Avoid these false fat loss myths & add exercise….

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Focus on Your Health:

In it we post health commentary & reviews of books, eBooks, & other things that improve or protect your health or which enable you to live longer, to be more prosperous, & to be more effective.

Today's post: Monday, 10-23-2006

Avoid these false fat loss myths & add exercise….

Most readers of this blog do relatively sedentary work. And, most people in the United States get very little exercise in their commuting & not much in their shopping because they drive almost everywhere.

So, most of us are fatter than we should be.

There are a number of ways to eat enough to feel full; not feel hungry except just before meals; & have plenty of energy & still lose excess fat & keep it off.

In fact, studies actually show trim people often burn more calories & eat a larger volume of food than most fat people.

Here are some common misconceptions to avoid.:

1. Cut out all kinds of fat & oils.

Nope. Wrong. Bad idea. Your health suffers from a lack of essential fatty acids & you absorb some key nutrients badly that need some fat for best digestion.

Studies have actually been done with people eating a slightly reduced amount of food where one group ate virtually no fat & one group included some health safe fats & oils like nuts, avocados, wild caught salmon or omega 3 supplements, & extra virgin olive oil.

The group that ate the health safe fats & oils lost weight just like the virtually no fat group; but the group that ate the health safe fats & oils kept the weight off because they felt less hungry & enjoyed their food more. The virtually no fat group gained it all back because they got tired of not enjoying their food & feeling hungry all the time.

2. Cut out anything with carbohydrates in it.

Not quite as wrong as eliminating all fats & oils but close.

Eating a lot of protein does help you feel full & put out your hunger much better than eating most starchy & sugary foods. And, eating lots of protein does help any weight loss you achieve be fat instead of muscle & other lean body mass.

And, cutting out starchy & sugary (high glycemic) foods does help you stay trim. Do cut way back on sugar & eliminate virtually all refined grains & totally eliminate high fructose corn syrup. THOSE carbohydrates DO make you fat.

But vegetables have some carbohydrates. And nonstarchy vegetables are quite literally the best fat loss foods you can eat. Weight Watchers lists green vegetables like asparagus, green peas, green beans, broccoli, etc as having ZERO points.

The MORE of those you eat, the less fat you’ll wear !!

Also, whole fruit tastes good & gives you lots of nutrition to keep you healthy. People who eat right otherwise & get regular exercise can eat them, & even some fruit juices, & not only not gain or re-gain fat; but are more likely to keep it off as they enjoy what they eat & can sustain NOT eating the bad carbohydrates.

In the early stages of a fat loss effort, it may make sense to cut out whole grains. And, problems digesting the gluten in whole wheat & some other grains tend to help keep some people fat or less well than they should be.

Long term, however, the information I’ve seen is that people who eat some whole grains that they do digest & process OK have better health & keep off fat better than people who don’t.

Whole grains have fiber, B vitamins, protein, & other nutrients & help you feel full & add variety & enjoyment to your diet.

Just limit yourself to moderate amounts of whole grains & eat more green vegetables & other health OK protein foods than whole grains.

3. Focus on cutting calories.

Tends to work in the short run & never works long term. People who focus on calories tend to cut back too much & feel too hungry or too tired. And, they don’t learn more about what is OK to eat & what foods to cut back or elminate. And, they tend to not add exercise or add more exercise.

So, focusing on cutting calories only is a recipe for fat loss failure. It’s a lot of work. It focuses on the wrong things. And any fat lost is almost always gained back.

Only focusing on cutting calories is a BAD idea.

4. If I exercise enough, that’s ALL I need.

Not exactly. Studies show that the right changes in what you eat work better done by themselves than exercise only.

And, doing both works a LOT better than adding more exercise only.

In fact, when I read the Weight Watchers point system, I found that the moderately high amount of exercise I did each week only gave me about 25 percent of the effect I needed to be free of excess fat. They have incorporated years of experience into their point system.

There are two pieces of good news about exercise though.

a) Beginning regular exercise properly will make people who are still fat MUCH healthier. Fit fat people enjoy much better health than totally sedentary skinny people.

b) If you do enough of the right kind of exercise, you’ll lose excess fat faster; you’ll add muscle & other lean body mass; you can eat MORE, in some cases, a LOT more, without it sabotaging your fat loss goals.

You lose fat instead of muscle & lean body mass. You can eat enough to enjoy life without gaining the excess body fat back

You can even get away with eating foods you shouldn’t occasionally.

All of this makes keeping the fat off sustainable & permanent. And, studies of people who have lost 30 pounds or more of fat & kept it off find they virtually all do regular exercise. And most of them do a lot of regular exercise.

Add exercise every week & you can also eat even more & still lose excess fat & weigh less.

Try this to start:

Get at least 100 calories of cardio or aerobic exercise on at least three days each week on nonconsecutive days. ( Monday, Weds, Friday, Saturday for example.)

Get at least two days of strength or weight training each week with a day off between sessions. (Monday, Weds, Friday; or Tuesday, Thursday; or Tuesday, Friday for example.)

Even if that's all you do it will improve your health; help you eat more & still weigh less & be less fat; & it will help ensure any weight you lose is fat, NOT muscle or other desirable lean tissue, like bones or tendons.

Also, once you get used to doing that minimum, for keeping fat off, as long as you do it safely, carefully, & gradually, adding more exercise IS better for fat loss.

It will help if you do strength training three days a week instead of two & if you work up to an hour a day of relatively vigorous exercise 6 days a week.

3500 to 4200 calories a of exercise a week seems to get the best fat loss & health results.

If you need inspiration or some ideas on an exercise plan that fits you you, read this:

Exercise expert Jon Benson has co-authored an ebook that has some guidelines on how to get good results from exercise.

But, here’s the exciting thing about his book:

He also has tons of people of both sexes & many ages who got well -- & discarded excess fat – by exercising -- tell their stories of how they got into exercise & what exactly they do in their exercise programs. It also has their very good results. Some got incredibly good results.

There are enough role models & ideas you are virtually certain to find one or several that are enough similar to you that you can do it too & see exactly how people who are like you & started where you are or maybe even at a worse level were able to do it.

Does that sound like it’s worth checking out?

If so, here’s more information on Jon’s book. See: http://www.fitover40.com/aff/iehealth

Here’s what Jon has to say about FitOver40:

Jon Benson
Creator/Co-Author of Fit Over 40: Role Models For Excellence At Any Age


If you don't have a copy of Fit Over 40 yet, download yours today. In less than a few minutes you'll have the number 2 fitness e-book of all time right on your desktop - 304 pages of inspiration, motivation and fitness strategy. Fit Over 40 isn't just for people over 40 - it's an invaluable training and motivational e-book that can save you years, even decades of frustration when it comes to learning what works for your body and seeing the results you want.

One of the reasons I wrote the book was to save others the years of trial and error I went through as I went from obese to fit. With over 50 role models profiled, Fit Over 40 will stand the test of time for anyone interested in health, strength, fat loss, muscle, and motivation - at any age.

To get Jon’s book go to: http://www.fitover40.com/aff/iehealth