are you perplexed in your ability to lose weight? Answers follow...
written by john c ashworth, ma
New research by blank and colleagues, took 81 women through 12 weeks of exercise and revealed that their ability to lose weight effectively was extremeley inconsistent. In fact, 70% of the women gained weight during the 12 week study.
The women in the study were healthy, but overweight and sedentary, and had not exercised regularly in the previous year. During the 12 week investigation, the women came to the lab and exercised for 30 minutes three times per week at a high intensity.
The findings?
Though all of the women exuded greater levels of fitness, 70 percent of them gained some amount of fat mass, and some gained as much as 10 pounds. A small number of the remaining 30% lost some weight, and the rest maintained the same weight throughout the 12 week fitness program.
How could this be?
Researchers have known for quite some time that weight loss can be elusive for most people. What researchers concluded in this study was that even when exercise is initiated and increases the number of calories burned each week, people often make up the difference by becoming more sedentary during other parts of their day. They also likely begin eating more than usual in response to increased levels of hunger from the increased physical exercise each week.
Probably even more significant is a person's "Non exercise activity thermogenesis." A mouthful, I know. I've written about it before. In fact, Leigh and I have done a segment or two on the topic. What it describes is how much you move outside of your exercise sessions each day. Asked another way, "How much to you sit on your butt all day?) In other research, this non exercise activity, has been shown to be crucial in subjects' ability to lose weight. You have to keep your metabolism moving, while at the same time, watching your caloric intake, and not try to cut too far back (more than a 500) on the number of calories you consume in a day.
This study mimics closely, the pattern I've seen in my work as a clinical exercise physiologist. A sedentary person begins an exercise program and assumes that the increase in calorie burn will be enough to generate weight loss. They are often devastated when this does not occur.
Hopefully, this post and the segment tonight on NBC 15 with Leigh Mills, help you understand this complex equation of weight loss.
-John
PS I would love to send you a free copy of my book on weight loss. "Weight Loss, the Job No One is Training YOU For." Send an email to me with your address: fitnessnomad(at)gmail.com
