Understanding Exercise-Induced Weight Gain

It is common knowledge that exercise burns calories and helps you to shed extra pounds.

Armed with this knowledge, many people think that losing weight should be easy with enough exercise. You may take this as bad news, but the truth is that for those who aren't used to exercising and are out of shape, beginning an exercise program may actually lead to weight gain.

This fact, however, shouldn't stop you from exercising, as you'll eventually turn the weight corner and start losing.

What is it about exercise that may cause some people to gain instead of lose weight?

Muscle Mass: One of the main reasons exercising can lead to weight gain is that it promotes the growth of muscle mass.

If you are not used to working out and haven't used certain muscles regularly, after exercising your muscles will be sore and will increase in size. While you may burn off fat, muscle is denser than fat. Therefore, the weight you gain is in your muscles.

And take heart. Since muscles take up less space than fat, your extra weight doesn't necessarily translate to larger size. In fact, once you start working out, you'll probably become thinner, even if you maintain your previous weight. Instead of using a scale to determine if you are slimming down, have your body fat tested regularly or measure your body at certain areas.

If you see that you're losing inches, then you know you're on the right track.

Cardiovascular activities like walking, running, or swimming will encourage the growth of lean, toned muscles. Other activities such as weight lifting promote the growth of larger, stronger muscles that contribute to weight gain.

But there is good news in this. If you stick with the exercise program, your muscles will soon stabilize in size and after a time, become toned. After your muscles are strong and able to handle more strenuous workouts, you will be able to burn calories faster.

While it may be frustrating and disappointing to see the scale go up after starting an exercise routine, it shouldn't stop you from exercising. You may just be building muscle faster than losing body fat. This can be especially true if you're genetically prone to building muscle fast. The key is to incorporate plenty of cardio exercise in addition to strength training. That way you will burn plenty of calories during your routine and be more able to shed pounds.

Eating Habits: When you work out and burn calories, your body will feel the need to replace those burned calories.

This may make you feel hungrier than usual, which can cause you to eat more than normal - sometimes without knowing it. A good idea is to keep a food journal to track of the actual number of calories you are consuming.

You may also end up eating more calories and justifying their consumption since you're exercising. After a good workout, you may see an ice cream sundae as a reward for the calories you burned. Just be careful. If you're interested in losing weight, you can't simply break even with your caloric intake and the amount of calories you burn.

At the same time, eating too few calories can be counterproductive and slow your weight loss. Without enough calories, your body may slow its metabolism. So eat plenty to keep your body well fueled, but choose healthy calories that will help your body recover after a workout and grow stronger.

Hydration: Depending on the time of day you weigh yourself, the scale may read differently. Your weight can fluctuate as much as five pounds depending on the amount of water or food you have recently consumed or the amount of water you have shed in sweat. It is therefore important to weigh yourself at the same time each day.


GIVE IT TIME:

Whatever the cause of your weight gain after exercising, don't give up! Not only is exercise the key to shedding pounds, but it is also vital for overall health and well-being. Give your body time to respond to a new routine. It can take several weeks for your body to "recalibrate" itself to increased activity and changes in eating habits. But once it does, you'll begin seeing the weight-loss results you seek!

My exercise programs are specifically designed to produce results quickly.

Call or email today to test drive a program that will get the numbers on your scale headed in the right direction.

5 Danger Zones

Each day you make well over 200 decisions about food, according to Brian Wansink, PH.D. in his book, Mindless Eating. Your weight is the sum total of your past food decisions.

According to Wansink, overeating can be greatly reduced simply by removing the cues in your environment that cause you to overeat. He goes on to explain the top 5 Diet Danger Zones and the solutions for each:

1. The Meal Stuffer: At mealtime you really stuff yourself. You clean everything off your plate, eat quickly and often go back for seconds. You consider yourself to have a “healthy appetite” and often feel uncomfortably full after eating.

• Use the Half-Plate Rule: fill half of your plate with vegetables and the other half with protein and starch.
• Use smaller plates and wait 20 minutes before deciding if you want seconds.
• Eat slower so your appetite can catch up with what you've already eaten.
• Don't place serving dishes on the table. Pre-plate your food and then put the rest out of reach.

2. The Snack Grazer: You eat whatever food is within reach, and snack at least three times throughout the day. You can't walk past a candy dish without dipping in. Your snacking is rarely done out of hunger.

• Chew gum throughout your day to avoid mindless munching.
• Keep tempting snack foods out of sight and out of mind.
• Never eat directly from a package. Portion out your snack into a dish.
• Don't purchase tempting snack foods for future snacking. Keep a wide variety of fruits and vegetables on hand instead.

3. The Party Binger: Whenever you attend a social event where the main attraction is food, you eat without stopping. With all the distraction you quickly lose track of how much you've consumed and often stop only when it's time to leave.

