Incorporating Exercise into Your Life
In This Chapter
▶ Delving into the benefits of exercise for both mind and body
▶ Devising your “perfect fit” exercise plan
▶ Discovering low-glycemic eating strategies to improve your workout
It’s really not possible to get through any type of book on weight loss with- out covering exercise. I know, I know. You’ve probably heard it all before, so instead of telling you that you need to incorporate exercise to lose weight, I’m going to focus this chapter on some benefits of exercise and how to make exercise work in your life long term.
Believe it or not, one of the biggest reasons exercise is so important for weight loss is so you can eat a normal amount of food! Exercise not only burns calories but also helps improve your metabolic rate. So instead of suffering through a 1,200-calorie diet that leaves you starving all day, you can eat 1,500 calories (or more!) and still lose weight.
If you’re like me, the thought of joining a gym may not sound too appealing. Most weight-loss programs prescribe gym-type exercises, which is great if you enjoy them, but if you don’t, you’ll notice your Stair Master begins to be a place where you sort your laundry. Exercise and movement can be enjoyable. You just have to find the right fit for you — which may not involve any fancy gym equipment whatsoever.
In order to find that “perfect fit” exercise program, you really need to be motivated to start the process. Looking at the benefits of exercise and all the ways it can help your life may be just the place to start to help you feel excited about it.
This chapter covers the various benefits you can derive from regular exercise. You then discover how to set up an effective exercise program that works for you and that you can stick to regularly. Finally, you find out how and when to fuel your body to boost your exercise efforts even more.
Exploring the Many Benefits of Exercise
Even though it may be the first purpose you can think of, exercise is so much more than simply a way to burn calories. It’s good for increasing your energy, reducing your stress, improving your mood — the list goes on. Often when you really connect with the health benefits of exercising, you become more motivated to do it regularly. Then the pounds just shed away naturally!
In the following sections, I share some of the benefits of exercise that not only help with weight loss but also improve your health and your overall sense of well-being.
Your natural body shape — revealed
For most people, the number on the scale is the most important aspect of weight loss. Exercise obviously helps get that number down. However, people have become so focused on numbers that they forget to simply be happy with the changes in their body shape. A scale is one indicator that gives you a concrete measurement, but the shape of your body is another.
When you exercise, you start to build more lean body mass while decreasing body fat. Your natural shape is the result. You begin to look more trim and shapely as this shift happens — even if you don’t really need to lose weight.
A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weigh the same — 1 pound. However, a pound of muscle takes up a quarter of the space that fat does. So even if you don’t see drastic number changes on the scale, pay attention to your body shape and how you look and feel in your clothes. That’s more important than a single number on a scale. By switching your focus from numbers to body shape, you may find that you feel better with your progress.
If you’re really into measuring, take a measuring tape and measure your waist, arms, and thighs. Most people find that they lose inches faster than the scale changes numbers. Monitoring your inches in addition to your pounds can help reinforce that you really are making progress.
Increased energy
Do you ever catch yourself saying you wish there were more hours in the day? Well, I can’t make that happen, but I can tell you how to have more energy during the day to do all that you need to and feel great. The secret doesn’t lie in the latest energy drink. It’s found in exercise. Just lace up your tennis shoes and go for a walk to find that spark of energy you’re looking for.
Research shows that exercise helps to improve energy, even among people with chronic illnesses that increase fatigue. As a matter of fact, more than 90 percent of studies show that people who live a sedentary lifestyle improve their energy markedly when they start an exercise program compared to those who don’t.
Wondering how exerting more energy can make you have more energy? Well, the best answer is that your body and heart become stronger and more efficient with exercise. That translates into improved energy in the long run (not to mention weight loss and body shaping).
Perhaps you’ve tried an exercise program for a few days only to come home exhausted. That’s expected, especially if you were fairly sedentary before that. It may also be a sign that you’re trying to do too much too soon. Give yourself at least a week to get beyond this initial start-up hump, and you’ll soon feel more energized throughout the day.
Finding the time to exercise requires personal motivation. To help keep you motivated, maintain a log of your exercise and rate your energy level on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being low and 10 being high). Then you can monitor how your energy level progresses as you incorporate more movement into your life.
