My Diet Experiences

 Are you looking for answers on how to lose fat or are you forever resigned to being a big fat failure?

Oprah Winfrey wrote the foreword for Bob Greene’s book, The Best Life Diet (Simon & Schuster, 2006).  It is difficult to imagine that a successful celebrity like her once agonized over her weight problem. What she wrote was revealing:

“At the time I was 237 pounds, miserable and so ashamed to have joined the ranks of the perpetually obese that I had trouble maintaining eye contact. I couldn’t understand why I was able to triumph over so many other challenges and adversities in life, and yet when it came to losing weight I was a big fat failure.”

How to lose fat need not be a mystery – at least not in the way that people make it out to be, but what is truly incomprehensible is why many people still cling stubbornly to the idea that the next fad diet will end their weight problems in a snap.

Alright, fat loss isn’t a mystery, but it’s still hard work. We say hard work because you need barrels of discipline to focus on your weight loss goals. We don’t promise the moon and the stars the way fad diets do. Just read the marketing blurbs that are trumpeted over the Net. They use big words like “miracle weight loss” or “phenomenal fat burner in just a week.”

Wake up and smell the coffee. Or should we say calories?

Instead of picking up that diet book on your next trip to the bookstore, why not pick up some weights instead?

Shifting Gears for Fat Loss

Speak to a few fitness trainers in the gym or in your health club. Most of them agree that while cardiovascular exercise generates immediate benefits for the heart and works wonders for one’s stamina, combining a cardio workout with resistance training will generate even much better results.

Health is where the heart is – true - but overall health rests on stronger muscles and improved flexibility. When you sign up for any fitness training, the fat loss equation is built around the power combo of cardio workouts and weight resistance training.

Make that mental shift. Banish the thought of diets and start thinking of moving that body.

The human body is a wonderful mechanism; it was designed to be in perpetual motion. By engaging in exercise, it stimulates the system and revs up metabolism. A health writer also once said that exercise is the fifth component of bowel cleansing – vital to our physical well-being.

Cardio Workouts: the Upside

More than 15 years ago, the American Council on Sports Medicine suggested that exercising six out of seven days was ideal for people trying to lose weight. More recently, however, an increasing number of health practitioners are recommending that people should increase that frequency to seven times a week, at least for half an hour per session. Exercises such as power walking, running, swimming, cycling and aerobic-related activities are excellent in getting the heart rate to optimum levels.

Remember that mind and body have this ability to adjust to change. Just picture an athlete who is training for the Olympics for the first time. In the first few weeks, he scales certain distances; as his training program becomes more vigorous, he is able to scale longer distances and builds up tremendous resistance to fatigue. You can be sure he’s not just running or sprinting, he’s lifting weights as well.

Let’s take a 45 year old woman who weighs 128 pounds. She walks at a brisk pace on the treadmill at 4.0 mph, on a flat surface (no inclination of treadmill) and continues that pace for 45 minutes. By the time she ends her exercise, she shall have burned 174 calories. If she wishes to burn more, she can always put an incline on the treadmill and increase her pace to 4.5 or 5.0 mph. It’s really a question of how much you want to push yourself.

Resistance or Weight Training

Myth: lifting weights will make you bulky (this is often expressed by women who are afraid of a “muscled” look).

Fact: weight training is an ideal strategy to firm up and strengthen certain muscle groups. Weak muscles are easily prone to injury and sagging.

Dr. Gary Null, author of Power Aging and other books, and a regular host on PBS says that improving muscle tone requires the use of light weights – two or five pound weights are ideal; he recommends increasing the number of repetitions per set – 12 to 15 if possible. If your goal is to build muscle mass, then you would need to lift heavier weights with fewer repetitions.

The Mayo Clinic offers two essential tips for weight training: (a) start slowly and (b) take the time to rest.

If you’re just starting out, you will be able to lift only a few pounds – this is normal. Your progress improves as your muscles and tendons get accustomed to the weight exercises. Always do your exercises gradually. Do not be tempted to increase the weight after a few sessions.

Your muscles also need to recover so take the time to rest. If you prefer to do weight training daily, the Mayo recommends doing specific muscles on rotating days. On Monday, for instance, you can choose to work on the large groups like legs, back and shoulders.  On Tuesdays you can do small muscle groups like your triceps and biceps.

“I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.” (Noel Coward)