diet. Carbohydrates and proteins provide 4 calories per gram, while fats contribute 9 calories per gram. Food choices and food preparation effect the amount of calories we consume. Most Americans follow meal plans that are much too high in fat. A diet low in fat will reduce the risk for getting certain diseases and help maintain a healthy weight. To lower fat intake, choose plenty of whole grain products, vegetables, and fruits that provide needed vitamins, minerals, fiber, and complex carbohydrates. Keep the fat content of your foods to 30 percent or less. The total grams of fat for a 1,600 calorie diet would be 53, for a 2,200 calorie diet the total would be 73, and for a 2,800 calorie diet the total would be 93. Therefore, for a 30 percent fat diet, 837 calories of a 2,200 calorie diet may be fat calories. Counting fat grams has become popular. To determine the fat in the food you eat in terms of fat grams, read the food package label. It will tell you how many grams of fat and what kinds of fats are in each serving. If there is a balance between your caloric intake and your activity level, you should maintain your weight. If your caloric intake increases and your activity level does not, you will probably gain weight. If you eat fewer calories and increase your activity level, you should lose weight. Minimum Daily Calorie intake It is difficult to set absolute bottom calorie levels, because everyone has different body composition and activity levels. Health authorities do set some baselines - these are 1200 calories per day for women, and 1800 calories per day for men. This doesn't really make too much sense - are you are sedentary person with little muscle mass? Or someone who is tall, muscular, and exercises a lot? Absolute levels don't work - but do give us a starting point.When reducing calories: Try not to lower your calorie intake by more than 1000 calories below maintenance. Doing so may invoke the bodies starvation response, which can lead to the Yo-yo dieting effect.Try to gradually lower calories. A sudden drop (such as 500 calories or more) can cause your metabolism to slow. Eating to Lose Weight, Gain Weight, or Maintain Weight? We’ll use the 2,000-calorie recommendation as a jumping-off point. If you’re trying to lose weight, you should subtract up to 500 calories per day---since 3,500 calories is equal to a pound of fat, this will yield one pound a week in fat loss. (1—2 pounds per week is the rate agreed upon by fitness and nutrition experts as ideal for long-term success.) So, if you’re attempting to lose weight, start with 1,500 calories, if you’re looking to maintain your weight, stick with 2,000 calories, and if you’re trying to gain weight, start with 2,500 calories. However, if you’re also working out regularly, remember that you’re also burning additional calories through exercise and therefore require extra energy. If your workouts are particularly intense, you may need to increase your number by 50 or 100 calories just to get through them. Strength Training More Than Twice a Week? Every pound of muscle gained through resistance training increases your resting metabolic rate by 35—50 calories per day (a number, though controversial, that is still agreed upon by many health experts). This may mean you can allow yourself a slight bump in calories if you are consistently strength training 3 or more times per week. This is not an excuse to eat more, but rather a lifestyle habit to factor into your total calorie burn---it means you’re active, and therefore will require more calories than a person who is sedentary. This adjustment will, of course, vary from person to person. If you’re a man trying to put on muscle weight, you may need to add extra calories as you gain mass. If you’re trying to lose weight from fat but increase your muscle tone, and you’re exercising regularly, you may safely add up to 50 calories to your starting number. Remember to pay attention to how you feel: if you don’t have enough energy to get through your workouts, you may not be eating enough.5’1”, 6’3”, or Somewhere in Between? Perhaps more than anything else, your size dictates how many calories you burn daily. A 6-foot-tall, 200-pound person burns more calories than a 5-foot-tall, 100-pound person. Period. It takes more energy, or calories, to move a 200-pound body around whether that person is overweight or lean. So, if you’re very petite and trying to lose weight, 1,500 calories may be too many. Likewise, if you’re very tall, it might not be enough. Assume the 2,000-calorie recommendation from Cooking Light is for an average woman of around 150 pounds and adjust accordingly. Remember that these are just estimates and that caloric needs vary from person to person. You may need to exercise a little trial and error: determine your starting number based on your age and gender, and then decide whether you want to lose, maintain, or gain weight. Keep a food journal to ensure that your calorie consumption matches that goal number, and then adjust as you go based on your workout habits and results. If you have a large amount of weight to lose or are still uncertain, consult an expert to calculate your exact calorie needs. Burning fat vs. burning calories Research shows aerobic activity done at a low to moderate intensity actually burns more stored fat, than if exercising at a higher intensity. Fat is a slow burning energy source utilized during longer bouts of cardio exercise. People interested in dropping pounds should perform 60 to 90 minutes of cardio, according to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans by the USDA. The amount of fat you burn has little to do with your choice of aerobic exercise, and everything to do with the amount of time you devote to sustainable cardiovascular exercise. To ensure you’re exercising enough, you’ll first need to determine your target heart rate zone. Known as the Karvonen Formula, it provides the baseline of your training zones, which range from 50 percent to 70 percent for fat loss. The equation:
(Get your RHR by locating your pulse at rest, count the number of times your heart beats during 30 seconds, and multiply that number by 2) Although we have already established that exercising at a lower intensity burns more fat calories than carbohydrates, the overall total calories burned is greater at a higher intensity. To burn calories, you will need to exercise harder at a moderate to higher intensity of 75 – 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. According to the Karvonen Formula (above), a greater number of calories are used in 30 minutes than 60 minutes of fat burning. When deciding on methods to burn fat and burn calories it all starts with you. It depends on your body weight, fitness level, metabolism, muscle development and gender. Burning fat vs. burning carbohydrate During exercise and physical activity, the primary fuels used by muscles are carbohydrate and fat. When mild exercise is performed there is a tendency to burn relatively more fat and less glucose, but as exercise becomes more intense, a higher fraction of the energy demands of the muscle are supplied by glucose, until at the highest intensities almost only carbohydrates are used. Is this shift in fuel source a property of the muscle itself, or does it represent the interplay between what is happening in the muscle and the exercise-related responses in the rest of the body? The study, performed at the Copenhagen Muscle Research Center at the University of Copenhagen, examined muscle fuel utilization in response to graded exercise performed with only one leg. Nine healthy males performed one-leg exercise at 25, 45, and 85% of maximal workload. Their results showed that, when only a small mass of muscle is contracting, and blood flow and oxygen supply are not limited by central circulatory capacity, the shift in fuel source from fat to glucose as exercise intensity increases does not occur. Helge et al.'s findings show that the adaptations in the rest of the body are the key to this fuel source shift during whole body exercise. They also help scientists understand why athletes "hit the wall" during events like the marathon, and they have implications for the adaptations made in middle-aged adults who are using exercise to prevent or treat conditions like diabetes and obesity. If the mechanisms can be fully understood, it may be possible to develop agents that allow fat oxidation to be maintained even during intense exercise with a large muscle mass.