Squeezing exercise into your mornings
Many people find that the only time they can exercise is in the morning, meaning they have to address that dreaded question: How can I possibly get up any earlier? Many of my cli- ents have faced this issue head-on and found that they actually have more energy when they wake up early and exercise. Yes, the first few days (even weeks) can be difficult because your body isn’t used to waking up 30 to 60 minutes earlier. But your body can get used to early rising just like it can get used to any other change. Before you realize it, you’re in a comfortable routine of getting up first thing for a little cardio and a little strength training. What a great way to start the day! You can then walk confidently through the day, knowing that you already checked this important habit off of your to-do list.
An improved mood
Exercise can greatly affect your overall mood. This fact may not sound like a big deal, but if you’re an emotional eater, exercising may hold the key to pre- venting you from polishing off that pint of ice cream because you feel sad or depressed.
Exercise improves mood because it releases a cocktail of feel-good chemicals. No, I’m not talking about a cocktail you get at the local bar. I’m talking about the brain chemicals adrenaline, dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin that are released during exercise. All of these chemicals work together to make you feel good, calm, and relaxed. Ever hear of a “runner’s high”? This term comes from the endorphin release some runners experience after a good run. You can achieve a similar experience with other forms of exercise, such as a good hike or swim.
Research shows that exercise is even helpful in cases of mild depression. With all the ups and downs of your day, you may find that a little exercise goes a long way toward improving your overall happiness (and waistline!).
A lower risk of developing chronic diseases
One of the most important benefits of regular exercise is a decrease in your risk for developing chronic diseases. I’m sure most people have heard this message before, yet there are still so many individuals out there who don’t get enough exercise. If you or a family member have a history of heart disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes, I can’t stress how important and beneficial it is to exercise regularly if you want to prevent these types of diseases from rearing their ugly heads.
Following are a few ways in which exercise can help you stay healthy and decrease your risk of developing certain diseases:
✓ Heart disease: The only warning signs you have for a heart attack are your lab work, blood pressure, and family history. It can happen anytime, anywhere. If you have any heart disease risk factors, you can decrease that risk significantly with regular activity. Cardiovascular exercise reduces the risk of heart attack, especially in people who have known coronary artery disease. Specific benefits of cardiovascular exercise include a stronger heart muscle, less chance of angina, reduced plaque buildup in the arteries, improved blood pressure, and better weight.
✓ Diabetes: Exercise improves the sensitivity of insulin so that more blood glucose can enter the cells, ultimately providing better blood glucose control. Couple that with a low-glycemic diet, and you have a powerful duo to help control your blood sugar. Both aerobic and strength training help with diabetes.
✓ High blood pressure: Moderate exercise makes an impact on your overall blood circulation. It causes the heart muscle to pump better, which in return relaxes the blood vessels, helping to lower blood pressure. Cardiovascular exercise is the best for lowering blood pressure.
✓ Arthritis: Continuous movement is good for your joints because it promotes their strength, flexibility, and resiliency. Both aerobic exercise and strength training have been shown to be helpful with joint health. If you have a family history of arthritis, then now is the time to help pre- vent this condition from happening to you.
Better bone health
Bones respond to exercise the same way muscles do: As you exercise, they grow stronger. If you’re in your 20s or 30s, you may not think too much about bone health, but as you get older, it becomes more and more important. Your bone mass peaks in your 30s; after that you can begin losing it.
Engaging in regular physical activity improves bone health and helps prevent the onset of osteoporosis later in life. Sometimes you have to do an ounce of prevention earlier to protect yourself when you get older.
For the best chance of strengthening your bones, you should engage in weight- bearing activity that requires you to work against gravity. Weight-bearing activities include
✓ Walking
✓ Hiking
✓ Jogging
✓ Tennis
✓ Weight lifting
✓ Dancing
Reduced stress
Any form of exercise can decrease the body’s stress hormones and relieve stress-related tension. That’s good news for anyone trying to lose weight because these same stress hormones may be linked to abdominal weight gain. And if you’re a stress-eater, you’ll be happy to know that dealing with stress also helps alleviate the urge to eat to relieve your stress.
Often the activity you’re engaged in helps deter your mind from the day’s problems and challenges. Why? Because you actually switch your focus from those worries to the task at hand. Even if you’re just walking, you begin paying attention to the road, the people around you, or the beauty of the area. This combination of movement and refocused attention helps lower your overall stress level.
Creating an Exercise Plan You Can Stick With
Do you ever start an exercise program with good intentions only to watch your efforts fade away after about three weeks? You’re definitely not alone. You’re likely experiencing this setback for a variety of reasons. Perhaps you don’t particularly like exercising or the specific program you’re doing. Maybe you jumped in with too much that you can’t commit to, or perhaps you just haven’t made exercising a priority in your life. Knowing you need to exercise for weight loss and health is one thing, but making exercise work in your life is quite another.
