A Resolution You Can Keep


By Sally Squires
Wednesday, December 29, 2004; 10:30 AM


With the start of 2005, millions of Americans will embark on a new exercise regimen that most will abandon within just weeks.

"In January, nearly every health club is bulging at the seams and by mid-February, they're half empty," notes John M. Jakicic, chair of the Department of Health and Physical Activity and director of the Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh.



That's because expectations about exercise and reality often don't match. Those who have resolved to get fit in the New Year frequently underestimate the time it takes to get in shape and the effort involved. They also overlook the real -- and perceived -- barriers to exercise in a world that increasingly engineers physical activity out of daily life.
Plus, there's also the misguided assumption that workouts increase weight loss. "People think that they will lose all this weight with exercise," Jakicic notes. "But in the short run, activity will have very little effect on weight. Six to eight weeks later, they're feeling frustrated, and think, 'I've been working my tail off, but I'm not really working my tail off. When they don't get the results they expected, they quit."

It doesn't have to be this way.

Jakicic and other exercise physiologists have found plenty of simple ways to help you start -- and stick with -- a fitness routine for 2005. Here's what they recommend: Find an activity you love. You might think you should jog, but if you really hate running, you won't stick with it for long. "The best activity," notes Jakicic, "is the one you do, not the one you think you will do."

Go slow. Too much too soon is one of the most common mistakes made. That's a recipe for sore muscles and injury that are likely to undermine your efforts. "Everybody wants to start up with everything, so the body is overwhelmed," says William J. Kraemer, professor of exercise physiology at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. "You have to crawl before you can walk and build the exercise habit."

How slow should you go? Figure on just 20 minutes a day of activity the first two weeks, especially for those who are 30 and older. "Once you hit 30 to 40 years of age, you can't get in shape in two weeks any more," says Kraemer, who recommends starting "with different workouts, some that are very easy to do so that you can feel very accomplished."

Wait for the weights. Starting everything at once -- cardiovascular, weight training, cutting back on calories -- is a program for failure, Kraemer says. Begin weight training about four weeks into your new routine. "Start lifting twice a week for about two to three weeks," he says.

Get some equipment for home. Sure, there's always a risk that your stationary bike could become an expensive clothes rack. But Jakicic and his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh find that people who have home exercise equipment are more likely to stay active. In one study, participants who were given treadmills for their homes were more apt to be working out 18 months later than those without exercise equipment. But there are also gender differences. Men seem to do best with sports-related equipment: rackets, balls, mitts and the like. Women appear to fare well with bikes and treadmills.

Proximity counts. So by all means, join a gym, sign up for a Pilates class or get a personal trainer. Just be sure whatever you do is very close to your home, office or school. And take advantage of the free stuff nearby. Studies suggest that people who live near parks and recreation centers stay more active than those who don't.

Develop a plan. It's not enough to say you want to get fit. You need a regular routine that makes a workout as much of a habit as brushing your teeth. Research suggests that setting aside the same time daily for one specific activity leads to the greatest success. "Don't fly by the seat of your pants, or say, 'One day I'll do this, one day I'll do that,' " Jakicic says. "Have a very specific plan."

Partner pressure. People who enlist support for their workout efforts do better for the long haul. Jakicic has found that men stick longer with exercise when they have a supportive wife to watch the kids. Women go the distance with workouts when they enlist support for their efforts from a non-family member, be it an exercise buddy or a babysitter.

Get your gear and clothes in shape too. Scrambling to find your workout gear in the morning before you head out the door won't make your life easier. So pack your bag the night before.

Expect it to take time to get fit. "The television infomercials are completely misleading," Kraemer says. "If it was that easy, there wouldn't be anyone around us who looked fat."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...nav=rss_topnews

Wait a minute....we're told that if we eat "right" and are gaining weigh it's because we're not exercising enough!

So exercise prevents weight gain, but doesn't promote weight loss???

I have found no correlation between my weight and the amount that I exercise. I like to exercise and feel that it has many health benefits, but losing weight is not one of them. I do notice that I eat more after exercise so I don't get the benefit caused by the burning of calories. I just got back from a 28 mile bike ride, and ate two handfuls of walnuts. If I had forgone the nuts, then I might have had a small weight loss. On the other hand, I feel my body needs to take in food to be able to build muscle and repair the damage done by the exercise.

One big advantage of exercise along with a proper diet is that you will lose extra inches. You end up looking thinner than if you just dieted.

CindySue this gibberish is coming from Sally Squires ... enough said!



Losing inches without a loss on the scales is losing fat and gaining muscle ... which is exactly what we all want to do! Who cares what the scales say when you are leaner and more fit than you were before?

In addition to that, your higher LBM will mean you have a greater rate of metabolism at rest - which means that in the longer term maintenance or further fat loss will occur at higher calorie intake.