• Stay more than an arm's length away from the buffet or snack bowls.
• Put only two food items on your plate during each trip to the table.
• Make yourself feel full by eating the big healthy stuff first, like broccoli and carrots.
• Remind yourself why you are at the party: first to socialize or to conduct business and secondarily to eat.

4. The Restaurant Indulger: You eat out at least three times a week and enjoy every minute of it. You love appetizers, large entrees and rich desserts. When you leave the table you are always stuffed.

• Ask your waiter to remove the bread basket from the table.
• Before you eat, ask your waiter to box half of your entrée to take home.
• Decide to either share an appetizer or a dessert, never have both.
• Skip the appetizer menu and instead start your meal with a side salad.

5. The Desktop (or Dashboard) Diner: You like to multi-task by eating at your desk or on the go. Your lightning-quick meals are grabbed on-the-go from fast food joints, vending machines and convenience stores. You don't plan your meals ahead of time and end up eating whatever you can quickly find.

• Pack a healthy lunch and bring it with you.
• Stock your work area with healthy protein-filled snacks.
• Drink plenty of water throughout the day.
• Turn off the computer or pull your car over while you eat.

By making these healthy changes when it comes to your food decisions you will put yourself back on course and moving in the direction of healthy weight loss.

Would you like to expedite your fitness and weight loss results? Call or email today to get started on a fitness program that will quickly transform your body.

Remember, while nutrition is vitally important for weight loss, true results are achieved through a combination of both nutrition and challenging, progressive exercise.

Increase Your Strength With Omega-3 Fatty Acids?

By Kevin DiDonato MS, CSCS, CES

Thought I would share this article with you all.  Enjoy!


You are getting older. 

And so is a good majority of our population and the world.

With an estimated 77.6 million baby boomers, it’s a fact that we are getting older.

And there is nothing you can do about it!

But you may be able to control the SPEED of aging.

Watching your diet may help you maintain a healthy body weight.

And exercise may strengthen your muscles, which may lead to overall better body composition.

Strength training may also increase strength in your muscles and bones.

And this may add YEARS back to your life, figuratively speaking.

But there is ONE IMPORTANT nutrient you need to remember to take as you get older.

And this one nutrient may improve your heart health and you may shed a pound or two.

Plus, now it may help increase your overall strength and force production.

Let me explain…

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats which your body cannot make.

Omega-3 fatty acids are broken down into three sources:

• ALA (plant based)

• DHA

• EPA

DHA and EPA may be found in Krill oil and fish oil.

However, you may have heard that Krill Oil is better than Fish oil.

As a review…

Fish oil and Krill oil BOTH contain DHA and EPA.

And fish oil may contain slightly higher levels than Krill oil.

However, the way the structure of Krill compared to fish oil is the KEY.

In fish oil, the omega-3 fatty acids are bound by a triglyceride backbone.

And in Krill oil, the omega-3 fatty acids are bound by a phospholipid backbone.

And this is the BIGGEST difference between the two.

Krill oil only contains 62.8% omega-3 fatty acids.

But due to the chemical makeup, it may improve the absorption rate in your intestines.

This means that you may INCREASE omega-3 levels in your blood.

And this may make it MORE powerful than just regular fish oil of which the absorption rate may be significantly LOWER.

ALA is another form of an omega-3 fatty acid, and may not be as beneficial as Krill or fish oil.

The problem with ALA is this: once ingested, ALA may have to be further processed to turn it into DHA.

And this conversion of ALA to DHA may not be very efficient.

You may not get as much DHA from ALA that you would find in Krill oil.

In order for you to increase more omega-3 fatty acids intake, it may be recommended to increase your vegetable intake AND your intake of fatty fish.

Omega-3 fatty acids may reduce cholesterol and improve your heart health.

It may also improve symptoms of depression, arthritis, and possibly cancer.

But now, omega-3 fatty acids may possess the ability to improve the quality of life as you age.

Give me a minute to explain…

Strength Training And Aging

One way to stop the age-related decline in muscle loss may be to turn to strength-based exercises.

And with more and more people aging and reaching baby boomer status, the population of older adults who exercise IS EXPLODING.
Strength training progressively promotes overload to your muscles, possibly increasing muscle size and strength.

This tissue may be more metabolically active than fat tissue, possibly leading to weight loss or even more muscle tone.

But that’s not all that strength training does!

Exercise, in general, may improve strength and endurance in your muscles, and may also put stress on your bones.

And this stress may strengthen your bones, therefore possibly improving, or even preventing, age-related osteoporosis.

And let’s not forget about weight loss.

Increasing muscle tissue may increase a metabolically active tissue.

And this tissue may need more CALORIES in order to keep you running throughout the day.

