Can The Wii Help You Lose Weight?

In short – no.

There is NOTHING out there that can help you lose weight.

You can only lose weight when you want to lose weight.  Then you need to combine sensible eating with a healthy dose of exercise to get your body moving.

If you think that you can sit on the couch, or even jump around and lose weight – it won’t happen.

Although I’ve written about loosing weight with the Nintendo Wii in the past – it always comes down to ensuring that you are eating well, getting enough sleep and regular exercise.

Short and sweet post as my “Welcome Back” post after several weeks of not being able to post…

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Walking To Help You Lose Weight

MONDAY, May 11 (HealthDay News) — For people in cardiac rehabilitation who are overweight, longer but slower walks are better for losing weight and improving heart health than shorter, brisker walks, a new study has found.

Frequent long, slow walks — 45 minutes to 60 minutes a day at a moderate pace, five to six days a week — were found to burn more calories, improve cardiac function, reduce weight and body fat. The standard regimen for cardiac rehabilitation involves walking, biking or rowing for 25 minutes to 40 minutes at brisk pace three times a week.

“The benefits of weight loss in cardiac patients have not been all that clear,” said Dr. Philip A. Ades, a professor of medicine and director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the study’s lead researcher. “And docs are usually pessimistic that their patients can accomplish weight loss.”

In fact, most cardiac rehabilitation programs have not been effective in weight loss, Ades said.

“The reason people don’t lose weight in cardiac rehab is they don’t burn enough calories with their exercise,” he said.

Walking can burn more calories than biking or swimming, Ades explained, because walkers support their total body weight by themselves, rather than having a bike or water support their weight. People have to bike or swim a lot more, he said, to gain the same calorie-burning effect as walking.

The report is published in the May 11 online edition of Circulation.

The study involved 74 overweight people with coronary heart disease, also called coronary artery disease, who were enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation program. They were randomly assigned to an exercise regimen designed to burn 3,000 to 3,500 calories a week or to a standard rehab exercise program designed to burn 700 to 800 calories a week.

The high-calorie expenditure program was based on exercise that was not more intensive than standard rehabilitation but was done more often (five to seven times a week, rather than three) and longer (45 minutes to 60 minutes a session, rather than 25 to 40), according to the study. Participants did not begin walking for an hour each session but gradually built up their ability, Ades said.

Exercise for the standard rehabilitation group included a combination of walking and biking or rowing.

Being overweight increases the risk of heart attacks and increases other risks factors, including cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes, the researchers noted.

After five months, people in the high-calorie-burning group — those taking the longer, slower, more frequent walks — had greater improvement in insulin sensitivity, cholesterol, blood pressure and cardio and respiratory fitness than did people in the standard exercise group, the researchers found.

In addition, the long, slow walkers lost an average of 18 pounds, compared with 8 pounds among those in the standard rehabilitation group, and they lost more body fat (13 pounds versus 6) and inches from their waistlines (2.7 versus 2 inches) than the others.

A year after the study ended, people in the high-calorie-burning group had regained an average of 2.9 pounds and those in the standard treatment group had regained about two pounds. Weight and body fat remained lower in both groups than it had been when they started, the researchers said.

“However you lose weight is good for heart patients and should reduce their risk,” Ades said. “But don’t forget the exercise. It’s a big part of how to lose weight. Walking daily, walking far, really made a big difference in reducing cardiac risk.”

Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, a cardiology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he thinks the regimen from the study would be worth trying in people in cardiac rehabilitation programs.

“There is an ever-increasing proportion of individuals who are overweight or obese,” Fonarow said. “Achieving a healthy body weight is a challenge, even among patients who are referred to formal cardiac rehabilitation programs.”

The study demonstrated that a new exercise protocol aimed at maximizing exercise-related calorie expenditures was more effective in achieving weight loss than a standard cardiac rehabilitation exercise regimen, Fonarow said. “There was also improved insulin sensitivity, lipid levels and inflammatory markers with the high-calorie expenditure regimen,” he said.

“This new high-calorie expenditure protocol should be considered for overweight and obese patients referred to cardiac rehabilitation who are eligible for a five-to-six-times-a-week exercise regimen,” he said.

SOURCES: Philip A. Ades, M.D., professor of medicine, director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vt.; Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., professor, cardiology, University of California, Los Angeles; May 11, 2009, Circulation, online

Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_84104.html

Is Playing Sports Better Than Exercise?

So what is wrong with this question – “Is Playing Sports Better Than Exercise?” – if you are paying attention you would probably figure out that they are one in the same!  When you play sports, you are getting exercise.  But it really is a trick question, because the word exercise is taken out of context – think of the question as “should I play sports to get exercise, or should I go to the gym for exercise” – really two different things.

So which is better?  Sports or the gym?

I have gone to the gym, and failed miserably.  I am not as regimented in that respect.  Though going to the gym you have the advantage of a personal trainer or at least someone to speak to to ensure that your workouts are accomplishing your fitness goals I’ve always found the gym boring and sometimes embaressing.  Where I used to live, I went to a gym on a fairly regularly – but it was full of muscular and thin men and women.  I felt out of place being a big guy.  In fact, I never saw big people at the gym.