Exercise for health, feeling good, and loosing Weight: It has been calculated that 1 pound of body fat is equal to 3500 calories. This means that in order to lose 1 pound we have to walk for about 12.5 hours. So don't expect fast weight loss and remember to eat sensibly. The mood and feel-good benefits, however, are immediate and the health benefits of exercise are endless. So GET ACTIVE!!. I prefer more strenuous exercises such as jogging and fast bicycling, which burn more calories and curb my appetite (frankly I don't know why, maybe due to a "runner's high" effect, which is said to occur when strenuous exercise takes a person over a threshold that activates endorphin production); in my rest days, my appetite tends to increase.
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Regular Strength Training because of its Benefits: It is important to understand the difference between weight loss and fat loss: Weight loss typically involves the loss of fat, water and muscle. A dieter can lose weight without losing much fat. Ideally, overweight people should seek to lose fat and preserve muscle, since muscle burns more calories than fat. Generally, the more muscle mass one has, the higher one's metabolism is, resulting in more calories being burned, even at rest. Since muscles are more dense than fat, muscle loss results in little loss of physical bulk compared with fat loss. Muscle loss during weight loss can be restricted by regularly strength training (lifting weights with free weight or machines, or other strength-oriented calisthenics) and by maintaining sufficient protein intake. According to the National Academy of Sciences, the Dietary Reference Intake for protein is "0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight for adults." A sensible weight-loss diet is a normal balanced diet: it just comes with smaller portions and perhaps some substitutions (e.g. low-fat milk, or less salad dressing). Extreme diets may lead to malnutrition, and are less likely to be effective at long-term weight loss in any event. Any diet that fails to meet minimum nutritional requirements can threaten general health (and physical fitness in particular). If a person is not well enough to be active, weight loss and good quality of life will be unlikely. Basically, humans require essential nutrients from six broad classes: proteins, fats, vitamin, dietary minerals, and water. Essential amino acids (protein) are required for cell, especially muscle, construction. Essential fatty acids are required for brain and cell membrane construction. Tricks to prevent Over Eating: Consumption of low-energy, fiber-rich foods, such as non-starchy vegetables, is effective in obtaining satiation (the feeling of "fullness") and prevents the desire to overeat. Using smaller plates and smaller bowls can help you lose weight. And one other thing about plates: Not only do smaller plates encourage weight loss, but the way you place the foods on your plate can also help you cut calories. Think of dividing up your meals this way: use ¼ of the plate for protein, ¼ for carbohydrates, and the remaining ½ for vegetables (remember that vegetables are the lowest-calorie food group). This is an easy way to have a portion- and calorie-controlled meal. One research study where participants used smaller plates that were divided into handy sections for protein, carbohydrates, and vegetables revealed that participants who ate from these special plates lost 5 percent of their weight over 6 months. I always avoid the Popular diets (sometimes pejoratively called "fad diets"): they usually derive their popularity from the personalities of their proponents. These proponents include "diet gurus" and celebrity converts. "Diet books" are the primary means of communicating the specifics of popular diets. Most popular diets experience short-lived popularity, partly because new diet books are continuously being published. Judging the effectiveness (and nutritional merit) of popular diets can be especially difficult. Diet proponents often locate medical professionals to back up their work. Some diets are so controversial that they divide the medical community. Many popular diets advocate the combination of a specific technique (such as eliminating a certain food, or eating only certain combinations of foods) with reduced caloric intake, with the goal being to accelerate weight loss. Others ignore traditional science altogether. Extreme calorie restriction, medication or unusual patterns of eating (i.e. restricting food consumption to a single fruit or meal) can be dangerous. I preferred and implemented a well rounded and balanced diet: low in fat and high in fruits and vegetables. My Diet program comprised a wide variety and foods. Each food has a point value. Keeping track of what I ate was very helpful in reducing overeating or eating for reasons other than hunger; even now, I'm not dieting, but still keep that practice.
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