More important than getting started in an exercise program is maintaining that exercise long term. A practical exercise plan should
✓ Take up a realistic amount of time for your lifestyle
✓ Be challenging enough to give you results
✓ Involve one or more activities that you love
An exercise plan that doesn’t meet these criteria is difficult to stick to and won’t help you achieve long-term weight loss. The sections that follow help you deal with each of the possible reasons why your exercising efforts fail. They also provide some new insight to help you craft the perfect-for-you exercise program that you can stick with for the long haul.
Before you dive into exercise, discuss any and all exercise plans with your healthcare provider to guarantee you’ll be engaging in the safest form of exercise for your unique needs.
Dealing with exercise resistance
Does the thought of exercising create a pit in your stomach, or do you tend to find excuses not to do it? If so, this section is for you because you may be suffering from exercise resistance. It’s not a medical disease, but it can certainly sabotage your best efforts.
The phrase exercise resistance was first coined in 1996 by Francie White, a registered dietitian and exercise physiologist. Francie defines exercise resistance as a conscious or unconscious block against becoming regularly active. This block leads to an inactive lifestyle for both children and adults, meaning they either can’t be consistent with a physical-activity regimen or they never get started with one in the first place. Many people may look at this concept and think it’s plain old laziness, but there’s actually a lot more to it.
People who struggle with exercise often experienced past embarrassment or shame around physical activity. They’re the kids who were always picked last for the team or who were teased for not being a good player. When you experience emotional pain from an activity or situation consistently, especially starting at a young age, you avoid that activity or situation in the future at all costs. This is a natural response. It’s sort of like if you got sick on a carnival ride when you were four. You likely aren’t going to be excited to get on one again in your lifetime, even if the latest research says the Tilt-A-Whirl will be helpful for your health and weight . . . speaking from personal experience.
Exercise resistance is also common in dieters. When strict exercise regimens are prescribed that people don’t enjoy, they can become resistant to exercising at all. Exercise becomes something they have to do to get the desired result rather than something that’s enjoyable. This perception alone can make the thought of going to the gym sound like going to the dentist.
If you’re beginning to recognize some signs of exercise resistance in your own life, or in that of your children, try using one or more of these strategies to help overcome them:
✓ Explore your personal history regarding exercise. First, identify the areas of your life in which you have negative emotions about exercise. Were you picked last to play on sports teams? Were you teased for not being coordinated? Did you attempt to follow exercise routines you didn’t enjoy to lose weight?
Now, think back to any movement that has been enjoyable for you. What types of activity bring you to a pleasant emotional state? I must admit — I have a little exercise resistance myself. I’m really not a gym person, but I absolutely love to swim. I’ll go swimming for the pure enjoyment of it anytime. That’s the type of activity you want to find.
✓ Make a list of enjoyable activities and try them out. Focus on the sheer enjoyment of an activity so you can really connect with how it makes you feel. Start by making a list of activities that sound fun to you and then think about how to make them a realistic part of your life. For example, if you want to get into walking but live in a busy area with limited sidewalks, begin to research how, when, and where you can go walking. Then make sure you have comfortable shoes for the task. Last on the list — enjoy your walk!
✓ Practice a little reverse psychology by denying yourself any exercise at all (even walking) for two weeks. This is a crazy thought, I know, but often when you deny yourself something, your mentality shifts and you begin wondering when you can incorporate that something again. When you cut out exercising, you literally miss the activity, which helps change any negative feelings you have regarding it. Trust me when I say that this tactic works! I had to be on moderate bed rest during my pregnancy and couldn’t believe how much I yearned to go on a simple walk or hike.
✓ Try new activities that sound fun. The important thing is that you find an activity you enjoy doing. If you enjoy walking or exploring, try going for a hike. If you enjoy dancing, take a dance class or turn up your favor- ite music and dance in your living room with your kids — they’ll love it! See the following section for some additional tips for discovering exercise you enjoy.
✓ Think outside the box. When I was young, I didn’t excel at sports, but the one I always looked forward to playing was kickball. I was discussing this subject with a friend one day, and he said, “Let’s start a kickball team!” We did, and it was so fun to get together with friends and enjoy this type of movement. What activities can you think of that apply movement in a nontraditional way for the pure fun of it?