Eventually I stopped going.

Over the last year, I’ve started playing more sports and going outdoors instead.  Partly to aid with weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and also because my son who is now 6-years old has so much energy that we have to get him outside to burn it off.

I enjoy going outside more because I don’t have anyone watching me.  I can exercise at my own pace, and I have fun doing it.

I find that you get more of a rush when you’re outdoors enjoying the good weather and tossing in some exercise — it does not feel like exercise.  Going to the gym felt like work and it was boring, unless I could find someone to come with me — which was always easier said than done.

The verdict?  It is really up to you.  Either way you are getting a chance to work out your body, one is more regimented and does require a certain amount of will power but the other allows you to exercise on your own terms.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

8 Reasons Why You Should Watercize

Lets get the disclaimers out of the way.  Before YOU start any exercise program, speak to your health practitioner (i.e., doctor) about the program in which you wish to undertake.

Now that that is out of the way…

So I take my son (who is now 5 years old) swimming every Saturday.  He goes for lessons, but we go at least 2x per week outside of the lessons so he can practice, have fun and become one with the water (he is still a little scared of sinking).  I go with him as well, since parent/guardian needs to be with any child under the age of 7.

One thing that I notice is the B-I-G men/women, only because I’m big and it’s good to see that they are working on improving their health.  But one piece of advice – DON’T WEAR THOSE DAMN TIGHT SWIMMING OUTFITS!!!  Sorry to shout, but nobody wants to see every roll or bulge.  It’s just disgusting.  Yes, I know full well that we need to be happy with the body we have, but come on — some decorum, please? 

Regardless of your size, you should always wear clothing that complements your body shape.  Do you really want to see someone in skin tight clothing that weighs 350lbs?  It obviously looks better to see someone that’s at their ideal weight (or close to it) wearing some form fitting clothing, so long as it complements them.

Anyway back to swimming.  While splashing around in the pool is fun, and sitting in the hot tub is heaven, you should also think about watercize.

Watercize is basically exercise, but in the water.  For us big folks, this is a great alternative to heading to the gym.  I hated going to the gym, and haven’t gone for years.  You really stick out, since generally you’re the biggest of the bunch.  And head into the changerooms!!  I won’t even go into THAT discussion… I’m sure you can see the picture.

I’ve gone to a few watercize classes, and have really, really enjoyed them.  Most of the attendees were big folks trying to get into shape and loose weight.  There were a few skinny folks there, but they were there to support their significant others — cool!

Most major cities will have public pools that offer water exercise programs, you should look into what your local facility offers and attend a few classes to see if it is for you.  If you intend to follow your own exercise regiment, you can purchase your own equipment as well — though I would not recommend you go that route even if there are no programs in your area.  Basically what you do on land, in terms of aerobic type exercise can be done in the water – obviously sit-ups are out of the question.

Water exercises can be done in shallow, or deep pools.  When I attended, the instructor suggested to go into water that is at least chest deep so a few inches below the neck.  As I don’t swim, it was a bit scary for me and I had to pay special attention to balance — which is difficult in water.  But as I said, you can do many of the exercises in shallow pools as well.

As with any type of exercise you need to warm up.  This helps flex and extend your joints so that you don’t hurt yourself.  As you are warming up, you are also getting yourself ready to exercise as such through the process of the warm up you are:

• Increasing heart rate
• Increasing respiration (breathing)
• Mentally preparing you for a water workout
• Increasing blood flow to muscles
• Promoting body awareness

The primary session should last between 20 and 40 minutes.  The sessons I went to were 30 minute long, including the warm up.  The nice thing with these sessions is that once you pay to get in, you’re not kicked out at the end.  You can continue with your exercises (provided the pools are not booked for other programs).

The watercize program that I was in followed other exercise programs:

1. Endurance training Perform movements at a consistent pace. Incorporate long body movements, and keep breathing comfortably during your water workout.
   Objective: Increase cardiovascular endurance, improve body composition and burn fat.
2. Interval training Alternate between moderate speeds and faster sprints. Use smaller movements at a faster pace with rest intervals ranging from 30 seconds to 2 minutes in duration.
   Objective: Increase anaerobic capacity, muscular endurance, alleviate boredom and burn fat.

My instructor mixed things up to keep us actively involved.

Finally at the end you want to go through a cool down period.  For our group this was 3 to 5 minutes of easy fluid movements in the water.  Decrease speed and perform movements which emphasize those muscle groups worked out during the session.  The objective is to return heart rate to normal range, prepare the body to leave the water, complete the session, increase flexibility.

Most programs offered, will also provide some equipment for you to use and that’s why I do not suggest you buy the equipment right away.

Tomorrow, I’ll go over some leg and arm exercises you can use in the water.

I am also looking at purchasing several copies of an excellent water workout DVD and offering it either for sale here (at a HUGELY discounted price) or for a contest.