Having more lean mass (muscles) may increase your resting metabolic rate, so you may have more calorie burn throughout the day - even while SLEEPING.

This may improve body composition by burning your fat stores to use as energy.

This may leave you trim and tone way into your golden years.

Omega-3 fatty acids may provide even MORE benefits than you already know about.

Researchers in Brazil may have discovered AMAZING benefits regarding omega-3 fatty acids and strength training.

It may SHOCK you to know that omega-3 fatty acids MAY IMPROVE your strength as you get older.

The Research
Researchers in Brazil recruited 45 women with a mean age of 64.

They divided the women into three groups

• Strength training only

• Strength training with omega-3 fatty acids for 90 days

• Strength training with omega-3 fatty acids for 150 days

The researchers wanted to see if omega-3 fatty acids may benefit muscle strength and development.

After 90 days of strength training, the researchers were SHOCKED by their findings.

They noticed that all three groups increased their strength and muscle force.

But more importantly, the group supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids showed SIGNIFICANT improvements in strength than the strength training alone group.

They concluded that strength training DID improve strength in elderly women and in ALL groups, but that groups supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids showed significant improvements in muscle strength AND functional capacity.

Take Home Message
Aging affects everyone differently.

And with the baby boomer population increasing, there are plenty of people looking for the fountain of youth.

Exercise may increase longevity due to altering body composition and blood lipid profiles.

And it may also strengthen your muscles and bones.

Omega-3 fatty acids and strength training combined may STRENGTHEN and improve muscle force.

And this may lead to increased lean mass, which may alter your body composition - for the better.

In order to increase your omega-3 fatty acid intake, you should increase your marine (fish) intake and vegetable intake.

You may also increase your omega-3 levels by taking a daily krill oil supllement. You may owe it to yourself to increase omega-3 fatty acid levels.

You may possibly live a leaner and fuller life throughout your golden years.

Make 2012 About You.

Here's to a Happy New Year and to getting everything that you want out of 2012.

Today you have a clean slate with a brand new year spread out in front of you, filled with endless possibilities.

How will you harness your potential to create the very best you? I recommend using the teachings of Dr. Maxwell Maltz in his legendary book 'The New Psycho-Cybernetics'.

Dr. Maltz created the original science of self improvement and success, so who better to turn to when you're ready to take your life to another level. His teachings have stood the test of time.

Take the following and get all that you want out of 2012:

1) Use Your Imagination
If you thought that imaginations were only valued in preschool, think again. One of the key points in 'The New Psycho-Cybernetics' is the technique of using your imagination to reprogram and manage your self image.

You may have been exposed to self improvement strategies that tell you to 'act as if' or to 'fake it till you make it.' Those typically don't work because your self image is still the same.

According to Dr. Maltz, your self image is the key to changing your actions and habits. If you want to lose 50 pounds, you first have to think of yourself as someone 50 pounds lighter.

Spend time in your imagination. See yourself 50 pounds lighter. Experience a day in your life at this slimmed down size. Imagine everything down to the smallest detail.

According to Dr. Maltz, this imagination time will begin to change your self image to that of a person 50 pounds lighter, and your actions and habits will fall into place.

2) Reject Negative Thoughts
Negative thoughts will undoubtedly arise as you use your imagination to see your ideal self. "I'm not really going to lose 50 pounds." "I've tried losing weight before and it never works. I'm always going to be overweight." "This imagination stuff is bogus. It won't work for me."

Dr. Maltz says that the instant you receive a negative thought simply dismiss it. Don't spend any time on it at all.

The quicker that you dismiss negative thoughts, the less impact they will have on your self image. Also you'll find that fewer and fewer negative thoughts arise once you get into the habit of dismissal.

3) Be Nostalgic For The Future
It's so easy to be nostalgic for the past, especially when you only remember the good stuff. But what good does it do for you to wish for things that are long gone?

Dr. Maltz recommends developing nostalgia for the future.

In your imagination you've already lost the 50 pounds, so start pining for the future! Your self image will lock onto that picture and your nostalgic feelings will fuel the fire.

4) I'm The Kind Of Person That…
What kind of person are you?

• I'm the kind of person that loves sweets.
• I'm the kind of person that hates exercise.
• I'm the kind of person that can't lose weight.

OR

• I'm the kind of person that eats fresh and healthy food.
• I'm the kind of person that keeps fit.
• I'm the kind of person that maintains an ideal body weight.

Your self image will fulfill any label that you put on yourself. The power is all in your hands.

What kind of a person do you want to be in 2012?

If losing weight is something you'd like to do this year, then call or email to set up a consultation. I'm the kind of person who LOVES to see clients like you achieve their goals!

347 669 0271

info@betterhealthandlife.com