Finding what you enjoy
You may not have exercise resistance (see the preceding section), but you may not be dying to go to the gym or take an exercise class either. The trick to finding the type of exercise you love is that it must be something you want to do for other reasons. For some people, the gym is it. My friend absolutely loves the gym and feels it’s her home away from home. Personally, I like being in the great outdoors and prefer to hike, walk, or swim.
I always say my grandmother was the best example of someone who truly enjoyed activity for many different reasons. She swam every day in the summertime just because she enjoyed it. She walked to the grocery store because it was a nice day and she saw no point in driving such a short distance. She was on a bowling league to socialize with friends, and she gardened as a way to be outdoors on the weekends. I never heard the word exercise come out of her mouth. She did these things because she enjoyed them, but she was able to stay in shape at the same time.
When you engage in an activity that you don’t necessarily like or that doesn’t provide you with some other benefit, you likely won’t stick with it for long. Whenever you exercise simply to lose weight, it can feel like a chore. On the flip side, when you engage in an activity because you love it or because it pro- vides you with some other benefit, you’re much more likely to keep at it. Some examples of additional benefits include the following:
✓ Walking with a friend or family member to unwind and vent about your day
✓ Doing an activity like swimming or bike riding simply because you think it’s fun
✓ Participating in a group sport like softball because you enjoy competition and a challenge
✓ Using your walk to find a little quiet time alone
If you can’t think of an activity you know you enjoy, then try out some new activities until you find the right fit. Granted, the activity you wind up enjoying the most may not provide you with all the exercise you need, but it’s a good starting place for incorporating more movement into your life.
Starting with small steps
I know many people get really motivated when they start a weight-loss pro- gram and want to jump in full force. However, when you do this with exercise, your efforts can backfire for several reasons:
✓ You end up with extreme muscle pain from working out too much when you’re unconditioned.
✓ Exercise takes up more time than is realistic for your life.
✓ You don’t enjoy the activity you’re doing, and it becomes less interesting the next time around.
✓ The idea of exercising becomes overwhelming because you’re doing too much too soon.
If you’re an exercising newbie, the better approach is to start small. Doing so gives you time to ease your body into the activity, especially if you were living a sedentary lifestyle before. You may not get the most amazing results right away, but by starting small and building on your exercise, you’ll be more likely to stick with it.
Taking baby steps when it comes to exercising also helps you find a realistic schedule that works in your day-to-day life. Exercising four hours a day probably won’t work in the real world, but maybe squeezing in 15 minutes two or three times a day will.
Making exercise a priority
Exercising requires some focus and rearranging of your priorities. It’s easy to want the numerous health benefits that come with exercise (all of which are described earlier in this chapter), but managing your time isn’t quite as easy. That takes a little planning, and people often don’t make a plan for how they’ll incorporate new changes into their lives.
As I’m sure you know, you can read all the information you want, but if you don’t give yourself a plan and time to do the activities necessary, you won’t see a whole lot of results from your exercising efforts. The next sections help you figure out how to prioritize exercise.
Developing a plan that’s practical for you
If you’re like most folks, your days are probably so packed that health goals such as “exercise more” are the things you squeeze in if and when you have the time. For many individuals, exercise is the first thing to put off until another day. Yet it doesn’t have to be that way.
Following are a few strategies to help you create a plan that prioritizes exer- cise in a realistic, manageable way:
✓ Find some time. One of the biggest hurdles of starting an exercise pro- gram is finding the time to do it. After all, your days are already filled up, right? Take a few minutes to examine your schedule. Look for 20- to 30-minute time increments (or possibly more depending on the type of exercise you enjoy). Think about when your exercise will work best. Can you squeeze in a swim on your lunch break? Hit the gym in the morning? Go for a walk in the evening?
✓ Schedule it. Even when you find the time to exercise, you can still put it off all too easily or just let something else take priority. But what if you treated exercise like a hair appointment? Make that appointment with yourself and keep it just like you would if it were a hair appointment.
✓ Track it. Keep track of your exercise so you can see just how much you’re doing and make sure you’re fitting it in. Take a wall calendar and simply mark an S for weight-bearing activity (also known as strength training) and a C for cardio activity, followed by the amount of time you spent doing the activity. If you’re not seeing results, this log gives you a useful tool for gauging how to change your routine; if you’re reaching your goals, then it gives you something to celebrate.
