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Weight Loss Exercise...The
Never Ending Debate
Is weight loss exercise
necessary?
Exercise, regardless of type, consistently shows a positive
dose-response effect to
overall health and improves
quality of life (QOL).
This positive relationship
is defined for any baseline
condition or disease state.
Basically, regardless of your condition today, exercise will
improve your overall
physical well-being.
Additionally, numerous
studies demonstrate the
importance exercise plays in
a successful weight loss
plan. Dieting without
exercise is a waste of your
time. I agree.
Conclusion: EXERCISE!
There are three questions
currently debated:
1) What type of exercise
(Aerobic Exercise vs.
Resistance Training)
2) How intense (Mild vs.
Moderate vs. Strenuous)?
3) How long (Short vs.
Long)?
There is no evidence in
support of one weight loss
exercise type over another.
So pick one, aerobic or
resistance training (or of
course do what seems logical
and combine them) and start
exercising.
How long? Longer is better.
However, depending on age
and health, too long a
duration can show less
benefit than short durations
but remains better than no
exercise.
Short<45mins
Long>45mins
How intense? Mild shows
improvement in health at all
ages and all conditions,
moderate is far greater at
improving health than mild,
and strenuous only benefits
younger and healthy people.
Definitions of intensity vary greatly study to study and from
person to person. A good
rule of thumb, if you can't
talk while exercising that's
strenuous.
Weight Loss Exercise Studies
There are only a handful of
well designed randomized
controlled trials exercise
show definitive results. And
all of them are measuring
the effects of walking. Of
more interest, is the
findings of a
dose-relationship between
exercise and weight loss.
According to the results of
a randomized trial published
in the Jan. 12 issue of the
Archives of Internal
Medicine. Even low amounts
of moderate exercise, or
about 30 minutes of walking
per day, may be sufficient
to prevent weight gain in
sedentary adults.
"From the perspective of
prevention, it appears that
the 30 minutes per day of
weight loss exercises will
keep most people from
gaining the additional
weight associated with
inactivity," lead author
Cris Slentz, PhD, from Duke
University Medical Center in
Durham, North Carolina, says
in a news release. "Given
the increase in obesity in
the U.S., it would seem
likely that many in our
society may have fallen
below this minimal level of
physical activity required
to maintain body weight."
Of 302 adults screened for
the Studies of Targeted Risk
Reduction Interventions
through Defined Exercise
(STRRIDE) trial, 182
met entrance criteria of
being sedentary and
overweight with mild to
moderate dyslipidemia.
Age range was 40 to 65
years. These subjects were
randomized to one of four
groups:
1) No exercise
2) Supervised
low-dose/moderate-intensity
exercise equivalent to
walking 12 miles per week
3)
Low-dose/vigorous-intensity
exercise equivalent to
jogging 12 miles per week
4)
High-dose/vigorous-intensity
exercise equivalent to
jogging 20 miles per week.
Of the 182 subjects who were
randomized, 120 completed
the eight-month study.
During that time, they were
advised to maintain body
weight and not to change
their diet. Compared with
the other groups, the
high-dose/vigorous-intensity
group had the greatest
benefit, and there was a
dose-response relationship
between amount of exercise
and amount of weight loss
and fat mass loss.
Weight change was 3.5% loss
in the
high-dose/vigorous-intensity
group, about 1% loss in the
two low-dose exercise
groups, and 1.1% gain in the
control group. Increases in
lean body mass were 1.4% in
the two vigorous intensity
groups and 0.7% in the
low-intensity group.
The
higher exercise intensity
groups resulted in greater
increases in lean body mass,
which if confirmed by other
studies, could have
significant implications,"
Dr. Slentz says.
"This finding suggests that
while the amount of exercise
determines total body weight
change and fat mass loss,
exercise intensity would
appear to be the primary
determinant of gain in lean
body mass."
Body fat mass increased by
0.5% in the control group
and decreased by 2.0% in the
low-dose/moderate-intensity
group, by 2.6% in the
low-dose/vigorous-intensity
group, and by 4.9% in the
high-dose/vigorous-intensity
group.
"This study revealed a clear
dose-response effect between
the amount of exercise and
decreases in measurements of
central obesity and total
body fat mass, reversing the
effects seen in the inactive
group," Dr. Slentz says.
"The close relationship
between central body fat and
cardiovascular disease,
diabetes, and hypertension
lends further importance to
this finding."
"We found that the two
low-exercise groups lost
both weight and fat, while
those in the more intensive
group lost more of each in a
'dose-response' manner," Dr.
Slentz concludes. "Simply
put, the more you exercise,
the more you benefit. Just
as importantly, the control
group of participants who
performed no exercise gained
weight over the period of
the trial."
If you have any questions
about weight loss exercise,
or any specific weight loss
exercises, please write to
us.
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