THREAD ON WEIGHT LOSS & EXERCISE

Many patients ask me about exercise for weight loss, and getting toned.

We are often advised to exercise, however, if we are severely overweight this can be quite challenging.

I typically advise patients to focus on fixing the diet first and forgo exercise for the first 6-8 weeks of any weight loss plan. if your diet isn’t in order & your appetite isn’t controlled, exercise will increase appetite and likely stall weight loss.

While it is true that over a long enough time, patients may experience changes in body composition (ie getting toned) they won’t see the scale move and the process will be slow and this can be discouraging to patients.

For people with a lot of weight to lose, or beginners, I recommend that once the diet is in order, simply walking can be enough. I lost my first 80 pounds binge watching Netflix on my iPad while leisurely walking on a treadmill.

Later on, I leveraged this habit of exercise I created and increased the intensity when my body allowed. BOTTOM LINE: fix the diet first! Then start light and create a healthy habit of regular exercise.

Once the diet is in order, patients ask me what the best form of exercise is for weight loss and body recomposition (ie getting toned), the medical literature points to two modalities: A) high intensity interval training (HIIT) and resistance training (RT)

HIIT - is basically the concept of taking typical cardio and adding in alternating periods of intense spurts. Say you really like to walk, when you walk, to do HIIT, every 2-3 minutes you would speed walk for an interval of 30 seconds to 1 minute.

The same can be done on a bicycle/running alternating with periods of sprints, and you can even do HIIT on the elliptical or stairs! Instead of the typical 20-30 minutes at one speed, you can have several rounds of intervals.

I like to do intervals of 30 seconds of maximal effort (all out exertion) followed by 2 minutes of easier effort. I typically repeat this for a total of 15-20 minutes. BOTTOM LINE: When you find your body can handle it, HIIT will really speed up the fat loss.

RT - the best way to “get toned” is to lose fat (from diet MAINLY and to some extent from HIIT) AND ALSO you will need to gain some muscle. In the medical literature the best way to do that is ensure your diet has enough protein and LIFT some weights.

Besides gaining muscle, lifting weights has positive effects on bone health, mood and even longevity. Beginners can start on a machine circuit & some light free weights at any local fitness center or join a team-training-type of environment with coaching and support.

As I mentioned above, it is critical that the diet be in order first. One hour of exercise can be undone in the one minute it takes to eat a donut .

SUMMARY: If you want to lose weight first focus on diet. If your diet and appetite are controlled and you feel ready, feel free to start exercise. Start slow and work up. Instead of cardio do HIIT, feel free to do RT .

Remember you don’t need to exercise for weight loss, we exercise for overall health and to feel good. It’s perfectly fine to lose weight through diet before starting an exercise plan.

Comments, questions, let me know