{"id":33434,"date":"2013-08-26T21:24:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-26T21:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=33434"},"modified":"2017-04-27T08:22:59","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T13:22:59","slug":"what-is-real-about-weight-loss-and-what-isnt-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/health\/what-is-real-about-weight-loss-and-what-isnt-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Real About Weight Loss and What Isn\u2019t! (Part I)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Diet<\/a>Some of us are STILL searching frantically for some quick fix-magic pill in order to attain a healthful weight.\u00a0 Here we go again\u2014and yes, I don\u2019t tire of writing about this subject for the following reason: Dr. David Niemen is a professor and director of the human performance lab at Appalachian State University. He states, \u201csome obese people may still be able to live active lives and move relatively well. Others may have heard in passing of the \u201clatest\u201d study that downplays the health problems that they\u2019d been told would befall them. A third group, perhaps younger, has the natural sense of immortality. Regardless, their inertia will not help them in the long run. Next to smoking,\u201d argues Nieman, \u201cbeing obese because of bad diet and exercise habits carries the heaviest disease burden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heather Mangieri, registered dietitian nutritionist and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, agrees. \u201cNext to smoking, excess weight due to poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle has a greater effect on everything from your major organs and body systems, to your hormones, bones, joints and even your sleep.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0There have been countless studies on the deleterious effects of obesity on overall health. A definitive paper, \u201cEducation Initiative: Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults,\u201d conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s National Health and Education Examination Survey, has said it all.\u00a0 Being overweight and obese is dangerous to your health, and that is why I continue to address the issue.<\/p>\n

In order to lose weight, we must make changes in our daily habits\u2014because there is no shortcut.\u00a0 But let\u2019s address what is NOT true about being overweight, so we can maintain a realistic picture of what to concentrate on when approaching the problem.<\/p>\n

First, don\u2019t talk yourself into the SLOW METABOLISM theory.\u00a0 Low metabolism has little to do with obesity.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u201cOn the contrary, as body weight goes up, so does your metabolism,\u201d says Dr. Nieman, \u201cBig people have high metabolisms, and small, thin people have low metabolisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sonya Angelone, M.S., R.D., a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, affirms that low metabolism is not a significant factor in obesity. However, she emphasizes the importance of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-like exercise.<\/p>\n

Broadening the definition of exercise to encompass the activities of daily living\u2014ranging from cleaning the garage and gardening to standing while working on the computer\u2014was the defining aspect of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s revolutionary\u00a02008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.<\/em>\u00a0Never before had any national institution suggested that even humdrum physical activities could have a cumulative benefit by raising one\u2019s metabolism. \u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve known for decades that resting metabolism isn\u2019t the cause of obesity,\u201d explains Dr. John Jakicic, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. \u201cData from as far back as the mid-1980s has shown the relationship between weight and basal metabolic rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact is, a study<\/a>\u00a0in 1986 published in the\u00a0New England Journal of Medicine <\/em>examined 130 non-diabetic, adult southwestern American Indians from 54 families. (It is commonly known as the \u201cPima Indian\u201d study.)\u00a0 The researchers found that persons from families with lower resting metabolic rates were no more obese than persons from families with higher metabolic rates. Subsequent\u00a0research<\/a>\u00a0has confirmed these results.<\/p>\n

Second, don\u2019t presume the EXERCISE can be used to undo overeating.\u00a0 It simply won\u2019t work.\u00a0 Exercise, while great for your health, is light artillery against obesity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many factors control weight gain or loss. \u201cIt is true that any overweight person can lose weight if they increase their energy expenditure over a sustained period of time, and that regular exercise can help them lose weight,\u201d explains Dr. Mark Mattson at the National Institute on Aging. \u201cHowever, there are many factors that influence whether or not an individual becomes obese, as well as whether they are able to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight. Such factors that have been established by scientific studies include genes, early life experience, learned behaviors, cultural and socioeconomic factors, and motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therefore, it\u2019s not surprising that there\u2019s a huge variability in the amount of weight lost among people doing the same routine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the battle of the bulge you have two fists–diet and exercise. You jab with exercise, but the knockout blow comes through control of the diet,\u201d Nieman says. And, while he supports exercise for its myriad health benefits, he feels that\u00a0\u201cadding 30 minutes of walking per day to your lifestyle, for example, typically results in very little weight loss for the average obese person.\u201d He believes that the engine of weight loss is \u201ceating less and keeping food intake low or moderate.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, while it is possible to burn more calories than you can eat, as Dr. Susan Jebb, head of nutrition and health research at the Medical Research Council in Great Britain, recently told\u00a0The Observer,<\/em>\u00a0\u201cyou have to do an awful lot more exercise than most people realize. To burn off an extra 500 calories is typically an extra two hours of cycling. And that\u2019s about two doughnuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most surprising experiment that dispelled the myth of exercise as champion obesity fighter occurred at the University of Louisiana in 2007. Led by Dr. Timothy Church, the\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0followed the progress of hundreds of overweight women on exercise programs for a six-month period. One group worked out for 72 minutes each week, a second group for 136 minutes, and a third for 194. A fourth group kept to their normal daily routine with no additional exercise.<\/p>\n

The results, which were published in the\u00a0Journal of the American Medical Association,<\/em>\u00a0<\/i>were shocking: There was no significant difference in weight loss between those who had exercised\u2014some of them for several days a week\u2014and those who hadn’t. Some of the \u201cworked-out\u201d women even gained weight.<\/p>\n

An 18-month\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0focusing on childhood obesity published in the journal\u00a0Obesity<\/em>\u00a0<\/i>in 2008 returned similar results. Researchers found that, when the children in their experiment exercised, they ended up eating more than the calories they had just burned, sometimes 10 or 20 times as many.<\/p>\n

Again, everyone MUST EXERCISE because it is vital to your health and it certainly assists us in our weight loss effort, but you must learn proper eating, and to do that, see a reputable registered dietician.<\/p>\n

In Part II of this column, we will take a good look at how genes play (or don\u2019t play) a role in weight loss and why \u201cgoing on a diet\u201d is usually detrimental to your long term success at losing weight.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\"image\"<\/p>\n

Alan Freishtat<\/strong> is an A.C.E. CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER and a BEHAVIORAL CHANGE and WELLNESS COACH with over 19 years of professional experience. Alan is the creator and director of the \u201c10 Weeks to Health\u201d program for weight loss. He is available for private coaching sessions, consultations, assessments and personalized workout programs both in his office and by telephone and skype. Alan also lectures and gives seminars and workshops. He can be reached at\u00a002-651-8502<\/a> or 050-555-7175<\/a>, or by email at\u00a0alan@alanfitness.com<\/a> Check out the his web site \u2013www.alanfitness.com<\/a> US Line: 516-568-5027<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next to smoking, excess weight due to poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle has a greater effect on everything from your major organs and body systems, to your hormones, bones, joints and even your sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":33436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-physical-health"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Real About Weight Loss and What Isn\u2019t! 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