Why Water Exercise?

So now we’ve discussed what it is, and what you should be doing lets quickly go into WHY.  Well, we all know why – to get into shape, loose weight and to increase our level of health and well being.  But specifically why water exercise?

1. Effective and Safe for all Populations.
2. Less than Low Impact.
3. Buoyancy and Hydrostatic Pressure presents support and reduces the force of gravity.
4. Shallow Water Calesthenics or Deep Water Movements offer Strengthening and Cardio-Respiratory Fitness.
5. Flexibility Classes are supreme for people with arthritis or like disabilities.
6. Deep Water Aerobics Calories burned – 400-500 per hour or 9.8 calories a minute; that’s about the equivalent of calories burned during a 10-minute fitness walk. If you walk 3 miles an hour, you burn up to 300 calories an hour.
7. Advantages: No-impact workout. 12 times the resistance of air, evenly in all directions. Promotes muscle balance because you use more than one muscle group at a time.
8. Socialization – make new friends.

Additional Research on Water Exercise

Here is some research on water exercises – these are only from “trusted” sources, such as government websites or other authority sites.  I avoid providing information from commercial sites, unless I can find the information as back-up from another authority site.

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17719306 - Land versus water exercise in patients with coronary artery disease: effects on body composition, blood lipids, and physical fitness.
• http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/aqua.html - Water exercise is rapidly growing in popularity. Exercise enthusiasts, athletes, elderly, and the physically challenged are discovering aquatic exercise programs that suit their fitness desires. An advantage of aquatic exercise is that it can involve the upper and lower extremities through optimal ranges of motion while minimizing joint stress.
• http://www.dukehealth.org/HealthLibrary/News/363?search_highlight=swimming

Some of the information is obviously aimed at medical professionals, as there are a lot of charts, numbers and equations — but you should be able to get the gist of the articles.

If you are looking for DVD and other information, here is a GREAT website that sells some products that may be beneficial to you – WaterWellnessWorkouts.com.

Enjoy!

Mohamed

Lose Weight with a Pedometer

…well not really, not THAT way, but a pedometer may encourage individuals to lose weight. When I used my pedometer religiously daily, I always strived for 10,000 steps. Now — I don’t use it as much, and walking hasn’t become a priority for me. Here is a great story from Yahoo Health News on Pedometers:

By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 20, 11:03 PM ET

CHICAGO – A $20 fitness gadget stood up to multiple research studies, helping people walk an additional mile each day — but only if they logged their steps. Those who did lowered their blood pressure and lost a few pounds, an analysis found.

Pedometers, also called step counters, clip to a belt or waistband and count the steps the wearer takes during the day. They range in price from $5 to $60, with simple yet reliable models costing around $20.

The analysis found that increasing physical activity depended on setting a goal and keeping a diary of the number of steps walked each day, said co-author Dr. Dena Bravata of Stanford University. Her report appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Every night, you write down how many steps you walked that day,” she said. “By flipping back through your diary, you’re able to see patterns: ‘On the two days a week I took the stairs, I increased my steps.’”

Bravata, a practicing internist, wanted to recommend pedometers to her patients. But she “really wanted to know if these little gizmos that now are increasingly popular worked.”

She and her colleagues analyzed 20 studies from the United States and Canada and half a dozen from Japan, Europe and Australia. The average age of participants was 49, and 85 percent were female because some studies targeted women. The total number of volunteers overall was more than 2,700.

The research showed that pedometer users increased their physical activity by about 27 percent, walking about one mile more a day than they did before they started their step-counting routines. Most of the studies established a baseline by asking these walkers not to change their usual activity while wearing a sealed pedometer, that is, one where they couldn’t see the number of steps, for three to seven days.

On average, the volunteers lost a few pounds. And their blood pressure dropped enough to lower their risk for stroke and heart disease, Bravata said.

Keeping a step diary was key; those who didn’t do that showed no significant increase in walking. Pedometer users who didn’t have a step goal also failed to increase their physical activity.

A Japanese fitness movement sets a goal of 10,000 steps, but more modest goals also worked to increase activity, Bravata said.

It’s still unclear whether the effects are long-lasting, she said. The studies followed patients, on average, 18 weeks.

There were lasting effects for Marcy Ross, 54, an encyclopedia editor from Great Barrington, Mass. She has clocked more than 3 million steps since putting on a pedometer 2 1/2 years ago and has lost “five to 10 extra pounds.”

“It’s the best thing I ever did,” Ross said. Recording her steps on the Web site of the non-profit group America on the Move inspires her to walk instead of drive when doing errands and to get up to talk to a co-worker rather than send an e-mail.

Dr. David Bassett Jr. of the University of Tennessee praised the analysis for pulling together what’s known about pedometers and fitness. Bassett has done pedometer research, but was not involved in the new analysis.

“This puts us on firmer ground in saying what we know about the use of pedometers in changing behavior,” Bassett said.

The analysis was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

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