Committing to a minimum amount of exercise each day
Sometimes you’ll have troubles prioritizing exercise, or else you’ll find that no matter how hard you try, you just can’t keep that appointment with yourself. So you start missing a day here and there. Pretty soon that one day turns into a week. Before you know it, you haven’t done any exercise for three to four weeks!
Although there will always be times in your life when you miss out on exercise, the key is to not let one skipped day turn into a week (or more!).
One way to guarantee you don’t skip too many days is to make a deal with yourself to commit to your personal “minimum required exercise plan.” Think about some kind of activity that’s really easy for you to do each day, even if it’s just for ten minutes. It can be going for a walk or doing some stretching exercises. Whatever you choose, the activity needs to be the one that offers the least resistance for you. Make a plan that on the days you can’t exercise (or the days you just don’t want to) you agree to do your minimum required exercise. Even if it doesn’t bring you major results, it’ll keep your mind and body in forward motion, helping to make activity a daily habit in your life.
Here are some ideas of activities that may fit the bill for you:
✓ Yoga
✓ Walking
✓ Leg lifts
✓ Push-ups
✓ Sit-ups
✓ Jumping rope
✓ Lunges
✓ Stair stepping
My minimum required exercise is walking. If I can’t take a walk because of weather or the time, then I do a series of leg lifts in the evening before I go to bed. Remember: The trick is to think of activities you enjoy for other reasons. For me, walking is a calming form of stress relief.
Including cardio and strength training
Even though all exercise is good for your health, when it comes to weight loss, you want to make sure you’re getting the right combination of exercise. For years, people primarily focused on cardiovascular exercise to burn calories. This is still an important focus, but incorporating some strength training is also important because it helps build muscle mass (which in return improves your metabolism, as explained in Chapter 8).
Engaging in both cardiovascular exercise and strength training is a winning combination for weight loss because you burn more calories and increase your metabolic rate at the same time.
Cardiovascular exercise involves activities that get your heart rate up, such as fast-paced walking, jogging, swimming, or using a Stair Master or elliptical machine. Strength training includes activities such as lifting weights or using resistance bands to build muscle.
Can’t think of an exercise routine?
If you’re having trouble coming up with an exercise routine, why not try the 10,000 steps program? It’s easy to do and works great for weight loss if you currently live a fairly sedentary lifestyle. The goal is to work up to walk- ing 10,000 steps each day, or roughly 5 miles. Here’s how to get started:
1 . Buy a step pedometer .
You can find a basic step pedometer for about $20 at your local sporting goods store or drug store. To use it, just clip it securely to your waistband or belt, set it to zero, and then forget about it for the rest of the day.
2 . Find your baseline .
Your baseline is the average number of steps you’re likely to walk each day. At the end of your first day wearing the pedometer, simply read your results and write them down in a log. On average, most Americans take about 900 to 3,000 steps per day.
3 . Increase your steps by 500 steps per day for a week .
If your baseline is 900 steps, increase to 1,400 steps for a week. Then increase to 1,900 steps the following week.
4 . Continue this process until you reach your goal of 10,000 steps .
Note: You don’t have to get in all of your steps in one fell swoop. The goal is to get you walking more during the entire day.
Tip: If you don’t see results, make your steps a little more challenging by increasing the rate of your walk or hitting some hills.
Health professionals recommend some form of cardiovascular exercise every day. Strength training is recommended at least every other day (to allow the muscles to rebuild). However, some people opt to do a form of strength training every day; they just choose different muscle groups to focus on (lower body one day, upper body the next, and so on). Form and careful movement are essential if you want to maximize the exercise and protect yourself from injury. A visit with a personal trainer can provide you with specifics
on how to begin a combined cardio/strength training routine effectively and safely. You can also check out Fitness For Dummies, 3rd Edition, by Suzanne Schlosberg and Liz Neporent (Wiley) for supplementary info.
Don’t be surprised if you start to feel your hunger cues more after a few weeks of this combination. That’s a good sign that your body is responding to the exercise. The goal with this combination is to not only make a calorie deficit so you can lose weight but to also create a situation where you get to eat more. Maintaining weight loss is far easier when you’re eating a good amount of calories than when you’re trying to live your life eating only 1,200 calories a day.
If you’re having trouble pinpointing a good cardio/strength training routine that works for you, consider seeking out the guidance of a personal trainer. Be sure to let him know the activities you enjoy so he can help you incorporate them into your exercise plan. Personal trainers can also teach you proper exercise technique to avoid injury. Yes, a personal trainer will cost you a bit, but the expense will be well worth it when you walk away with an exercise plan that works for you long term.
