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Exercise Lose Weight


Basics

Think "exercise lose weight," and you'll be on tract to a productive weight loss plan as well as a long and healthy life. The average person burns energy (or calories) in three main ways. The digestion of food accounts for about 10% of these calories, and physical activity burns about 30%. Something called resting energy expenditure (REE) is how many calories your body burns while you are just sitting there. This accounts for about 60% of the calories you burn every day.

Woman holding a yoga matPhysical activity is everything you do all day long, like walking, getting up from sitting down, and brushing your teeth. It makes sense that increasing your physical activity to "exercise lose weight" would cause you to burn more than just that 30% of calories. People who are not very physically active have about a 3-4 times chance of being overweight compared to someone who is very active. Studies have shown that children who watch more TV are more likely to be obese.

Exercising to lose weight alone does not produce as much weight loss as diet and exercise. However, it does decrease the amount of fat on your body. Physical conditioning causes your cells to have more and bigger mitochondria. These are the parts of our cells that make energy. Your cells are then able to burn more calories from fat, even when you are not doing as much exercise to lose weight. Your body also gets better at using fat stores for energy.

Muscle weighs more than fat. By losing fat and gaining muscle, exercise may not affect your total weight as much, but you will be healthier and have less fat. With a lot of physical activity (for example in military recruits) you may be able to see a substantial weight loss. Diet and exercise to lose weight together will produce the most weight loss. When dieting, you burn calories from not only fat but also protein. This means that by dieting alone, you will use some muscle mass. Exercise prevents this from happening.

Bicep curlThere is a difference between men and women when it comes to exercising to lose weight. Sorry ladies, but men will lose weight faster by exercising than women. Women naturally have more fat mass than men. Men have more lean body mass and muscle. Lean mass burns more calories at rest than fat mass.

Another theory is that, at least from studies done on runners, women’s bodies naturally are more economical for running. Therefore, women may be more efficient at exercising and need to use fewer calories than men to do the same amount of exercise.

Exercise can help prevent weight gain. It is also extremely important for maintaining any weight loss you have already achieved. As people get older, they tend to exercise less. It is important not to leave exercise out of our daily lives as we grow older and have more responsibilities. Do not forget the responsibility you have to yourself to be healthy.

How Much Should I "Exercise Lose Weight"?

Different people are different. Some can exercise more than others. In general, more physical activity is better. There is an upper limit, especially for people with certain medical conditions. For most people, a good starting point is walking 30 minutes per day 5 days per week. However, newer research is suggesting that nearly 1 hour per day for 5 days per week is needed to lose weight. For much more information, go to this page.

Benefits to exercise

There are several benefits to exercising. It is one of the best things you can do for yourself. People who are more physically fit live longer than those who are not. One study showed that being in shape can even counteract the effects of having abdominal obesity on how long you will live. However, Marathonexercise did not help people live longer if their body mass indexes (BMIs) were more than 30. Here is a list of some of the other benefits of exercise:

  • Helps prevent the development of diabetes
  • Helps cholesterol levels
  • Decreases the risk of blood clots
  • Lowers blood pressure
  • Decreases the risk of heart disease and stroke
  • Maintains healthy muscles, bones, and joints
  • Better functioning immune system
  • Reduces depression and anxiety
  • Feeling better overall
  • Helps people quit smoking
  • Longevity
  • And do not forget weight loss

Again, researchers have found that the main things you can do to live longer and have fewer diseases are: 1.) stop smoking, 2.) control your blood pressure, 3.) maintain a healthy weight, and, you guessed it 4.) EXERCISE. They have also found that children who participate in the following activities 3-4 times per week have a better chance of maintaining a healthy adult weight later in life: rollerblading/skating, skateboarding, bicycling, baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, swimming, and football.

Risks

As with anything we do, exercising does have some risks you should be aware of. Most of the risks are things like sports injuries. There are some medical conditions that can cause problems with different forms of exercise. Some heart conditions even carry the risk of sudden death when exercising. You should discuss this with your doctor before starting an exercise program to lose weight.

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It is important you discuss any weight loss or exercise plan with your doctor. Only you and your physician can decide what is best for you. Some people have certain conditions that prevent them from doing all exercises, and goal body weights may be different for different people. You need to discuss all these things with your physician before starting any weight loss or exercise program.

This article was written by John Vickery, MD.

References

Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine 16th edition, Kasper et al. chapter 62
“Role of physical activity and exercise in obesity” UpToDate version 15.3
Lore of Running 4th edition, Noakes, chapters 2 and 3
Sports Medicine 2006;36:239-262
Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2007;21:415-430
“Overview of the benefits and risks of exercise” UpToDate version 15.3
Journal of the American Medical Association 2007;298(21):2507-2516
Arch Intern Med 2008;168(3):227-283
Arch Intern Med 2008;168(3):284-290
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2008;162(1):29-33
Arch Intern Med 2008;168(14):1550-1559

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Last updated 7/19/09