Exercise and Weight Loss

While is is well-known that exercise is a necessity for effective
weight loss, there is quite a bit of conflicting information as to
what kind of exercise and how much of it will produce optimal fat
burning. Experts often disagree as to what the "correct" exercise is
for maximum weight loss. This disagreement is often due to a
misinterpretation of research that only gives a part of the whole
story. In addition, different individuals will actually benefit from
different exercise programs, so universal exercise recommendations
really cannot be made.

Let's begin with what the current research on exercise physiology
tells us. It is well-established that it takes approximately 30
minutes of any kind of exercise for the body to burn off its glycogen
(stored sugar) reserves and begin burning fat. So, most experts
recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise, and generally 60 minutes or
more may be recommended to get a good amount of fat burning. Now, if
you are going to be exercising for 30 to 60 minutes, or maybe more,
what type of exercise would you be able to do for that length of time?
It probably would have to be low to medium intensity. In other words,
you're probably not going to be able to run full speed or do any other
type of high-intensity exercise for 30 to 60 minutes without a rest,
unless you happen to be an elite athlete, and even then you'd be
struggling. So, by default, the common recommendation for exercise to
lose weight has been 30 to 60 minutes of low to medium intensity
aerobic exercise. Aerobic translates to "in the presence of oxygen",
which in common language means that aerobic exercise is any type of
activity that you can do without gasping for breath.

In recent years, some experts have changed their recommendations to
using a more intense anaerobic ("without oxygen") exercise program for
weight loss. This would include things like intense weight lifting,
and something called "interval training". Interval training involves
brief bursts of high intensity activity with periods of rest or low
intensity activity in between. For instance, your could sprint at full
speed for 30 to 60 seconds and once you were winded, you could walk at
an easy pace for a couple of minutes until you could catch your
breath, then repeat the cycle several more times.. Since this type of
exercise is much more physically demanding, it is done over a much
shorter overall workout period - perhaps 20 to 40 minutes (with half
or more of that time being rest or low intensity activity), as
compared to the 30 to 60 minutes of continuous activity as recommended
for aerobic exercise. The question is, how do the two types of
exercise compare in terms of their ability to promote fat burning?

The aerobic exercise promoters point to the research that was
mentioned earlier that has shown that any exercise, no matter how
intense requires at least 30 minutes to use up the body's stored
glycogen (the body will normally burn glycogen before it will burn
fat) before fat burning can begin. So, they say, short periods of even
highly intense exercise won't burn much fat and is therefore not a
good choice for promoting weight loss. But they are only seeing part
of the story.

It is true that you must exercise for at least 30 minutes to begin to
achieve fat burning - but that's at the time you are exercising. Brief
bursts of intense anaerobic exercise does something that even quite a
lot of low to medium intensity aerobic exercise does not. Intense
anaerobic exercise stimulates the production of growth hormone, which
is a strong stimulator of fat burning. The thing is, the release of
growth hormone triggered by intense anaerobic exercise comes 24 to 48
hours AFTER the exercise, and then it produces considerably more fat
burning than is possible with all but extremely long periods of low to
medium intensity aerobic exercise.

Because of this effect, most people will lose weight much more easily
by doing shorter periods of more intense exercise. 20 to 40 minutes of
heavy weightlifting, interval training (which could be done on foot,
on a bicycle, swimming, kickboxing, etc.Any kind of activity in which
there are periodic bursts of intense exertion interspersed with rest
periods, or periods of low intensity activity is typically preferable
in the long run for weight control than even long hours of lower
intensity aerobic exercise.

Now, you'll notice that I said "most people". There is an exception to
the rule. People under considerable stress, either emotional or
physical, or both, in their daily lives are prone to overworked
adrenal glands. The adrenal glands do a lot of things in the body, but
with regards to weight loss, they produce two hormones. One hormone is
cortisol, which promotes fat deposition in the lower abdomen. This is
typically a saggy, pendulous fat held below the waistline. The other
hormone the adrenals produce is adrenaline (also called epinephrine),
which actually promotes fat burning. Since the adrenals produce
cortisol which causes fat deposition and adrenaline which promotes fat
burning, you might assume that these two hormones cancel each other
out. Unfortunately, cortisol production can be carried out by a much
longer time by the adrenal glands than can the production of
adrenaline, so long-term, the effects of high cortisol production
(deposition of fat in the lower belly), will overcome whatever fat
burning might occur from the short-term adrenaline production.

The adrenals are influenced by physical stress as well as mental
stress, so for someone who is under a lot of stress in general in his
or her life, high-intensity exercise will only add to the total stress
and will tend to make the adrenals produce a lot of cortisol, and
therefore will tend to promote lower abdomen weight gain. Yes, you
read that right - excessive exercise for someone under a lot of stress
can actually cause that person to deposit MORE fat around the lower
belly! This can result in the frustrating situation in which one
exercises more and more and harder and harder to try to get rid of
that lower abdomen stomach "pooch", but never can seem to get rid of
it. Because the intense exercise is stimulating more cortisol
production, that person is fighting a losing battle. Because of this
effect, it is recommended that people under a lot of stress and/or who
have most of their weight held in the lower abdomen stick to
relatively low intensity aerobic exercise. This kind of activity is
usually helpful for controlling stress and reducing the level of
cortisol, thereby making it easier to get rid of the deposition of fat
around the lower abdomen.

I hope that this article has given you a better concept of how to
maximize your exercise routine for the best possible weight loss
results.

_By: *George Best*_

*About the Author:*

Dr. George Best is a holistic healthcare provider in San Antonio,
Texas. He provides information on natural weight loss [1] through his
website and is a consultant for MyFoodWithThought.com. For detailed
exercise instruction, Dr. Best recommends Turbulence Training [2]. He
can be reached at DrBest@trainyourbrain4weightloss.com [3].

Links:
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[1] http://www.trainyourbrain4weightloss.com
[2] http://docbest.turbulence.hop.clickbank.net/
[3] mailto:DrBest@trainyourbrain4weightloss.com