Exercise makes fat loss safe to do….

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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.

We do posts on staying healthy; preventing disease; aging more slowly; weight loss; exercise; nutrition; & news in medicine.

Today's post: Wednesday, 5-16-2007

Exercise makes fat loss safe to do….

Earlier research found that when people only ate fewer calories to lose fat, part of the weight they lost was muscle.

This made them weaker & means that if they gain the weight back as usually happens, they may also be fatter than before since they start then with less muscle.

But, when people who ate fewer calories AND exercised, they either lost no muscle or gained some. This often did mean a slightly smaller weight loss. But their FAT lost increased. And their percent of their bodyweight as fat also improved more than the people who didn’t also exercise.

Yesterday, I saw a study reported that was done at Washington University in St Louis which found that something very similar happens with bone density. People who lost fat & weight by eating fewer calories only also experienced significant bone density loss.

Those who lost the fat & weight with exercise, did lose a bit less weight; but they lost no bone mass or density. And, they lost virtually the same amount of fat.

Since broken bones in older people can often be serious or even life-threatening, that’s quite significant.

The conclusion is clear that losing fat by cutting calories only will make you weaker & more likely to suffer broken bones. It isn’t a safe or desirable way to do it.

But, if you add doing regular exercise also, losing fat then becomes safe to do.

Even better, these studies used things like walking for their exercise. Well done strength training ADDS muscle to you & INCREASES your bone density.

As you’ve likely read, either here or elsewhere, as little as two sessions of half an hour, done each week with at least one day off in between of well done strength training is enough to give you this effect.

As you might imagine from this information, it’s quite common for people who lose fat while also strength training & who continue the strength training on an ongoing basis to lose fat and keep it off.

And, it’s almost universal that people who lose fat without exercise gain it back.

So, if you want to lose fat permanently, & do it without damaging your health, be sure to add exercise & include at least two days a week of well done strength training. And, keep doing that exercise each week.

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Some of you may be new to exercise or you may need some ideas to help you make more & better progress with your exercise goals.

Or, if you need inspiration or some ideas on an exercise plan that fits you, here’s a resource that many have found to work well:

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

Here’s the exciting thing about his book:

It has the stories & exercise routines of 52 people of both sexes & many ages who got well -- & discarded excess fat – by exercising.

They 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.

You’ll also see exactly how people who are like you & started where you are--or maybe even at a worse level--were able to do it successfully.

Studies show that people learn best by emulating real role models in this way & that they are much more likely to master & use what they learn emulating real role models.

This eBook, Fit Over 40, provides that for you.

And, almost all the 52 people do some form of strength training.

In addition, many of them, including Jon Benson, lost quite significant amounts of fat that they have kept off since.

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