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For many people, weight loss means going on a diet. TV talk shows,
magazines and advertising campaigns have led us to believe that if we
want to shed pounds, we have to eat uncomfortably less than we want.
It isn’t true.
While it is true that you have to create a caloric deficit to lose
weight, that’s only part of the story. Successful weight loss is a
three-part process and the sum of the three parts is greater than any
single component. Here’s the scoop.
Aerobic exercise
The cornerstone to any serious weight loss program is
aerobic exercise—running, cycling, walking or swimming. This is true for
three reasons.
First, endurance activity burns calories that would otherwise be stored
as fat. For instance, running or walking a mile, at any speed, uses
about 100 calories. A five-mile jaunt burns 500 calories—equivalent to
two muffins. A 15-mile bike ride at a moderate pace on flat terrain
consumes about 600 calories in the flame of activity. While those
calorie figures may not sound impressive, over time they add up
significantly.
Second, those runs, swims or bike outings strengthen and firm up your
muscles. Swinging your arms as you run or walk, pulling water in a swim
or pushing the pedals hard on a climb works the big muscles of your
body, making them stronger and better able to burn the calories you eat.
The strengthening effects of aerobic exercise aren’t as great as those
of weight training, as we’ll see, but they’re still substantial.
But here’s the neat part—and it’s rarely understood. The calories you
consume while doing aerobic exercise are only part of the story.
Exercise significantly raises your metabolism, the rate at which
your body uses calories at rest. This means that even after your run is
over, your body continues to burn calories at a heightened rate. You
lose weight even as you rest! Do an aerobic workout five or six times a
week and your body turns into a furnace, burning excess calories at all
hours of the day and night.
Resistance Training
The second key to weight loss is a good resistance
or weight training program done two to three times per week. While
aerobic exercise raises your metabolism, as we have seen, resistance
training does so even more. Fat doesn’t burn calories—on your body,
it’s merely along for the ride. It’s muscle that burns calories,
allowing you to eat more to fuel your activity. The more muscles you
have, the more efficient is your calorie-burning mechanism. And to build
significant muscle, you need resistance training as well as aerobic
activity.
Especially important are upper body exercises like push-ups, pull-ups,
rows and bench presses. Walking, running and cycling don’t use the
muscles of the shoulders, arms and chest to any appreciable degree so a
good weight training program is vital if your primary endurance
activities are "leg sports." For information on how to set up a program,
consult a personal trainer certified by the National Strength and
Conditioning Association or a book like
Weight Training Steps to Success
by Thomas Baechle and Barney Groves, published by Human Kinetics.
Nutrition
Notice that I didn’t use the four-letter word "diet." A
diet—that is, serious calorie reduction—is a fairly certain way to
guarantee that you don’t lose weight, at least not in the long term.
Studies show that the majority of people who lose weight through diet
alone regain most or all of the poundage within a year. Many gain even
more. Why? As we have seen, caloric restriction addresses only one part
of the weight loss triad. And it isn’t how much you eat, it’s what you
eat. The general rule—load up on carbohydrate-rich foods like whole
grains, fruits and vegetables. Go easy on fatty foods like gravy,
margarine, fatty cuts of meat and regular-fat dairy products. A diet
containing about 65% carbohydrate and 15 to 20% each of fat and protein
is best for health, weight control, and athletic performance. Now
there’s a winning threesome!
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