Cheers,

Malcolm

I really love how the guy has a supportive wife and the woman has a supportive babysitter! Honestly, this author would do much better to suggest that husbands and wives are a team and should support each other's efforts to become physically fit.

Actually, this is what most of the research shows...that exercise helps with weight maintenance, but doesn't promote weight loss. There is an interesting article in The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Research Digest summarizing the results of the research. Here is an excerpt from it and the link:

While physical inactivity appears to be a strong contributing factor to the etiology of obesity, studies on the effectiveness of physical activity in promoting weight loss have been less than encouraging. Because physical activity increases energy expenditure, it is reasonable to assume that the combination of diet plus exercise would be more effective than dieting alone for weight loss. A recent review of 13 controlled studies found that this is rarely the case (Wing, 1999). Only two of the 13 studies reported statistically significant differences in weight loss from the diet plus exercise regimen compared to diet alone. The conclusion from this review was that "?exercise does not significantly increase initial weight loss over and above that obtained with diet only." When the effect of exercise on weight loss was studied without corresponding dietary modifications, exercise was found to promote weight loss in only one of five randomized controlled trials (Ross & Janssen, 1999).

These results present a confusing picture. Physical activity is clearly viewed as being essential to the prevention of weight gain but fairly ineffective (at least in clinical trials) at promoting weight loss. On an individual level, the failure of exercise to contribute to weight loss in a predictable manner could be a major deterrent to continued involvement in an exercise program. Overweight individuals who begin an exercise program would likely remain motivated only if they see some changes in body composition resulting from their efforts. On the positive side, recent evidence suggests that physical activity confers health benefits that are largely or entirely independent of changes in body composition. These findings suggest that overweight and obese individuals can obtain the same benefits of physical activity as lean individuals. While the overall health benefits of physical activity have become well accepted, the general assumption (even among many within the scientific community) has been that the benefits are contingent or dependent on corresponding changes in body composition. While physical activity can lead to changes in body composition, the amount of change depends on an individual's genetics, individual variability in metabolism and possibly other lifestyle behaviors. The cellular and metabolic adaptations occurring as a result of physical activity appear to be independent of these changes. Therefore, an overweight or obese person can have good cardiovascular health as long as he/she remains active and possesses a reasonable level of fitness. This is clearly an important message that should be conveyed to individuals who have struggled with weight control all their lives.

http://fitness.gov/activity/activit...st_dec2000.html

Linda

I agree with you on this!

But now the "research" is showing this isnt' true!

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=224771

This research shows that obese people who exercise do greatly benefit, although they remain at higher risk than lean people:

Category

Risk Increase

Lean exercisers

0

Lean no exercise

55%

Obese exercisers

91%

Obese no exercise

142%

yes, you're right.

I'm a RN (25+ yrs) and I've worked in hospitals, nursing homes, homecare, independent living, and I've done Case Management for insurance, physicians and hospitals. What I find interesting is this: for many years I worked with elders. Male and female. All shapes and sizes....and I've always found that the well rounded women seemed to outlive all others, and were healthier in general. Not obese....although by BMI they might be....but chunky.

Very thin women and men always seemed to be the sickest....granted, some weight loss was due to illness, but they always seemed to be more susceptible to problems.

The problem I have with so many of these studies is the definitions of optimal, overweight, obese, and very obese. The parameters have changed. They have been lowered. And there's no adjustment for body type. A small framed woman that's 5'6" and weighs 200 pounds is more overweight than a large framed 5'6" muscular woman of the same weight.

Here is how I think about it:

Your body adds to your muscles when it notices that you do a physical activity which you cannot safely handle with your current muscles.

Your body adds to your fat when some mysterious error makes it assume that you may face in the future a food shortage season which you cannot make it through with your current amount of fat.

Although fat is the main energy reserve which your body relies on, muscles can also be used for the same purpose whenever necessary.

Now, let us assume 3 cases:

(1) If you are a person who has never been obese and exercise, your body will make more muscles and since muscles can replace fat as an energy reserve, it may never see a reason to add to your fat in the future.

(2) If you are currently obese and exercise, your body will add to your muscles but will see no reason to reduce your fat significally since it assumes that you need plenty of it.

(3) If you have been obese, then you lost your weight with a diet plan and immediately started an exercise program, your body will be interested in both, adding to your muscles and restoring your energy reserve. It could end making muscles only to use for both purposes.

Exercise is for weight maintenance and changing your bady mass composition, not weight loss. I started doing resistance training when I started low-carbing five years ago. I initially dropped 22 lbs. in five weeks. Over the years, I have gained ten of those pounds back, but my waist size has not changed. That is because I have added ten pounds of lean body mass, not fat. Even though I have gained weight, I have improved my body mass index. That's the important issue, not weight.