Weight Loss: Why Is Exercising Important?

The first thing you need to realize are the un-refutable facts about exercise and weight loss. The first is that every study that has looked at exercise and weight loss have shown that those that exercise are twice to four times more successful at weight loss. Also those that do not exercise during weight loss almost to a person put on all their lost weight within a year. Of those that do loss weight with exercise if they continue exercising 75% of them keep off their weight, while those who stop exercising 95% put back all their weight. Also when you loss weight and then put it back on almost everyone gains back more then they lost.

THE ONLY WAY TO HAVE SUCCESSFUL WEIGHT LOSS AND KEEP IT OFF IS TO EXERCISE WHILE LOSING WEIGHT AND TO KEEP EXERCISING AFTER YOU REACH YOUR GOAL.

Now I am going to tell you the other benefits to exercise that I have experienced

MORE ENERGY AND GET MORE ACCOMPLISHED:

The most common comment I get when people hear I am doing both calorie restriction and exercise is "doesn't that wipe out your energy and make you tired all the time." Well look at my facebook page and the postings for the last 4 months since I started this program. That is not the postings of someone with lack of energy and tired all the time. I can tell you that since I have started this program I have had more energy and get much more done in a day. My increased energy level and the more focused my mind has been have allowed me be more productive despite taking one and a half hours out of my day. Plus I get one and a half hours of what I call Exercise University ( a later Blog), listening to my I-pod, so even this time is used to a benefit in addition to the other benefits.

SLEEP BETTER:

Prior to exercising I was sleeping very erotically, I would wake up during the night and lay awake for an hour or two until I feel back to sleep. I was more tired during the day but this didn't translate into sleeping better. Since the fourth or fifth week of exercise I have found that I am sleeping like a log. I get a full seven to seven and a half hours then wake up very refreshed. Some of this may be due to my weight loss having cured my snoring (so my wife can also sleep better). The most common cause of snoring and sleep apnea (a potentially life threatening severe form of snoring) is obesity. A study just published this week on sleep apnea demonstrated that 65% of those who lose 15% of their weight cure their sleep apnea. So loss that weight and not only you but your spouse will sleep much better.

PREVENT DIABETES:

Obesity is the most common cause of type II diabetes. This is a disease in which the muscle cells (the largest cell mass in the body) become resistant to insulin. Well multiple studies have shown that even as little as 15 minutes of strenuous or 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week will prevent or reverse to some degree insulin resistance. The condition you have before you become diabetic is a condition called Metabolic Syndrome or Syndrome X. This is characterized by a waist to hips ratio greater then 0.9, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low HDL (good) Cholesterol, high triglycerides and elevated fasting blood glucose >100. Exercise and weight loss will improve all of these.

GET INTO GREAT PHYSICAL CONDITION:

Earlier this week I posted this update to my facebook page.

Alan Koslow

is down 58 pounds today at 19 weeks of exercise and calorie restriction (1200 cal/day). But the big news is the condition I'm in. Had insurance physical last Weds. and BP was 106/67 and pulse 58. So, I tried jogging up 6 flights of stairs and my pulse went to 118. Before I started my resting pulse rate was 92/min and BP was 128/85. the first week with 20 minutes of walking my pulse went to 138 and it took 20 minutes to recover. I'm in best shape I think I have ever been in.

What else can I say. The proof is in the results and the literature confirms this. I at 56 years old and after only 19 weeks of exercise of only walking and stair climbing am in the condition of an elite athlete.

LOWER YOU TRIGLYCERIDE AND ELEVATE YOU GOOD CHOLESTEROL:

As a physician who treats patients with vascular disease I find one of the greatest challenges is to treat elevated Triglycerides and low HDL (good cholesterol) medically. The drugs we have do not work well and they have significant side effects (not health threatening, but bothersome). However, we know that regular exercise of 30-60 minutes per day 5-7 days per week will correct both of these conditions.

FEEL YOUNGER:

I feel 15 years younger compared to 19 weeks ago when I was 58 pounds heavier and in much worse condition. Now I cannot say that you will have the same results. However, i can say you will feel much better with the combination of weight loss and physical conditioning.

THE FEELING OF EXERCISE EUPHORIA:

It is hard to state except as euphoria the entire package of how I feel. I have never used any mind altering drug except alcohol when much younger (a totally different issue), but I can tell you I have been feeling a sense of euphoria since six or eight weeks into this program.

I hope that this convinces you that any weight loss program should include exercise. In a later post I will discuss a simple exercise program that almost anyone can do and how you need to ramp it up slowly as you progress. Then I will discuss post weight loss exercise programs.