Fueling Your Exercise Routine with a Low-Glycemic Diet
What you eat can certainly impact how well you feel during your exercise routine. It can also determine whether you’re getting the most out of your workout. Eating a nutritionally balanced low-glycemic diet gives you a great foundation for adequately fueling your exercise routine. However, if you prefer a little more direction, follow these tips to improve your workout:
✓ Consume an adequate amount of carbohydrates. When you exercise, your muscles burn a type of carbohydrate called glycogen for fuel. You can’t produce optimal glycogen stores with a high-protein, low- carbohydrate diet. To keep your body’s fuel stores primed for peak performance, you need to eat a diet that’s rich in low-glycemic carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables. I also recommend going for the low-glycemic whole grains — brown rice, quinoa, pearl barley, and 100-percent whole-grain bread.
✓ Eat your protein. Active people need more protein than people who live a sedentary lifestyle largely because protein assists in muscle building and tissue repair. Include lean meats, fish, soy, and eggs in your diet regularly and make sure your post-workout meal contains a significant protein source.
✓ Load up on fruits and veggies. There’s just no mistaking how important fruits and vegetables are to your health. When you exercise, you breathe harder and take in more oxygen. Even though you need oxygen to sup- port life, it can become unstable in the body and damage your muscle cells, leading to inflammation and soreness. You can protect yourself from oxidation by eating healthful amounts of the antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables. Be sure to eat at least five servings of low- glycemic fruits and vegetables a day. (Check out Chapter 22 to see which low-glycemic foods offer the biggest antioxidant boost.)
✓ Drink, drink, drink. The more you exercise, the more you sweat.
Replacing your body’s lost fluid is vital for peak performance and endurance (you’ll definitely feel fatigued if you don’t drink enough water). Always keep a bottle of water on hand during long workouts. Also, try to drink at least eight 8-ounce servings of water per day to help keep your body hydrated.
✓ Fuel up before a workout. Eating something before you work out not only lengthens your workout but also increases your endurance. If you don’t eat before you exercise, you can wind up feeling light-headed; you may even experience fatigue and nausea. In addition, not eating before a workout means your body must turn to muscle protein for fuel because it doesn’t have enough carbohydrates. By starting your workout well fueled, your body will burn a combination of the carbohydrates stored in your muscles and stored fat. Try to eat a meal or snack that features low-glycemic carbohydrates, is low in fat, and contains a moderate amount of protein two to four hours before a workout or event in order to keep your system well fueled. (Note: If you prefer to work out as soon as you wake up in the morning, this can be difficult. Try to have a small piece of fruit and a glass of water, but only if that doesn’t make your stomach feel upset when you start your workout.)
✓ Fuel up after a workout. To ensure optimal recovery of your muscles, you need to consume calories and fluids within the first 30 minutes after you exercise. Doing so allows you to rebuild your glycogen stores so they’re ready to go the next day. If you aren’t hungry right after a work- out, a quick snack that includes carbohydrates and protein will do. Don’t forget to eat a protein-containing meal later on to help repair the muscle damage caused during your workout.
Note: Although there’s some evidence that choosing high-glycemic foods may be a more effective method of replenishing glycogen stores post-workout, this research applies primarily to endurance athletes. The Average Joe or Jane is better off sticking with low-glycemic foods.
Pairing a low-glycemic breakfast with moderate exercise to (maybe?) burn more fat The glycemic index is being observed more and more in scientific communities. One small British study published in March 2009 found that eating a low-glycemic breakfast enhances the fat-burning effects of moderate exercise among sedentary women.
The study’s participants were assigned either a high-glycemic breakfast or a low-glycemic breakfast. That’s the only variable that changed; the amount of fat, protein, carbohydrates, and calories stayed the same. The women remained at rest for three hours after breakfast and then walked at a moderate pace on a treadmill for 60 minutes. During that time, fat oxidation was twice as high for those women who ate the low- glycemic breakfast compared to those who ate the high-glycemic breakfast.
Although this is very promising information for people working toward weight loss, it’s important to remember that this is just one small study. Further research is needed to confirm that a low-glycemic breakfast combined with moderate exercise helps burn more fat. Of course, enjoying a low-glycemic breakfast each day is still a good idea. Flip to Chapter 16 for some yummy recipes that work whether you’re on the go or preparing breakfast ahead of time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment