- By EDMUND R. BURKE, PH.D.
Exercise Combined With Diet Cuts Bodyfat, But From Where? Do you lose more weight by cutting calories than you do by exercising more? Recent evidence slightly tips the scales toward exercising. A study in December's Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise followed 26 formerly-sedentary women for 13 weeks. One group of women cycled for a half-hour once or twice a week while cutting 200 calories a day from their diet. Another cycled three to four times a week while eating the same as usual. And a third made no changes. Not surprisingly, the third group lost no fat. But both exercise groups lost similar amounts of visceral fat--deep, hard fat that shapes the typical beer belly. Visceral fat has been associated with heart disease and diabetes. The three-or-four-times-a-week exercise group, however, lost more subcutaneous fat--the kind that lays just beneath the skin, primarily in your arms and legs. Though not harmful, subcutaneous fat makes you look flabby.
WHAT'S YOUR BODY SHAPE? Waist-to-Hip Ratio Tells Where The Fat's At You're not as slim as you'd like to be. But you've never really thought of yourself as being overweight either. So when you read about the benefits of maintaining a "healthy weight," you wonder where you fit in--is your weight OK, or is it putting your health at risk? A simple do-it-yourself evaluation reported in the Mayo Clinic Health Letter can give you an idea of what shape your shape is in, and if you might benefit from shedding a few pounds. The waist-to-hip ratio indicates where most of your fat is located. People who carry most of their weight around their waists are often referred to as "apples." Those who carry most of their weight below their waist--around the hips and thighs--are often referred to as "pears." Generally, it's better to have a pear shape than an apple shape. That's because fat around the waist is associated with an increased risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer. Fat around your hips and thighs is considered less of a health risk.
To find out what shape you are, measure your hips at their widest point and your waist at its narrowest (usually at the navel, but this may vary). Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. A ratio greater than .80 for a woman and greater than 1.0 for a man indicates an apple shape.
TURN OFF THAT TV! Get Your Kids Up Off The Couch, Excessive TV Watching Is Making Them Fat Knowing that the overweight children of today are likely to become the overweight adults of tomorrow mandates that you pay careful attention to your child's diet, exercise and lifestyle habits. A study reported in a recent issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association reports on dated collected from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which measured the amount of physical activity and television watching among 4,000 children in U.S. households and the relationship to their Body Mass Index (BMI) and percent bodyfat. Overall, approximately 20% of the children reported fewer than three exercise sessions per week (which was even higher among girls); whereas 26% of the children watched more than four hours of television per day. Yes, per day! Not surprisingly, the increased television watching was associated with increased BMI and total bodyfat levels. The authors concluded that increased television watching was associated with the increasing prevalence of overweight children inthe U.S., and that children were increasingly participating in sedentary-leisure activities, such as playing video games, watching television and using computers, and that this trend was more than coincidental. As parents you need to encourage your children to participate in regular exercise, particularly activities that they can engage in for the rest of their lives. Good examples are running, cycling, weight training, soccer, bodybuilding, basketball, swimming and skiing. If we do not stop this trend, the health care crisis will continue to grow to bigger and bigger proportions in this country.
I hope you are enjoying and are inspired by these transformations as much as I am. Even with all of my knowledge, experience and presiding over so many transformations in 40 years in the fitness biz; I still get a major charge out of seeing not only the actual loss of body fat, building of muscle and the improved aesthetic of a transformed physique, but the joy, confidence, and overall happiness achieved by these folks who decided to get off the diet, and fad exercise train and follow the advice of our friends at HitchFit. Of course if you are ready for reality fitness over the 'fairy tale' advice of a reality show, then clickhere to transform today!
