Why Exercise is Necessary to Lose Weight: Learn Healthy Ways to Lose Weight with Exercise
Why Diets Don’t Work
South Beach Diet, Hollywood Diet, Atkin’s Diet, Grapefruit Diet and even the Lemonade Diet; there is a diet for every conceivable type of weight concern. The problem with diets is that they are not sustainable. You cannot drink grapefruit, or lemonade for the rest of your life – these are quick fixes, not solutions. You must make lifestyle changes.
Our bodies, like our minds, become conditioned over time to the routine we have established, and breaking the conditioning is difficult. Like any habit, once you become aware of it, you can begin to re-condition yourself to break the routine. For example, some of us have an emotional relationship with food, we eat when we are happy, sad, angry, or depressed.
Our emotional conditioning to foods keeps us eating for reasons other than our nutritional or physiologic health. Some of us eat very little, yet still gain weight, because our metabolism is sluggish. There are many reasons we may gain weight, or more importantly, cannot lose the weight. But trying and failing every type of diet out there, or trying to find which one works for you, just reinforces the old adage, “One size does not fit all.” Therefore, it is important to establish why you gain weight, if you are to successfully lose the weight.
So How Do You Lose the Weight?
So, how do you figure out why you gain weight, or what type of program, eating plan, or regime fits you? For example, If you are diabetic, pre-diabetic, or even hypoglycemic, you may have issues with food that are harder to control than just eating too much, therefore, fad, or the quick weight loss diets are not the way to go.
Other health problems, such as high stress, high or low hormones, or a sluggish thyroid can also contribute to weight gain, or trouble in shedding those pounds. Try out this weight factor test to see what category may be a factor in your weight gain. For some weight factors, you may find that natural dietary supplements will help you break the conditioning you have so carefully established.
The Importance of Exercise
In addition to dieting, adding supplements, or changes in eating habits, we all know that exercise plays an important role in a healthy weight management program, and may just give you the kick-start you need to get those calories burining. But how much is enough?
If you are like me, you hear all kinds of theories at the gym, the health food store, or from your well-meaning friends. However, according to the most recent Federal Dietary Guideline, “Adults should get at least 2½ hours of moderate-intensity physical activity each week, such as brisk walking, or 1¼ hours of a vigorous-intensity activity, such as jogging or swimming laps, or a combination of the two types, to get the most health benefits from exercise. These aerobic activities should be done in at least 10-minute bouts.” In an article by Nanci Hellmich of USA Today, the director of the Center for Aging and Population Health at the University of Pittsburgh, Anne Newman, points out that “if you are doing zero minutes, anything is better than that. And a little more is even better.”
Before you set out on a major weight management program, try to determine why you gain weight, and what your weight factors are. You can even use these factors in a discussion with your health care professional to help customize your weight and exercise plan.
Weight management is within everyone’s grasp, if they want to achieve it. For those of us who know we should be exercising, yet complain about how hard it is, or how busy we are, we know who we are, and we know what we need to do. So, don’t leave resolutions until January, join with me, and embrace our bright future!
My family and I follow the advice of William Kraus, professor of medicine and cardiology at Duke University, to walk briskly after dinner for 30 minutes 5 days a week, as well as incorporating the appropriate supplements that will stimulate or compliment our health goals. You may choose to ride your bike, or swim, or jog, the important thing is that you do what you enjoy, and keep it up. Together we can improve the health of our friends and neighbors, so, bring a friend on your journey, and influence others with your success. Something is better than nothing, more is better than a little, and 2 is better than 1! Let me know what your goals are and let’s build a healthier future!
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